Originally issued in 1970, Soul Rebels was the first album credited to Bob Marley & the Wailers, and it was also the band's first full-length collaboration with producer Lee "Scratch" Perry, for whom they had already recorded a string of fairly successful singles. Working with the newly configured Upsetters band, Marley and crew delivered a strange and wonderful set of early eggae that at times plays fast and loose with the already established conventions of the genre -- on "My Cup" the beat sounds inside out, while "It's Alright" sounds like a slightly Jamaicanized version of Motown soul. Other songs, such as the beautifully harmonized "Try Me," show their deep roots in ocksteady. One of the most arresting tracks on the album is the Peter Tosh sung "Four Hundred Years," on which Tosh unburdens himself of some of his typically dread pronouncements in his rich, chesty voice.
--- - |- While combing through some reggae/dub for an upcoming dancehall/dub/reggae heavy AD radio show, I happened upon some demos recorded at Lee "Scratch" Perry's Black Ark studio in 1978 - a few years prior to Marley's death. Here are a couple of the tracks along with their dub counterparts. Previously: Bob Marley & The Wailers :: Radio [...] ~~- Bob Marley
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 "Soul Rebels")
