It seems Stevie Wonder gets constantly praised 4 the amazing albums he released in the 1970s but where is the praise 4 the astonishing contribution 2 music made by Bob Marley during the same era?

Catch A Fire in 1973.
Burnin' in 1973
Natty Dread in 1974.
Live At The Lyceum in 1975.
Exodus in 1977.
Kaya in 1978.
Survival in 1979.

Truly, a musical legacy 2 rival, if not surpass, Stevie Wonder's body of work....

love

.
[Edited 6/3/05 13:42pm]

You left out Uprising (1980), and Confrontation (1983).

Good topic, Anji.

I think Bob Marley was a bigger influence on the world scene than Steview Wonder was. In many ways, he transcended the beautiful music he made, which is brilliant and influential in its own right.

But when it comes to American Rhythm and Blues or Soul music, Bob Marley doesn't rank with Stevie. That doesn't mean he is any more (or less) influential than Stevie overall, but you have to consider the context.

Marley was a beautiful soul who made beautiful, transcendent music. On that we can agree.
[Edited 6/3/05 18:50pm]

Bob was right up there with any of the greats--Stevie, John Lennon, Dylan.

His genius was his ability to speak to everyone from children to world leaders and make it work so perfectly.

I think Stevie may have acknowledged that with his rewrite of Jammin.

And since he died young, we never saw any real decline in the quality of his work.

namepeace said:

As much as eye love Stevie's essential 70's body of work, eye'm surprised at u, namepeace....

love

andyman91 said:

True, which is y eye decided 2 focus on the decade that defined both their musical legacies - the 70's.
Even n the 70's, Stevie was not ntirely CONsistent thru-out. The same cannot b said of Mr. Marley....

love

I'll take bob over stevie anyday (bob dylan too). Stevies voice just grates on me.

I got a greatest hits. Iam only a casual fan, but I love shit like "buffalo soldier" and "one love"

thesexofit is siding with my musical opinion. Oh lawd!

love

Anji said:

Shut it beckham (are u from UK)

Anji said:

It's truly a matter of taste, you can't judge who is the best, because both artists made two different kind of music...

I love both, even if I prefer Stevie, Bob Marley is a true genius and an extraordinary artist ...

I think Bob was more powerfull in his lyrics and his political messages plus it's straight reggae music, Stevie artistically was way more eclectic and his music was more rich and different...

PS : WTF, Bob Marley isn't a "rival" of Stevie, stupidest thing I've never seen...lol
[Edited 6/3/05 16:11pm]
[Edited 6/3/05 16:13pm]

krayzie, who suggested Mr. Marley was a rival of Stevie's?
May b u r 2 quick 2 jump the gun.

love

Anji said:

In your thread, you compare Stevie Wonder and Bob Marley...
So I don't understand why, this is what I think....

krayzie said:

Does that necessarily mean it should b CONsidered n a more favourable light?

love

Anji said:

No, but like I said before it's more a matter of taste...

krayzie said:

I'm sayin . . . (and I said it too) . . . co-sign.

Curtis Mayfield, Sly, and certainly Marley get lost in the shuffle around here with all of the talk about Stevie, Bowie, Prince, Jimi, Miles and Dylan. Bob is definitely in that ballpark though. I'm personally not a big fan but I can appreciate some of his work.

Marley's (and the Wailer's vocal group he was just one member of before going solo as 'Bob Marley and the Wailers') greatest work was before all this on the 'Soul Rebels' and 'Soul Revolution Part II' albums of 1970-71. These records were produced by the great Lee 'Scratch' Perry and contain the original (and superior) versions of many of Marley's greatest songs - eg 'Sun is Shining', 'Kaya', 'Duppy Conqurer'. They also contain a lot of great work from his fellow singing Wailers the late great Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer, both of whom have stood in the shadow of the Marley marketing machine for far too long.

Tosh wrote 'Get Up, Stand Up'. Need I say more? Much as I love Bob Marley's work, it annoys me how this whitewash of Tosh and Bunny's contribution goes on. From the Wailers' formation in 1962 (loads of great stuff in the '60s) to 1973 ('Burnin' album era) they were 'The Wailers', a trio, semi-led by Bob Marley. They split up after this and the rest of Marley's career found him often returning to and rerecording songs from the two classic Lee Perry Wailers albums.

Similarly this false, publicicity-created vision of Marley as some kind of pacifist Christ-figure does him no favours. He was a 'rude boy' after all. Avoid the 'official' biographies, and you'll find a deeply complex, political and contradictory figure who bears little resemblance to the 'soft' image we are often fed. He considered the West to be 'Babylon', the root of all evil, after all, tho was happy for us to buy his records and concert tickets.

I'm not knocking the man at all, just think a little truth wouldn't do any harm.

I still think the 'Exodus' album is kickin' tho (especially the 2 CD expanded edition). And yes, I would say that after Elvis, the Beatles and James Brown Bob Marley is the most influential artist in the wider world, especially the Third World. There's been plenty of good music in the world beyond America and Britain.

Miles said:

You make a lot of good points. But all of these characteristics you describe are abundantly clear if you listen to his lyrics. To be sure, he was a conflicted soul, from a personal and political and spiritual perspective. But for a "Burning and Looting" there is a "Redemption Song." And his work was remarkably profound.

Much of what you say about the media "whitewash" of Marley is true. Tosh and Bunny don't get enough credit (and that's a topic for another day) but Marley made much of this great work "go."

I agree that without Marley's sheer charisma (flying dreads and all), he and the Wailers would not have been half as successful.

But isn't it strange how selective people are in their adopting of his lyrics? Personally, I can take 'The Heathen' with my 'One Love' (and much prefer 'The Heathen', from 'Exodus', musically and lyrically), as part of the contradictory jigsaw of his outlook, which is probably as contradictory as Prince's.

It makes me laugh tho that all these people who blindly sing along to his more militant lyrics don't realise they refer to the destruction of their own way of life (and I'm not coming down on anybody's side here) and its replacement with a Rastafarian, non-capitalist, Pan-African, ganja-loving world they cannot know or care anything about.

On a separate matter, I wonder how Marley and his music would have fared had he lived another 10 or 20 years. In the ever-evolving world of Jamaican music, Marley's late'70s sound (which had changed little since the early '70s heyday of roots reggae), was rather dated, with all the synthesisers and drum-machines on the march by the early '80s. Yes, they say Jamaica was/is always five years behind the US/ UK in music technology, but imagining Bob Marley backed-up by weak tinny drum machines that were typical of '80s 'soft reggae' (and not the great Barrett brothers rhythm section) is just so damned wrong, one almost thinks he got out at the right time, for his legacy at least.

We could have seen such horrors - Bob Marley goes Dancehall, or recording with UB40, or Beenie Man, or Marley guesting on a modern commercial Santana album (tho Marley guesting on a 'classic'-style Santana track would have been rather cool).

But enough of my random Marley thoughts and speculations

And actually a little more on-topic (perish the thought!), Stevie's single with Prince on rhythm guitar funks! Tho the funk itself is more P- (ie 'Flashlight') than Wonder-ful.

whodknee said:

DorothyParkerWasCool said:

Indeed. Curtis was superb. He was a classy crooner and a pro-black revolutionary. A poet and a balladeer.

And let's not get started on Sly, that pure genius who was ahead of his time!

krayzie said:

Krazie,I agree with everything you said.I respect Bob Marley and his amazing talents,but I was never really into his music.It's really just a matter of taste.
[Edited 6/7/05 2:01am]

Miles said:

Both Bob Marley and Peter Tosh wrote "Get up, Stand up". So it's both their song.

Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer also rerecord songs from the late 60's. They did it to have a international appeal outside Jamaica.



Why would Bob waste his time and energy making music and touring all over the world and not getting paid for it? Doesn't make any sense.

I'm certainly not a Marley aficionado but I listen to his music more often than Stevie's. I like both artists, but Bob's lyrics are more meaningful to me and the reggae groove gets me everytime.

namepeace said:

You hit the nail on the head.

DorothyParkerWasCool said:

This gives me an idea about a new thread.