Bob Marley & Wailers - Survival
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Music CD Cover Artist: Bob Marley & Wailers Edition: Music CD Format: Extra tracks, Original recording reissued, Original recording remastered Published: 2001-08-01 CD Release Date: 2001-07-31 Music Label: Island Soundtracks:
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| New | New Usually ships in 1-2 business days | $6.48 | ||
| Used | Used Usually ships in 1-2 business days | $6.46 |
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Free Music Notes for Survival Album
Free Music Review: (3.5 stars) It's begging for reevaluation...
Hit: 4 Stars
Survival, it seems, has been swallowed by history. Oh, that cover art was controversial, all right, but that's all it's remembered as. That one with the cover - depicting the Middle Passage - that was censored in South Africa. Now, let's actually talk about the music contained therein, shall we? I think we shall. It's good mostly, brilliant occasionally. Musically it's just the same old, same old - there's not a single experimental album in Marley's catalog. There are occasional ornamentations, like a horn section on "Top Rankin'" and the title track, but for the most part this follows the same sound he had been successfully milking since Catch a Fire. But the key here is in the lyrics, featuring some of Bob's best protest material on tracks like "So Much Trouble in the World", "Africa Unite", "Babylon System", and the title song. Basically, he's not happy with the state the world's in, particularly Africa, which was at the time going through one of the biggest disgraces to human rights of modern times: Apartheid. Bob protests it at every turn, and not only is he pushing a very worthy cause, he's also doing so in an intelligent way - fantastic lyrics, unforgettable melodies, solid performing and so forth. The title track is an especially good example of this; and the similar "Wake Up and Live" takes on a similar bent. And "One Drop" is one of his most infectious, good-natured songs - a heavy contrast to the rather dark lyrics, don't you think? Only there are times on this record when Bob gets so carried away with his message, he forget about the basics of songwriting ("Ambush in the Night"; "Ride Natty Ride"; "Zimbabwe"). And it's kind of monotonous, but nothing I can't overlook, because there's a lot of great stuff here. You'd be surprised.