Even a godlike genius can use a serving to hand occasionally. As a part of the Wailers and earlier than the discharge of Natty Dread, Bob Marley had already put in a substantial effort to interrupt into the charts together with his first worldwide album releases Catch A Fireplace and Burnin’. These albums, each launched in 1973, would ultimately be acknowledged as classics, however neither of them reached the High 100 in both the US or the UK. The issue which Chris Blackwell and Island Information needed to handle was not merely that of attempting to launch a “new” artist. They had been trying to introduce an entire style that was nonetheless fairly alien to the mainstream music media.
It could be overstating the case to say that Eric Clapton’s model of “I Shot The Sheriff” modified every little thing. However it actually inspired a sea change within the standard notion of reggae. Clapton, at this level, was the voice and sound of the mainstream rock institution. “I Shot The Sheriff” grew to become a US No.1 hit (nonetheless Clapton’s solely such success) and his enthusiastic endorsement of a Marley track, with an association that didn’t differ massively from the unique (on the Burnin’ album), was a substantial spur to standard acceptance of reggae music typically and Marley specifically.
The timing of Clapton’s hit couldn’t have been higher. It reached the highest of the US chart in September 1974, a month earlier than the discharge of Natty Dread, the primary album to be credited to Bob Marley and the Wailers. With Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer now departed from the group to ascertain solo careers of their very own, Marley took maintain of the reins with new confidence and beautiful outcomes. Listening now to the opening run of tracks it nearly feels like a Best Hits assortment – “Lively Up Yourself,” “No Woman, No Cry,” “Them Belly Full (But We Hungry)” – earlier than you even get to the celebrated title monitor. “Natty Dread” was a soubriquet Marley had just lately acquired on the streets of Jamaica because of his lengthening locks which, as may very well be seen within the cowl {photograph}, had been starting to stream as freely as his music.
The songs had been notable not just for the richness of the melodies and wordplay but additionally for the vitality and creativeness of the concord preparations which had been provided by a newly-recruited vocal part the I-Threes, that includes Rita Marley (Bob’s spouse), Marcia Griffiths, and Judy Mowatt. Anybody who feared the departure of Tosh and Wailer may lead to a decline within the group’s vocal firepower would have been rapidly disabused of the thought by tracks similar to “Rebel Music (3 O’Clock Roadblock)” and “Talkin Blues,” each of which featured the blues-wailing sound of Lee Jaffe’s harmonica threaded between the haunting vocal chants and call-and-response preparations.
One other sense through which Natty Dread may need been mistaken for some type of hits compilation – even in 1974 – was Marley’s and co-producer Chris Blackwell’s persevering with coverage of re-recording songs that had already been launched in earlier incarnations of the Wailers. “Lively Up Yourself” had been a single in 1971; “Bend Down Low” had been a success for the Wailers in Jamaica as lengthy earlier than as 1967, and “Them Belly Full” had appeared earlier as a single referred to as at completely different instances “Bellyfull” and “Belly Full.” It didn’t matter a jot to the nice majority of followers who had been listening to these wonderful tunes for the primary time, however most positively not the final.
The rhythm part of the Barrett Brothers, Aston on bass and Carlton on drums, remained gloriously intact and there was a horn part readily available, which arrived just like the cavalry to take a number of of the songs romping residence to the ending publish. The melodies had been by no means lower than beguiling and if Marley’s voice didn’t get you, his lyrics absolutely would. “Them Belly Full (But We Hungry)” was one of many a number of songs that summed up the unimaginable energy of Marley’s music to determine a deep non secular sorrow or injustice and switch it into probably the most joyful track. “Forget your troubles and dance” was the kernel of this philosophy. And in “No Woman, No Cry,” a reverie concerning the hardships and emotional bonds cast when rising up together with his pals in Trenchtown, he created a track of timeless, evocative energy. Or did he?
The songwriting credit on Natty Dread have lengthy been the topic of conjecture. On the time of recording the album, Marley was at loggerheads together with his writer, Cayman Music, an organization owned by Danny Sims, who had additionally been his supervisor for some time in 1972. To be able to keep away from any extra of his royalties discovering their approach into the palms of Sims whereas the dispute remained unresolved, it’s thought that Marley assigned a number of of his personal songwriting credit on the album to different individuals. Thus we discover “So Jah Seh” a track that mirrored the singer’s rising dedication to the Rastafarian religion, formally credited to Willy Francisco – higher identified (although not a lot) because the percussionist Francisco Willie Pep. “Natty Dread,” a track through which Marley stood completely middle stage because the narrator, was credited to Rita Marley and Allen Cole. Most controversial of all was “No Woman, No Cry,” the provenance of which grew to become the topic of an extended, ugly authorized battle that lasted lengthy after Marley’s dying.
There’s a college of thought which places Natty Dread as Marley’s most interesting album, thus making it “the ultimate reggae album of all time” in keeping with Jim Newsom of allmusic.com. And but it barely dented the charts, reaching a peak of No.43 within the UK and simply scraping in at No. 92 within the US. The reality is, regardless of Natty Dread’s unarguable basic standing, Marley was nonetheless solely simply getting began.
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