Is Marley reggae?

[Guest]

hypocrites by marley is real reggae cant speak for other songs especially on albums like "legend"

[Guest]

i am feeling like people who could listen "legend" through could listen "mozart" sameway,
i cant listen both for too long.

[leggo rocker]

I think even the Marley fans here would admit the longer the BMW music went on, the less we like it. I'm no big fan of Marley's final few LPs, I guess from Kaya onwards I lost interest a bit.

When talking to novices about reggae music I am always keen to educate them about the huge wealth of crucial material outside of his discography as that's often all they know.

But I really can't stand people who belittle his achievements. Especially when they are snot-nosed brats who weren't even born when he passed to Zion and have thus only witnessed the butt end of his legacy, and then only seen the gross commercialisation of that legacy.

If you lived through that time you really couldn't honestly deny the impact he had on, not only reggae music, but the world itself.

Music was only half of the Marley trip. Preaching the message of peace, love and unity was the other half.

I believe that if he had lived longer, he would have grown into an elder statesman. Possibly even enough to rival the stature of Nelson Mandela in black culture.

[oddsnobb awake]

Good forum. Good folks, no dissing around.
When I started this topic, I was irritated by the vast shadow of Marley music casted on the reggae music.
Marley might be a gateway to reggae, but here in RA all the folks are supposed to have heard lots of real thing which should put Marley music where it belongs.

And I mean music. This morning I listened to some Marley: Burnin', Natty Dread and Kaya then I listened to reggae of the same period: Maytals, Mighty Diamonds, Ken Boothe.
It is in the arrangments and partly in mixing.In Marley music the bass line is not the focus point around which everything should happen.
Listen to the early 80's dancehall where this feature is most prominent in Flabbas bass lines which were originally created by Leroy Sibbles in Studio One.

So. Is Clapton reggae, is Police reggae, is Clash reggae,is Jonathan Richman reggae, is Jukka-Poika reggae?

[Guest]

listening hypocrites again, where did they record this track? any info? somebody said that it was a freestyle session, ok, but i have a same instrumental to this and i dont think it was one track recording like some freestyle..

[Litelet]

Hypocryite is a 1968 cut, Rocksteady time. Its on the flip of Mellow Mood on Wail'N Soul'M, Bob's first label.

[MightyZ]

So. Is Clapton reggae, is Police reggae, is Clash reggae,is Jonathan Richman reggae, is Jukka-Poika reggae?

Don't know the last one - occasionally the others play a music which is technically Reggae - just not usually good reggae! They certainly don't play roots reggae - although the clash occasionally managed something a bit more like roots reggae. Guns of Brixton is probably one of the best examples and I think it has a pretty rootsy feel to it.

MightyZ

[daCENSOREDone]

Hypocryite is a 1968 cut, Rocksteady time. Its on the flip of Mellow Mood on Wail'N Soul'M, Bob's first label.

yep! but it was recorded at brentford road. check lone ranger's "natty dread on the go" and the version called "roots style".

lots of people here even ignored that "one love" was originally played by the skatalites and recorded at brentford road.

marley had the chance to start working with some of the greatest jamaican geniuses : coxsone, perry and tosh. during this period these guys turned nearly everything they touched into gold.

that's why like I said before, young generations and people who don't know much about jamaica's musical history tend to believe marley was a kind of founder. they re-write History and try to teach us the coming of bob marley is something crucial. when it's not...

[staas]

yes blackwell wanted to internationalised reggae but I don't think it was a good step for jamaican music.
dear lego racket if I want a good pizza I choose an italian pizzeria in naples. but you're free to buy it in a sussex local supermarket and believe this is THE real thing.

De gustibus et coloribus, non disputandum

it won't be the best pizza, but still A pizza, marley doesn't represent the exact sound coming out of jamaica at the time but he doesn't need to, nothing wrong with doing things differently, if i want to hear something that sounds like johnny clarke, then i'll listen to johnny(who does covers of marley,interestingly enough)

[xman]

The true question is not about bmw are reggae or not (of curse its reggae), but are they the best reggae? Are Bob the "king" of reggae?
To me Bob was the most charismatic but far to be the best singer, to me he is the guide and Burning Spear the true king (Winston Rodney)... And if i have to compare best Bob songs with my fav reggae songs Bob can hide and run, he have no power compared to songs as:

The Velvet Shadows "wailing of black people"
The Gatherers "words of my mouth"

...and its only 2 songs in the sea, Bob is FAR of this kind of pure roots, then he cant be the "king", only the most "funny" and admirable singer with of curse lot of great songs, but for sure not the best! (dont forget he was the first, and the first is often taking definitly a big place in your spirit, if you make an effort of judgement its easy to hear that he is not the best singer... You can test it with a pure reggae ignorant, start to learn him roots with another great singer and tell him he was the first and "king", and the guy will agree, test it with Burning Spear and see, the guy will never admit that Bob is the best, just a great one! Its all about psychologic reactions.)