Legacy - Bob Marley

Advantages: Old favourites remixed as "urban duets"
Disadvantages: Not for the purists; this isn't real reggae

...---WHO'S THIS THEN?--- Why, it's Bob Marley: without a doubt the man who single-handedly brought reggae to the attention of the planet. He recorded some 700 tracks and 40 albums between 1965 and 1981. Albums, such as 1984's perfect Legend, are still being issued, and "lost tapes" were still being rescued as recently as 2001. He died in 1981 of lung cancer. ---WHAT'S THIS ALBUM LIKE?--- It's a bizarre concept. The mastertapes of old Marley tracks were handed to various rappers and singers in 1998 to add vocals or remix the tracks in a contemporary style. The results are at once spooky, sacreligious and intriguing. This album was released in 1999 amid a bluster of publicity and the first single release from the album was the Lauryn Hill-assisted "Turn Your Lights Down Low". Lauryn HIll is Bob Marley's daughter-in-law, by... Read review

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Advantages: Fantastic tracks, very listenable album
Disadvantages: Sun is SHining is not on it

...Since seeing The Wailers perform at the London Rise Against Racism festival, it reminded me of how many great songs they have in their repertoire with Bob Marley and decided it was long overdue to buy a Best Of compilation. The album starts off with Is This Love the Marley penned classic from 1978 and the song really needs no introduction. It was taken from the Kaya album, which revolved around the duel themes of love and marijuana, and this instance the song was about love. It is a beautiful song, and certainly at the Rise concert, got the crowd singing. It is followed by No Woman, No Cry originally from the Natty Dread album and is about the struggle of life in the Trenchtown, the rundown part of Kingston, Jamaica where Bob grew up with his mother after his father died. The version of the song on Legend is not from Natty Dread... Read review

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Advantages: A great Ras
Disadvantages: Overshadowed his Contemporaries

...?s bullet. Even Jimmy ?Harder They Fall? Cliff never really made it, nor did Desmond Dekker (of ?007? fame) and the members of the band that started it all, The Skatallites, finished their days either as sessions musicians or touring European mod-revival concerts. The list of ?nearly men? is endless but the name Bob Marley remains synonymous with Reggae and success. For many of the hundreds of Reggae singers who walked into Kingston?s studios there never was a pay-day. I would guess that the biggest cheque ever picked up by Prince Buster came after he featured on a jeans advert a few years back. Without the continuing Marley legacy I feel he?d have long been forgotten by the world. In retrospect, Marley appears to have pocketed all the available cash, leaving little for his contemporaries. In 1981, after Marley?s death from cancer, his... Read review

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