Legend: The Best Of Bob Marley & The Wailers
Jimmy Cliff: The Harder They Come
"Jamaican filmmaker Perry Henzell made reggae an integral player in his gritty 1973 saga of a renegade Kingston singer who becomes a modern Robin Hood, casting one of the style's earliest stars, Jimmy
Cliff, in the lead, and filling this soundtrack with classics from Toots & The Maytals ("Pressure Drop,"
"Sweet and Dandy"), Desmond Dekker ("Shanty Town"), The Melodians ("Rivers of Babylon"), and
the Slickers ("Johnny Too Bad"). Cliff himself gets pole position, however, getting in the first ("You
Can Get It If You Really Want") and last ("The Harder They Come") words in this first-rate reggae primer, which also features Cliff's enduring "Many Rivers to Cross." --Sam Sutherland
Peter Tosh: Legalize It
Reggae fans tend to fall either into a hawklike roots warriors category, à la Peter Tosh, or dovelike
peace-and-rights-niks, à la Bob Marley. Most of us are armchair rebels, but Tosh's ongoing war
against the corrupt "shitstem," as he dubbed it, was musical and personal: he endured many police
beatings and jailings for speaking his mind and exercising his rights. He also battled for the herb, aka
ganja or marijuana, and loved to thumb his nose at authority by taking the stage with a cigar-size spliff
in hand to fuel his performance inspiration. Hence the title track of this 1976 Columbia Records. That
and the album's other 8 tunes fairly roil with Tosh's prickly energy and roving intelligence, which is one
good reason why they all endure as classic reggae boomshots. "Igziabeher (Let Jah Be Praised)"
deserves special mention as prime musical testament to the depth of this Rastaman's spiritual passion.
--Elena Oumano
Bunny Wailer: Blackheart Man
"Pure spine-tingling, heart-swelling inspiration from foundation Wailer Bunny Wailer (Neville
Livingston)--with his ex-Wailer mates Bob Marley and Peter Tosh lending backup support on some tracks. This is one of the greatest reggae albums ever, a 1976 solo debut that virtually defines roots
reggae as the musical vehicle for the "reasonings" of the amalgam of Garvey's pan-Africanism and
Old Testament thunder that is Rastafari." --Elena Oumano
Burning Spear: Marcus Garvey/Garvey's Ghost
"This was where it all started for Burning Spear, in those days a vocal trio of Winston Rodney,
Delroy Hines, and Rupert Milligton. And what a bomb to drop for a debut! It was heavier, and more
militant, than anything that had ever been heard in reggae before, taking elements of the music and
combining them in a new way. A concept album of sorts, it helped raise awareness of the black
leader while still keeping a strong Rasta vibe to the sound, hypnotic and dread. Time has shown it to
be one of the classic albums of reggae, charged and powerful." --Chris Nickson
Survival
"Survival's 10 straight up social-political declarations were Marley's boldest to date, and their muscular messages endure today as reggae's most luminous "sufferas" anthems." --Elena Oumano