Bob Marley & The Wailers | Survival (LP)

Containing what is considered Marley's most defiant and politically charged statement to date, Survival concerns itself with the expressed solidarity of not only Africa, but of humanity at large. The album was controversial right down to the jacket, which contains a crude schematic of the stowage compartment of a typical transatlantic slave ship. Now available on 180 gram vinyl in original artwork.

Bob Marley & The Wailers: Bob Marley (vocals, acoustic & electric guitars, percussion); Aston "Familyman" Barrett (guitar, bass, keyboards, percussion); Junior Marvin (guitar, background vocals); Al Anderson (guitar); Tyrone Downie, Earl "Wya" Lindo (keyboards, percussion, background vocals); Carlton Barrett (drums, percussion); Alvin Patterson (percussion). The I Threes: Rita Marley, Judy Mowatt, Marcia Griffiths (background vocals). Producers: Bob Marley & The Wailers, Alex Sadkin. Reissue producers: Bill Levenson, Maxine Stowe. Recorded at Tuff Gong Recording Studio, Kingston, Jamaica. Originally released on Island (9542). Digitally remastered by Ted Jensen (2001, Sterling Sound, New York, New York) Bob Marley And The Wailers' seventh studio album finds the masterful Jamaican singer turning his attentions away from purely domestic Caribbean matters to the African continent. His songs had previously often cited Africa as both an influence and a final spiritual destination for Rastafarians; RASTAMAN VIBRATION's "War" had even named a laundry list of aggrieved nations struggling for freedom. But with SURVIVAL's "Africa Unite," and "Zimbabwe" in particular, Marley focuses for the first time both on solutions to the struggle, and on a specific nation and its fight against oppression--all to the Wailers' characteristically irrepressible skank. "So Much Trouble in the World" is an apt scene setter for an overtly political album worldwide in its aspirations, while "Babylon System" ("is the vampire...") expertly skewers the West and its centuries-old involvement in Africa. Marley's strength as a songwriter, and the Wailers' strength as a band, is that they can perform an operation like this and still leave the victim smiling and happily tapping his feet as they stick the knife in. The album's highlight is unquestionably the inimitable "One Drop," an irresistibly danceable paean to the Rastafarian religion and the glory of the almighty beat.

Tracklist

A1        So Much Trouble In The World
A2        Zimbabwe
A3        Top Rankin’
A4        Babylon System
A5        Survival
B1        Africa Unite
B2        One Drop
B3        Ride Natty Ride
B4        Ambush In The Night
B5        Wake Up And Live

*Audio and/or tracklist may vary slightly from the vinyl version.

Label: TUFF GONG / UMGD
Rel. Date: 09/25/2015
UPC: 602547276278

• Genre: Roots Reggae
• Format: Vinyl
• Format Detail: LP