Bob Marley & The Wailers - "Rastaman Vibration"

50 years ago today, Bob Marley and the Wailers released “Rastaman Vibration.” This self-produced 8th album arrived 18 months after “Natty Dread” and 5 months after “Live!”. This LP became the Jamaican band’s commercial breakthrough in the States, reaching #8 Billboard, boosted by several singles like “Roots Rock Reggae” “Positive Vibration” + “Rat Race.” Reviews are excellent. Bob was 31. Fun facts: Cover design by Neville Garrick. Early editions featured an image of Bob on a textured ‘burlap’ backdrop. Its gatefold interior (with song lyrics on a smooth surface) was framed with that textured ‘burlap’ exterior; next to the printed lyrics was this helpful hint: “This album jacket is great for cleaning herb.” More in Comments.

April 30 Birthdays: Rev. Gary Davis b.1896; Sid Weiss and Dorival Caymmi b.1914; Percy Heath (MJQ) b.1923; Johnny Horton b.1925; Dick Twardzik and Peter La Farge b.1931; Bobby Gregg b.1936; Coke Escovedo b.1941; Bobby Vee b.1943; Mimi Fariña b.1945; Abdul Wadud and Colonel Bruce Hampton b.1947; Wayne Kramer (MC5) b.1948; Johnny Farina (Santo & Johnny) is 85; Richard Shoff (The Sandpipers) is 82; Merrill Osmond (The Osmonds) is 73; Rodney Kendrick is 66; Barrington Levy is 62; Ben Ayres (Cornershop) is 58; Paulo Jr. (Sepultura) and Warren Defever (His Name Is Alive) are 57; Chris Henderson (3 Doors Down) and Darren Emerson (Underworld) are 55; J.R. Richards (Dishwalla) is 54; Amanda Palmer (The Dresden Dolls) is 50; Sean Mackin (Yellowcard) is 47; Justin Vernon (Bon Iver / Volcano Choir) is 45; Lloyd Banks is 44; The Tallest Man on Earth is 43; Mac DeMarco is 36; Travis Scott is 35.

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Review by Nathan Bush

For Bob Marley, 1975 was a triumphant year. The singer's Natty Dread album featured one of his strongest batches of original material (the first compiled after the departure of Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer) and delivered Top 40 hit "No Woman No Cry." The follow-up Live set, a document of Marley's appearance at London's Lyceum, found the singer conquering England as well. Upon completing the tour, Marley and his band returned to Jamaica, laying down the tracks for Rastaman Vibration (1976) at legendary studios run by Harry Johnson and Joe Gibbs. At the mixing board for the sessions were Sylvan Morris and Errol Thompson, Jamaican engineers of the highest caliber. Though none of these cuts would show up on Legend, Marley's massively popular, posthumous best-of, some of the finest reality numbers would surface on the compilation's more militant equivalent, 1986's Rebel Music set. "War," for one, remains one of the most stunning statements of the singer's career. Though it is essentially a straight reading of one of Haile Selassie's speeches, Marley phrases the text exquisitely to fit a musical setting, a quiet intensity lying just below the surface. Equally strong are the likes of "Rat Race," "Crazy Baldhead," and "Want More." These songs are tempered by buoyant, lighthearted material like "Cry to Me," "Night Shift," and "Positive Vibration." Not quite as strong as some of the love songs Marley would score hits with on subsequent albums, "Cry to Me" still seems like an obvious choice for a single and remains underrated. Though record buyers may not have found any single song to be as strong on those terms as "No Woman No Cry," Rastaman Vibration still reached the Top Ten in the United States.

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Bob Marley & The Wailers - "Rastaman Vibrations"

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