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For marketing purposes, Bob Marley, the Wailers, and Bob Marley & the Wailers have become interchangeable
names,usedindiscriminately to refer torecordings actually made by separate entities. So, it is worth recalling the distinctions that
existed atthe times these entities performed and recorded.The Wailers, formed in Kingston, Jamaica, in 1963, was a vocal group
consistingof Junior Braithwaite, Beverley Kelso, Bunny Livingston, Bob Marley,Peter McIntosh, and Cherry Smith; they were
called variouslythe Teenagers, the Wailing Rudeboys, the Wailing Wailers, and finally the Wailers. Breat ...read more
For marketing purposes, Bob Marley, the Wailers, and Bob Marley & the Wailers have become interchangeable
names,usedindiscriminately to refer torecordings actually made by separate entities. So, it is worth recalling the distinctions that
existed atthe times these entities performed and recorded.The Wailers, formed in Kingston, Jamaica, in 1963, was a vocal group
consistingof Junior Braithwaite, Beverley Kelso, Bunny Livingston, Bob Marley,Peter McIntosh, and Cherry Smith; they were
called variouslythe Teenagers, the Wailing Rudeboys, the Wailing Wailers, and finally the Wailers. Breath Waite, Kelso, and Smith
had departedby 1966, leaving the trio of Livingston, Marley, and McIntosh. By the early '70s, they had begun playing musical
instruments andadded a rhythm section consisting of brothers Aston "Family Man" Barrett (bass) and Carlton (Carlie) Barrett
(drums). Afterrecording extensively in Jamaica, this unit was signed to Great Britain's Island Records, which issued itslabel
debut, Catch a Fire,in April 1973, followed by Burnin' in November. These albums attracted critical attentionbut did notchart at
first.
By the time of Natty Dread (1974), the original group had split, with McIntosh (later billed as Peter Tosh) and Livingston
(laterbilled as Bunny Wailer) leaving. The album was credited to Bob Marley & the Wailers, the group consisting of Marley,
theBarretts, keyboard player Bernard "Touter" Harvey, and lead guitarist Al Anderson, with backing vocals by the I-Threes
(MarciaGriffiths, Rita Marley, and Judy Mowatt). The breakthrough for this groupwas their appearance at the Lyceum in London
on July18, 1975. The show was recorded and quickly released on LP as Live!, and Marley and his reggae music became an
internationalsensation.The success of Eric Clapton's cover of "I Shot the Sheriff," a Marley song from Burnin', inthe summerof
1974, had donemuch to popularize reggae (the original version made the U.S. R&B charts that fall), but Marley himself now
achieved stardom asa performer. "No Woman, No Cry," a song originally heard on Natty Dread, reached the U.K.charts in its live
rendition inSeptember 1975, becoming a Top 40 hit. With that, both Natty Dread and Live! reached the British charts. In the
U.S., NattyDread had charted in May; it was followed by Burnin'and Catch a Fire in the fall. (Live! was held back from U.S.
release for ayear; when it appeared, it charted in the Top 100.)
Bob Marley & the Wailers reached their commercial apex in the U.S. with the April 1976 release of their next studio
album,Rastaman Vibration, which hit the Top Ten as "Roots, Rock, Reggae" became a minor pop chart entry and a Top 40 R&B
hit.Atthis point, the group consisted of Marley, the Barretts, the I-Threes, keyboard player Tyrone Downie, percussionist
Alvin"Seeco"Patterson, rhythm guitarist Earl "Chinna" Smith, and lead guitarist Donald Kinsey. Exodus, released in May 1977,
found Marley &the Wailers taking a slightly more uptempo (and disco-influenced) direction; it produced three Top 40 chart hits in
the U.K.("Exodus," "Waiting in Vain," and the Top Ten "Jamming," backed by the non-LP "Punky Reggae Party") and became their
firstTop Ten album in Great Britain. In the U.S., it sold about as well as Rastaman Vibration, but the band began meeting
resistancefrom category conscious radio programmers who couldn't figure out whether to slot it as rock or R&B."Exodus" became
a Top 20R&B hit and "Waiting in Vain" made the R&B Top 40, but neither single charted pop. Once again, Marley had tinkered
with theband's personnel, which for Exodus consisted of himself, the Barretts, the I-Threes, Downie, Patterson, and lead guitarist
Julian(Junior) Marvin.
Kaya, the fourth studio album by Bob Marley & the Wailers, appeared in March 1978. In the U.K., it was the band's
biggestsuccess yet, reaching the Top Five, powered by the advance single "Is This Love," which was a Top Ten hit, and by the
follow-upsingle "Satisfy My Soul," which reached the Top40. But the story was far different in the U.S., where the album
struggled. Blackradio seemed to have decided that the band did not fit formats dominated by disco, while pop radio was
increasingly attracted tonew wave sounds and treated reggae as a fad that had passed. The double live album Babylon by Bus,
released in November,which marked the return of Al Anderson and the addition of keyboard player Earl "Wire" or "Wyn" Lindo,
was a modest seller,again doing better in England than in America.
The fifth Bob Marley & the Wailers studio album, Survival, was released in October 1979. It reached the Top 20 in the
U.K.,withthe single "So Much Trouble in the World" reaching the charts, but in the U.S. it sold only moderately well, though
"Wake Up andLive" became a minor R&B chart entry. Uprising, released in June 1980 and prefaced by the propulsive single
"Could You BeLoved," gave Marley a commercial rebound. Single and album were Top Ten hits in the U.K. The U.S. was more
resistant, but"Could You Be Loved" reached the R&B charts and the album charted higher than any of the band's albums since
Exodus.Uprising might have done better domestically if Marley had not become ill shortly after its release and been forced to
cancel histour promoting it after only a few dates. His death in May 1981 of course brought an end to the band known as Bob
Marley & theWailers, but it did not end his and the band's success. Even before his death, the back catalog began to sell, with a
British singlerelease of "Three Little Birds" from Exodus reaching the Top 20 in the fall of 1980. Shortly after Marley's death, "No
Woman, NoCry" was reissued and reached the U.K. Top Ten,with Live! (retitled Live at the Lyceum) returning to the album chart.
Theposthumous album Confrontation was issued two years after Marley's death, in May 1983. Both its single, "Buffalo Soldier,"
andthe LP made their way up the U.K. Top Five. In the U.S., the single made theR&B charts, and thealbum was another
moderateseller.
But the album that really established the defunct band as an across-the-board sales success was the hits collection Legend--
TheBest of Bob Marley & the Wailers, released in the U.K. three years after Marley's death, in May 1984, and in August in the
U.S.The album topped the British charts with"One Love/People Get Ready," originally released on Exodus, becoming a Top
Fivesingle,"Waiting in Vain" returning to the Top 40, and "Could You Be Loved" returning to the charts. American chartstatistics
werenot as spectacular, but the album became a perennial seller; before the end of the century, it had been certified for sales of
tenmillion copies. Its success, in turn, stimulated sales of the Marley catalog in the U.S., and in the '90s Burnin', Live!,
RastamanVibration, Exodus, Kaya, Uprising, and Confrontation all went gold, while Island continued to scale the charts with
compilationssuch as Rebel Music (1986), Talkin' Blues (1991), and Natural Mystic (1995). Often, the focus wason Marley alone.
For example,the 1992 four-CD box set Songs of Freedom, which included recordings dating back to theearly '60s, was billed to
Marley, notMarley & the Wailers, as was the 1999 chart album of newly created duets Chant Down Babylon. On the other hand,
the manyrepackagers of '60s Wailers' recordings have long tended to credit their wares to Bob Marley & the Wailers even though
thematerial was cut bythe Livingston/McIntosh/Marley group, and Island has long credited reissues of Catch a Fire to Bob Marley
&the Wailers (indeed,the initial U.S. release carried that credit). Thus, in practice, recordings by Bob Marley & the Wailers
canrefer to any music featuring Marley and made in the '60s, '70s, and '80s, though careful listeners will insist that the credit
shouldapply only to the recordings and performances of Marley and his regular backup group from the breakup of the original
Wailerstrio in 1974 to Marley's death in 1981. « hide |
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