Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Bob Marley / One love the very best of Bob Marley




LINK: one love the very best

1. Stir It Up
2. Get Up, Stand Up
3. I Shot The Sheriff
4. Lively Up Yourself
5. No Woman, No Cry
6. Roots, Rock, Reggae
7. Exodus
8. Jamming
9. Waiting In Vain
10. Three Little Birds
11. Turn Your Lights Down Low
12. One Love/People Get Ready
13. Is This Love
14. Sun Is Shining
15. So Much Trouble In The World
16. Could You Be Loved
17. Redemption Song
18. Buffalo Soldier
19. Iron Lion Zion
20. I Know A Place

This updated Bob Marley greatest hits collection was released 20 years and one day after the legendary Jamaican singer's funeral, 10 days after his untimely 1981 death from cancer at 36. It closed a 20-year career that still seemed brief, and a legacy inspiring world music and alternative rock styles, and US/Third World relations, to this day.
"One Love" is brighter-sounding, more generous sounding 1984's "Legend," reggae's top-selling LP and itself a model of packaging and artist respect. Marley's beloved hits are here, among the only reggae tracks most casual listeners have heard: the serene "One Love/People Get Ready," (used consistently in TV commercials), the sinewy "Jamming" and "Stir It Up" (an earlier hit for Johnny Nash), the infamous, strident "I Shot The Sheriff" and "Get Up, Stand Up." These songs slide from personal to political to spiritual to sensual casually, as slyly as Peter Tosh's legendary keyboard work cushioned Marley's guitar and trademark percussion. The first sounds of New Wave (Police, U2) is difficult to comprehend without these classic tracks.
You also hear Marley's deep love for American soul in "Roots, Rock, Reggae" (sounding like James Brown in ballad mode), his clever wordplay in "Iron Lion Zion" and his compelling, hypnotic concert sound in 1975's "No Woman, No Cry." ("One Love" lacks tracks from 1978's remarkable "Babylon By Bus" live set).
Despite evocative photographs and superb Ted Jensen remastering, "One Love"'s annotation lags behind "Legend." Billboard editor/Marley biographer Timothy White contributed an historical essay and song-by-song commentary to the 1984 set, acknowledging Marley bandmates Tosh, Bunny Wailer, and the I-Threes (including widow Rita Marley) for their contributions. "One Love," meanwhile, only lists Wailer members between 1972-81.
But the quality of its music and packaging still makes "One Love" yet another superb collection from UTV, Universal Music's catalogue division releasing bright-sounding artist and label compilation updates ("Classic Motown," "Pure Disco," greatest hits sets from Tom Petty, Tom Jones, Ella Fitzgerald and others) and bringing revered music into the 21st century. "One Love" is a recommended, intelligent purchase for those dissatisfied with the fewer songs on "Legend," but unwilling to purchase Marley's expansive box set "Songs of Freedom."


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