On the deluxe edition of "Rastaman Vibration":http://www.thestore24.com/Music/Album.aspx?p_id=P+++++2907&a_id=R+++616263&search=rastaman%20vibration&sec=album&prodid=ISL063446.2&si=rhino, the first disc contains all of the cuts issued in the spring of the US' bicentennial (1976) in the original configuration but there's more. This CD also holds the anthemic single "Jah Live" and previously unreleased versions of "Roots, Rock, Reggae" (in both an unreleased alternate mix and a dub piece), alt. mixes of "Want More", "Crazy Baldhead", War" and "Johnny Was." For all you "fiends" who want to hear "sumpin' new from the vaults", there's also a rare B-side called "Concrete" which is a very "kind" dub version of "Roots" that begins with vocals that sound like the Gong's dialing in directly from the "Zion-I" switchboards. This album, the second Marley outing after splitting with the original Wailers (Peter Tosh and Neville "Bunny Wailer" Livingstone, respectively), features the Gong settling into the sonic blueprint/format that he and the Wailers (band) would consequently use to later to make inroads on the world at large on pivotal sets like "Exodus":http://www.thestore24.com/Music/Album.aspx?p_id=P+++++2907&a_id=R+++564207&search=Exodus&sec=album&prodid=ISL548898.2&si=rhino, "Survival":http://www.thestore24.com/Music/Album.aspx?p_id=P+++++2907&a_id=R+++544177&search=survival&sec=album&prodid=ISL548901.2&si=rhino and "Uprising":http://www.thestore24.com/Music/Album.aspx?p_id=P+++++2907&a_id=R+++544097&search=uprising&sec=album&prodid=ISL548902.2&si=rhino. "Rastaman Vibration" is to Bob Marley as "Kind of Blue":http://www.thestore24.com/Music/Album.aspx?p_id=P+++++6377&a_id=R+++104440&search=kind%20of%20blue&sec=album&prodid=SNY64935.2&si=rhino is to John Coltrane in that the listener bears witness to that which will bring forth seminal sounds to come. The second disc is a collection of tunes performed live at the Roxy in Hollywood, CA while BMW were on the supporting Rastaman Vibration tour. All except for “No Woman, No Cry” were previously unreleased and gives contemporary listeners another “sonic glimpse” of what Marley and co were like in a live setting back then. After beginning the set with the yardie staple “Trenchtown Rock”, Bob et al skank through classics like “I Shot the Sheriff”, “Burnin’ and Lootin’ “, “Rebel Music (3 O’clock Roadblock)” and “Lively Up Yourself” which had become concert favorites by then. As the show continues, the Marley crew settle into performances of the newer “Want More”, “Roots, Rock, Reggae” and “Rat Race”- from the 1976 issuance. Marley, backed by the I-Threes (Rita Marley, Judy Mowatt and Marcia Griffiths), mash it up vocal wise while the Barrett brothers, Aston “Familyman” and Carlton, put the bottom and the one drop snugly in the pocket onstage – one can see why Bob joined forces with the siblings after kicking it with Johnny Nash (they’d performed on the classic LP "I Can See Clearly Now":http://www.thestore24.com/Music/Album.aspx?p_id=P+++108898&a_id=R++++13714&PersonID=P%20%20%20108898&prodid=SNY31607.2&si=rhino). The Barretts soon began to back Marley full time and the rest, as they say, is history. The live set is capped off with studio versions of “Smile Jamaica” (Parts I and II) and although it is comprised of tunes the resourceful reggae fan would’ve already “discovered” by now, it is cool that this live show can be found somewhere in the CD configuration, for legal public consumption.In light of the "stranger-than-fiction" times we now live in, the message"Rastaman Vibration" hearkens back to a time when black artists weren't just doing the 'ol bling bling softshoe into the toothless pop hot tub; when "the music of the ghetto" spoke (relevantly) to and about the less fortunate (read: poor) masses who chilled on the proverbial "wrong side of the tracks" I'd hate to think how a band like BMW would get blackballed these days (no pun intended) for telling it like it is but fortunately I don't have to because the "Rastaman Vibration" has stood the test of time - if it were cut yesterday, it would be one of those "who'd-a-thunk-it" joints because every track rings as true now as it did decades ago...so play I some more of "this here reggae music."
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