Let us take a moment to empathise with the poor reggae fan, even the most committed can be bewildered trying to find his or her way through different versions, dubs, records released under different names in a multitude of formats and with varying quality but even many of the better known records have not been well looked after. Burning Spear’s ever popular classic,
Marcus Garvey is one record that has being crying out for a remaster. Not only is it Spear’s defining statement; it is one of the greatest records ever made.
Now, thirty-five years since its release on Island Records,
Marcus Garvey and its dub mix (
Garvey’s Ghost -released a year later in 1976) are remastered in a single package and the remastering job on both is superb.
Marcus Garvey was always one of the better produced and more ‘clean’ sounding Jamaican records of the time so the crisp fidelity of this reissue suits it to a tee.
Unsurprisingly, given the name of the record and artist,
Marcus Garvey has a strong theme of black self determination and social justice,
Slavery Days’ refrain “Do you remember the days of slavery” may be the most explicit example but every track is influenced by Garvey’s life story and his renunciation of Euro-centric values. However it is no mere biography, Marcus Garvey serves as a totemic figure in Jamaican culture and Spear uses him as a starting point to hang a larger sense of injustice and sadness (the albums final track
Resting Place manages to be both elegiac and rhythmic )
As much as
Marcus Garvey is driven by Spear’s world view and personality, his band, The Black Disciples (featuring Robbie of Sly and Robbie fame and members of The Aggravators and Wailers), deserve equal credit for their unfussy yet fantastic arrangement and playing. Many albums with politically conscious lyrics fall into the trap of becoming dry lectures, but Spears strong vocals are allied to songs which are tight, melodic concoctions. The deep bass and up-stroked guitar that anchors all classic reggae are there, but these are augmented by a range of other instruments used to create hooks and subtly add to the flavour of the songs. This is all evident on the title track and opener, where the horns and keyboard start in unison for the first few notes until the horns play in response to the incessant main riff that the keys and bass continue to lay down and it is only after a few listens that the subtle guitar twangs even begin to register. It’s a grand trick that is repeated throughout the record-an array of different things are happening but they all service the song and because no one is showing off the listener gets to experience it as a unified whole.
As part of this reissue, the dub version
Garvey’s Ghost follows the original ten track album. Two of Islands staff engineers, John Burns and Dick Cuthell tease out the different instrumental elements and bring them to the fore, so individual parts are pushed up front and treated with reverb and echo to become ghostly reveries. Garvey’s Ghost is it is not only a great record in its own right, it allows the listener to listen to the original with fresh ears.
For the neophyte this is an essential cross-over reggae classic and for those of us that are already aware of its greatness it has never sounded better
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