Bob Marley Survival CD

Digitally remastered by Ted Jensen (2001, Sterling Sound, New York, New York)

Bob Marley And The Wailers' seventh studio album finds the masterful Jamaican singer turning his attentions away from purely domestic Caribbean matters to the African continent. His songs had previously often cited Africa as both an influence and a final spiritual destination for Rastafarians; RASTAMAN VIBRATION's "War" had even named a laundry list of aggrieved nations struggling for freedom. But with SURVIVAL's "Africa Unite," and "Zimbabwe" in particular, Marley focuses for the first time both on solutions to the struggle, and on a specific nation and its fight against oppression--all to the Wailers' characteristically irrepressible skank.

"So Much Trouble in the World" is an apt scene setter for an overtly political album worldwide in its aspirations, while "Babylon System" ("is the vampire...") expertly skewers the West and its centuries-old involvement in Africa. Marley's strength as a songwriter, and the Wailers' strength as a band, is that they can perform an operation like this and still leave the victim smiling and happily tapping his feet as they stick the knife in. The album's highlight is unquestionably the inimitable "One Drop," an irresistibly danceable paean to the Rastafarian religion and the glory of the almighty beat.

Containing what is considered Marley's most defiant and politically charged statement, Survival concerns itself with the expressed solidarity of not only Africa, but of humanity at large. The album was controversial right down to the jacket, which contains a crude schematic of the stowage compartment of a typical transatlantic slave ship. Survival is intended as a wake-up call for every man to resist and fight oppression in all of its insidious forms. From Tyrone Downie's opening synthesizer strains on "So Much Trouble in the World" to the keyboard accents emerging throughout "Zimbabwe," the sounds of Survival are notably modern. The overwhelming influence of contemporary African music is also cited with the incorporation of brass à la Fela Kuti and his horn-driven Africa '70. While "Top Rankin'," "Ride Natty Ride," and "Wake up and Live" are the most obvious to benefit from this influence, there are other and often more subtle inspirations scattered throughout. Survival could rightly be considered a concept album. Marley had rarely been so pointed and persistent in his content. The days of the musical parable are more or less replaced by direct and confrontational lyrics. From the subversive "Zimbabwe," which affirms the calls for the revolution and ultimate liberation of the South African country, to the somewhat more introspective and optimistic "Africa Unite," the message of this album is clearly a call to arms for those wanting to abolish the subjuga

Additional Tracks

Recorded at Tuff Gong Recording Studio, Kingston, Jamaica. Originally released on Island (9542).

Bob Marley & The Wailers: Bob Marley (vocals, acoustic & electric guitars, percussion); Aston "Familyman" Barrett (guitar, bass, keyboards, percussion); Junior Marvin (guitar, background vocals); Al Anderson (guitar); Tyrone Downie, Earl "Wya" Lindo (keyboards, percussion, background vocals); Carlton Barrett (drums, percussion); Alvin Patterson (percussion).

The I Threes: Rita Marley, Judy Mowatt, Marcia Griffiths (background vocals).

Producers: Bob Marley & The Wailers, Alex Sadkin.

Reissue producers: Bill Levenson, Maxine Stowe.

Personnel: Bob Marley (vocals, acoustic guitar, percussion); Junior Marvin (guitar, background vocals); Aston Barrett (keyboards, electric bass, percussion); Earl Lindo, Tyrone Downie (keyboards, percussion, background vocals); Carlton "Carlie" Barrett (drums, percussion); Judy Mowatt, Marcia Griffiths, Rita Marley, I-Threes (background vocals).

Audio Mixers: Alex Sadkin; Bob Marley & the Wailers.

Recording information: Tuff Gong Recording Stuido, Kingston, Jamaica.

Author: Marcus Garvey.

Photographers: Adrian Boo