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Re: Burnin' & Catch A Fire
Posted: Fri Mar 01, 2013 8:49 am
by nickfa
unfortunately i am old enough, i remember first hearing steve barnard playing concrete jungle he described it as proggresive reggae not a bad term, i personaly loved the album except stri it up, i hate mooges in reggae.
It was a long wait before the raw ja mix came out and like i say it is good to have both and yes a vinyl release of it would be great.
As for the ja mix of marcus garvey the JA release on fox was basicaly in mono and a bit slower, though some aruge how much better the JA mix is the differance is fairly negligable and once again having a stereo mix had a wider appeal to the rock market.
Re: Burnin' & Catch A Fire
Posted: Fri Mar 01, 2013 9:03 am
by Congo Bunny
vlad wrote:Chris Blackwell explained that the objective of overdubbing C.A.F was to appeal to the rock market. This was aligned with Bob & co, as they wanted to appeal to a wider audience, and break beyond reggae circles, ie go global. That is also why CB left "high tide, low tide" aside.; He felt the track didn't fit with the objective. Retrospectively, he loves the track, and the raw JA mix, but said that "back then" it wasn't the right mix to attract the rock audience.
We must always remember that context is everything. In 2010, we think "that raw JA mix is better" but I believe many of us were not old enough to enjoy the album on its release, nor can claim to have had the instinct (yet) to bring any artist to stardom the way CB idd with Bob & co. History & fact: Chris Blackwell helped propel the Wailers to stardom, and adding overdubs to the Wailers' first Island LP probably contributed to that.
You are 100% right Vlad.
There is nothing overly wrong with the original mix, and I love the original mix, but the "JA version" is a million times better in my mind
But your right, there is no way he would have reached the audience he did with the JA mix
Re: Burnin' & Catch A Fire
Posted: Sat Mar 02, 2013 11:06 pm
by Mick Sleeper
DWick wrote:Catch a fire sounds much better in the original. Island butchered the remix. Wish there were JA mixes available for all "remixed" albums.
I would hardly call the Island mixes "butchered". Both are excellent in their own ways: the original Jamaican mixes are solid, and the Island mixes are more polished. Keep in mind that Marley approved of everything that Blackwell was doing, so it's not like the tapes were taken out of Bob's hands and remixed without his involvement.
Re: Burnin' & Catch A Fire
Posted: Sun Mar 03, 2013 7:10 pm
by soma99
I feel the album that suffered the most from poppy, crossover remixing is Confrontation; if I am correct it was issued posthumously so maybe Marley didn't have any say at all in the mixing.
The songs on this album are excellent, it's just the production that spoils everything for me.
If anyone knows if there are original, Jamaican mixes of these songs to be bought, that would be very interesting.
Re: Burnin' & Catch A Fire
Posted: Tue Mar 05, 2013 7:23 pm
by ice
only two songs of "Confrontation" were officially released: "Blackman Redemption" and "Rastaman live up", both as JA singles (and maybe on UK singles as well)
however, if you do a bit of research you'll find out that "original" (aka unpolished) mixes of pretty much all other tracks are easily available among collectors, including other (imho better) material that did not make it onto the album, like "She used to call me Dada" or "Babylon feel dis one", the latter perhaps Marley's best unreleased song
Re: Burnin' & Catch A Fire
Posted: Wed Mar 06, 2013 2:24 am
by DWick
Give me Trenchtown (vs Trenchtown) is another good example of a less polished/produced version.
Re: Burnin' & Catch A Fire
Posted: Wed Mar 06, 2013 8:38 am
by Congo Bunny
DWick wrote:Give me Trenchtown (vs Trenchtown) is another good example of a less polished/produced version.
Nice not heard that version of it before today, although the confrontation version is one of the better tracks on that album anyway. I will be looking out for other less polished tracks from confrontation now as I have always felt that album suffered from watered down cheesy pop production values. It also has far too much of the I-threes singing in it, presumably since Bob was around to double track his vocals and add his own harmonies.
It's strange that the Marley estate has never tried to clean up/master and release she used to call me dadda and babylon feel this one as they are both great tracks
Re: Burnin' & Catch A Fire
Posted: Wed Mar 06, 2013 10:54 am
by Gabranth
Yes Babylon feel dis one is really killer. I've heard three demos of this track so far and it's pure magic. Wanna have it in perfect sound quality. Have you heard the slow demos of Chant Down Babylon and Give thanks and praises?
Too much I-Threes on Confrontation - I totally agree with this. I don't hate them or anything but... not the biggest fan of them either I guess.
On original topic:
I have the Catch a fire deluxe edition now. It really is much better imho. It's so raw. And Peter's tracks really are a winner here.
Although I think it sucks that they changed the tracklist. Slave Driver as the second track behind Concrete Jungle worked well in the original. Here it is Stir it up after Concrete Jungle. And Midnight Ravers comes too soon for me. It was perfect as the last song after No more trouble.
Re: Burnin' & Catch A Fire
Posted: Wed Mar 06, 2013 1:10 pm
by blackarkrock
Great though it is, the Catch A Fire unreleased Jamaican versions (CD 1), is not actually the original Jamaican MIXES. The liner notes clearly states "Mixed by Errol Brown at Universal Studios East, January 2001".
So it´s the un-overdubbed Jamaican recordings, but newly (re-)mixed. Personally I think the vocals are mixed too upfront...
Some tracks also have alternate vocals - have fun comparing!:D
Re: Burnin' & Catch A Fire
Posted: Wed Mar 06, 2013 7:15 pm
by vlad
Black A Rock:
Thank you for this input, very worthwhile.
OK now, when can we get Catch-A-Dub?