Roots Archives Forum

IMO, none of them even got close to the magic they made before the breakup. i think bob got the closest. after legalize it and equal rights, i think peter's output started to drop (and i must admit i haven't listened to either one of those albums in many years). bunny has the great blackheart man, of course, but in a different style his rock n groove is for my money his best album. bob was the most consistent, peter was certainly the most militant and outspoken (to his own detriment) and bunny was reclusive for many years (not so much anymore), but bunny also had the largest amount of truly weak songs/albums. some of it is pure garbage. peter's 80s stuff is lightweight in comparison to his earlier stuff, but i was the 80s afterall and he was no longer plugged into the JA music scene and was more of an international man by that time. the stuff made in the early 80s in JA was still very heavy, in a different fashion, but he didn't choose to or didn't care to get engaged in it. no disrespect for that choice, it just means it drifted away from the music i am attracted to. peter was a real nice guitarist, though! i like his wah-wah stuff, either on his own music or for other producers (he did a bit of studio freelancing as a musician in the mid-late 70s in JA)

Peter takes it for me..
though i hardly play the wailers music lately.

For me the man is Peter, but I dont like some of his 80's stuff...

To some degree they're all very different.

In someways, it was their different approaches to music that enabled them to compliment each other, and is probably what made the original Wailers so popular. I think Bob knew how to get his music up there from a commercial perspective, not too militant, and could appeal to the man in the street so speak. Whilst Peter was far more militant, and may ruffle a few feathers, and Equal rights was a good example. Bunny was far more soulful and would appeal to the more mellow listener, Rock and Groove was a good example.

You put all those facets together and its got the making of a brilliant band. Its such a shame that it all ended so early.

Waouh... I see it totally differently...

For me Bunny is the less militant of them three...

Musically, for me Peter Tosh is the weakest... At least his riddim and music... Sure that Bob's work is adapted ton an outernational market... But what about Peter? He got so much that awful "rocky guitar" with distorsion, that I really cant stand in reggae, and that hopefully appear only with the "superstars"... But him in particular... It really ruins the sound, and totally ina commercial way.., So Im usually astonished to hear people calling him the "rebel" of the Wailers, claiming that he sticks with the "hardcore roots"...

Bunny's work is usually a bit commercial too, but more ina jamaican way, I mean joyful and lover, but it doesnt have this "rebel aura" around, so perfect chunes like Rise And Shine really prove that he can do the best ina humble way.

IMHO, of course...
Guidance

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I've never loved Bunny's sound. To much lover. Peter (just my opinion) was really charismatic. He defended his own convictions with his lyrics and his life... I like his voice because he's very expressive, we can see its strenght and its suffering there. If his music appears to be dark, it's because the world is as it...
I'm sorry, Bunny has a sweet voice, but that's all. That's why he has never succeeded in the international level (like peter; bob is bob, incomparable).
At the studio 1, Black ark TIME (66-71), Bunny's never written a song for the group... But i believe that's him who taught them playing guitar, so to finish i would say that they are inseparable and that each brought something...

ps: i hope my english is understandable...

i love them all

Bunny did write/sing a few songs at Studio One and with Scratch, and for their own Wail N Soul M outfit (Dreamland, Dancing Shoes, Tread Along, etc), but certainly not a lot.

@ Dubs_West

Yes breda... right, thanks for your message.. I must admit that the "rocky sound" kill so much my pleasure that I cant really make an objective opinion on the rest.

Of his late stuff, I only play sometimes bomboklaat and burial (2nd cut).

You say *he's the most militant, rebel physically and musically.*.. I have to point out on that that how strange it is to wear always those big black sunglasses... I dont realy care, but it doesnt stick much with my vision of a rebel. Again, imho.

respects