Time Magazines Most Important Album Of The Twentieth Century...Obama Agrees

To say that the color of a man’s skin does not matter is awfully naïve. George Bush f’ed up this country so bad that even staunch republican rednecks voted to “hire a black man for the job.” The American people seemed to believe in it’s own hype, you know, that crazy little notion that our forefathers wrote about- ALL MEN ARE CREATED EQUAL! Talk was huge but then a quiet hush fell upon the lips of certain circles. Sort of like once they slept on it they woke up the next morning feeling ashamed. I mean, God above, decent Christians voted in an Original Man with a Muslim sounding name. Me? For once I was proud to say I was an American! Having said that…Personally, I do not trust lawyers or politicians, but for the first time I felt like I was choosing from a ballot and not a police line up. That whole settling for the lesser of evil thing.
Barack Obama being sworn in as this nation’s top dog is the single most important historical event since the fall of the Roman Empire. Okay, those two World Wars made pretty big headlines.


The Natural Mystic

What has this rant got to do with my next post? Everything. Time Warner’s choice for record of the century is the most politically correct gesture since calling WHOP's Italian Americans. Time magazine is playing it SAFE. It is also an INSPIRED choice. Pick something to Wonder Bread white and you will offend LA’s drive by crews. Pick something with a good ass shaking funky beat and you will confuse the honky-tonk two steppers. Pick a record that shifted millions of radio friendly copies and you will piss off the self styled hipsters. In other words, what record will not alienate the Black community or work the White folks into a huff? That my friends must have been a hard decision to face. I believe the suits and not the music critics made this choice. Plenty of research. Plenty of political correctness. Lots of demographics and ample population statistics where analyzed. Like I said, I doubt the music critics had a say. Sounds impossible. I doubt they flipped a coin. So? Bob Marley’s Exodus is what the computer calculations deemed the perfect answer.


The thin no frills orginal version!


After 30 years-gaining some weight with a few disco mixes!


Fat with so many extras it takes two discs to contain it all!

Bob has the street cred that the thug lifers can relate to. Bob has the smoky bloodshot vibe that the stoner rockers can roll into. Bob Marley has the poet’s philosophy that the Bob Dylan aficionados can appreciate. (The slipper and a pipe crowd) And unlike Dylan’s music you can dance to it. Shake it baby! There is serious Religion in these grooves but it does not come off as preachy. It might be as wholesome as a pauper’s prayer for a meager meal but this disc can feed the masses. Check the sales numbers. Big massive sales. Legend, the posthumous best of Marley is the biggest Reggae sales ever. Exodus, movement of Jah people, has impatient rock and roll chords. Thick chunky riffs that teen angst types can jam some air guitar along with. Hear the sound of the drums? Their calling us ALL children back to Mother Africa. Wise those suits for choosing Bob Marley. This record has something for everybody. Bob believed in One Love. This record is a COLORBLIND LISTEN!



I would of loved to see who the runner uppers were. Is that list available somewhere on the web? I am gonna think out loud here….


The God Father of Soul

This man broke through the race sound barrier. He stunned America from evening television sets. He danced like a demon on fire. A teenaged Elvis obviously paid attention to those swivel points. James also held the microphone like no man before him. I imagine prime time James Brown scared the Bejesus out of President Eisenhower’s America! Maybe the later in life disgraces discouraged the suits from voting his smash masterpiece “Live at the Apollo” for that top honor.



Okay, this guy, Sly and his Family Stone shook the charts up. One huge hit after another rattled off their records like a machine gun set on burst. It was an era of protest. Riots filled the big cities. Are you for or against Vietnam was the big question. Assassinated leaders began bleeding on American soil.



Sly’s band was a post card of picture perfect unity. Black! White! Male! Female! Yeah, like a good tomato sauce, it's in there! So influential was this band that they had Jazz greats like Miles Davis perking up his ears. One with his guitar Jimi Hendrix was tuned in. Even those British invaders, the Beatles could not ignore the new sounds. They got(tried) funky with electric keyboard magicain Billy Preston. Okay, Billy pulled a rabbit outta his hat but I do not think the Beatles sawed the lady in half. Anyway, Sly Stone's pysche was crushed from hard booze and even harder drugs. He did not survive the success. Do not get me wrong, Sly is still alive; I guess you can call it that.


Psychedelics were apparently abundant! And cheap!



Sly from Sly and Robbie got his nick-name from his love of Sly and The Family Stone. And we know what these two guys mean to all things reggae.

These prophets of the projects reaped words of praise from music’s establishment but most importantly they reaped profits from Middle America’s suburbs. They were called Black Punk Rock as an insult by those scribes who could not wrap their little minds around Public Enemy’s message. Black Punk Rock? Exactly! Fortunately the public understood what the hype was about. Sadly, Flava Flav ‘s VH1 foolery is all this generation remembers.


Public Enemy Number One!

These class clowns were the flip side of the coin. They even shared the stage together with their NYC natives, Public Enemy. Deceptively clever these bragging loud mouths. They brought Hip-Hop deeper into the corn fields of Cow Towns everywhere.


The Beastie Boys

The Beasties worked with Lee Perry and if ya press your ear up tight to the speaker, ya can hear some classic dancehall samples. A few bass notes lifted here, a few one drop beats borrowed there, and Barrington Levy's unmistakable voice sifting through.

Why not Miles Davis? Lets face it-only a dozen poeple really listen to Jazz. I know -I am the eleventh person...

My First Taste -the second spoonful!

I can not remember why but for some reason this cover caught my eye as youth! Peter's Legalize It is an anthem for all generations. Whether your listening to it with young or old ears, this record is so pungent in an irie vibe, that your eyes will get bloodshot! In fact, driving thru some of those "weed and seed communities" if you get caught with this record in your car, it is equal to possession of a dime bag.
Seriously, the tall thin man backed by the fat riddims of Sly and Robbie. Peter standing alone in defiance of Babylon. Like his old bandmate, Bob Marley, Peter would use the worlds stage as a pulpit to perform his teachings. This was easily the most notorious record of the time.



The soundtrack to the star making movie for Jimmy Cliff. Jimmy had been kicking around the local scene since 1964 but this 1972 release put Reggae on a lot foreign turntables for the first time. Jimmy was the leading man in the movie but he is a co-star on the soundtrack. The Slickers with Johnny Too Bad steal the show. Toots along with his Maytels deliver the devastating Pressure Drop. Desmond Dekker's 007 (Shanty town) gets things skanking. The Melodian's give us Rivers Of Babylon. Jimmy the star is only represented with four songs. His Many Rivers To Cross and Sitting In Limbo soften the pace. Jimmy's massive hits You Can Get It If You Really Want and The Harder They Come are included twice but that is okay because I never tire hearing those classics. This record is one part historical ducument and one part the greatest hits of early roots. Trojan recently released an even thicker version stuffed with extra hits from the same era. Sweeting the pot.



Jimmy as Ivan.



Maybe someday, some record company will press this in CD format and not just for profit because I doubt it will make one but for the simple fact that this is crucial listening. I do believe Greensleeves printed it last, so maybe there is hope. Ras Michael and the Sons of Negus are my first experiance with Nyabinghi. Although this is not a straight drum session. Robbie Shakespeare drops some bass down low into the mix. Peter Tosh and Earl Chinna Smith strum some high notes on gutairs. Ras Michael has an interesting way with words.



I remember picking both of these up out the record store bin. I could not wait to hear what the fuss was about. I slid an Andrew Jackson outta my wallet to cover the bill plus tax for Uncle Sam. Not since Paul Revere riding thru town calling out that "the British are coming" has a warning cry the split the silence as the Wailers announcing that Jah will be passing Judgement on Babylon.



While lyrically fighting the wrongs that Babylon inflict on the Sufferah, the pressures and business realities began to split up the strong individual personalities that made the Wailers. Burnin' would be the last studio ducument from the classic trio. This record and the next one never seem to be talked about with the same reverence as Catch A Fire or Bob's later recordings like Exodus. Old songs like Put it On, Duppy Conqueror and Small Axe are given new life by big budget ( Reggae standards) studio treatment. Burnin also introduced the Peter Tosh penned battle cry, "Get Up, Stand Up" and Bob Marley's world attention getter," I Shot The Sheriff." This record is the original Wailers going out while still on top. No weakness showing at all. This record is strength after strength.



The first record of Bob being positioned as sole leader was Natty Dread. Rastaman Vibration further confirms Robert Nesta Marley's solo authority. Long missing from the front line are veteran Jah soldiers Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer. The I-Threes with Bob's wife Rita continue to fill in the ranks. The tunes are still strategised in the studio war room by the Barrett brothers. They, Carlton (drums) and Aston Family Man (bass) Barrett, lay down the groove to which Marley builds his songs on. Rastaman Vibration may not have as many famous tunes on it as other Marley records but this record has some of his finest momments.

Forty days and forty nights adrift the Black Ark

Lee "Scratch" Perry took the title Upsetter while his contemporiaries chose royal Titles like King Tubby or Prince Jammy. "Scratch" the man is half flesh and half myth. Sometimes the actual person is stranger than the fiction. Lee Perry is a brilliant but maniacal producer of sounds.



This is a whole made of sums. This nicely collects togther choice singles, album sides and dubs from "Scratch" the solo performer and "Scratch" the genious behind the controls. Passengers on his Black Ark may of found themselves bewildered but also found themselves at the top of the charts. Check the names. All seventies superstars! What? Out of print? Morons! Allright, try this one...



This is a great overall sampling of Scratch's legacy.

Disc one begins Scratch's history with head strong but straight forward productions of ska and rocksteady singers. These tunes are great long lost treasures that hopefully will never be buried again.

Disc two is where that outerworldly sound started leaking from Scratch's pysche. This is the Scratch as a genius or certifiable madman emerging! His touch at the controls was as important as the band playing the music.

Disc three is Scratch as Jamaica's Native Son swallowed up into the belly of the beast! He is living in Babylon (America, then Europe). You can accuse Scratch of having an avant-garde approach, maybe because of the bone-chilling cold winters, his touch at the controls changed. Some of this stuff would give the shivers to German electronic pioneers Kraftwerk. Like disc two, it still has that outerworldly vibe, only now it is more like a ghost in the machine.



I don't sing to my plants when I water them, I spin Super Ape. To get a jungle you need the Full Experience. Seeps down deep to reach the Underground Root. If you don't own this, your garden won't grow.



There is something so ethereal about this record. It could be Junior's falsetto. It could be that the tracks were looped through Lee Perry's frontal lobes!



Lee Scratch Perry helped Bob find himself vocally, but Lee's hand is all in the band's sound as well. Most Marley fans consider these original versions collected here, to be his and the Wailer's greatest effort. Most of these were later reproduced for Blackwell's label Island and became Reggae standards. Nothing tho, as they say, is better than the original! Includes extra tracks (Upsetter dubs)-all necessary.



Lee Perry's backing band would be thieved away by Bob and rechristened the Wailers. This is a late 70's edition of that band. The long lanky gentleman standing up on the left is Cedric Myton. Which is a nice lead into the next up band...



Cedric's falsetto took this earth rooted harmony trio to the heavens. So perfect was this debut, that everything released after was judged unfairly against it. Everybody wanted more of the same and with Perry absent at the controls for subsequent releases, the Congos moved into other directions. Thankfully, Cedric is still hitting high notes that only dogs can hear!



The VP Records version of the release with a slightly different mix.