Newsgroups: bit.listserv.allmusic
Date:         Fri, 8 Jan 1993 15:18:39 MEZ
From:         Hosko <RMCB@DLRVM.BITNET>
Subject:      Songs of Freedom

  Hi y'all, it's good to be back. My Xmas was one of the worst ever - we were
all ill and I spent 3 of my 4 weeks hols. in bed with broncitis. The Xmas
spirit just seemed to pass us by this year, and we cooked the nice big goose
that we'd bought only to stop it going bad - no one had an appetite. And with
all the medicin that I was taking I decided that it was best if I didn't
drink any alcohol. The only good thing was that I read all 720 pages of
Shapiro & Glebbeek' _Jimi Hendrix: Electric Gypsy_ - a great, well written
book that I can strongly recommend.

  For Xmas I got given Bob Marley's _Songs of Freedom_ 4-CD pack. After
listening to it a few times, all the way through, I would like to say that I
find it to be a very cleverly put together set. First, it is like a _best of_
and contains all his greatest hits in one form or another. Second, it's
excellent value for money (the total running time is 2 mins. short of 5 hours!
and it includes a nice 64 page booklet). Third, fans of Marley who've already
got all his records will still be happy to buy this because of the large
number of alternate versions and previously unreleased songs (also, don't
forget that it's a limited edition). Fourth, now that I've got this in my
collection I still feel the need to buy _Catch A Fire_, _Burnin'_, _Natty
Dread_, _Live!_ & _Exodus_, i.e. is doesn't make these albums redundant -
there's still lots of excellent songs on these albums that are not on _Songs
of Freedom_. In short this set treads on nobody's toes!
  Now lets take a closer look at each CD. I can tell already that disc 1 will
be the one that I'll be playing the most. At last we've got a good collection
of the Wailer's early work with good quality mixing and mastering - some other
collections of their early stuff have sounded terrible because of cronic
mixing, like pumping up the bass as far as it will go! I love the Pioneers and
therefore the highlight of this disc, for me, is _Simmer Down_ where Bob
couldn't sound more like them if he tried. Other nice tracks are the
original versions of _One Love/People Get Ready_ & _Stir It Up_, _Nice Time_,
_Back Out_, and of course _Small Axe_ & _Duppy Conqueror_.
  Disc 2 is THE disc in the set - it contains 2 tracks that tower head and
shoulders above the rest, namely the over 12 mins. long _Acoustic Medley (inc.
Guava Jelly/This Train/Cornerstone/Coma Coma/Dewdrops/Stir It Up/I'm Hurting
Inside) and _High Tide or Low Tide_ (a _Catch A Fire_ outtake). _Catch A Fire_
is my favourite Wailers album and this disc contains 3 songs from it, plus 3
excellent songs from _Burnin'_, the new single _Iron Lion Zion_, and rounds
off with a live version of _I Shot The Sheriff_ - what a disc!
  Disc 3 has a mid-tempo ballady feel to it, with numbers like _No Woman No
Cry_, _Jah Live_, _Johnny Was_, _Waiting In Vain_ and _Is this Love_. A good
thing about this disc is that it only contains 1 song that is lifted directly
from the album _Exodus_ and that is _Natural Mystic_, the other tracks that
have to do with this album are either extended or alternate versions. What
spoils this disc for me is the extended versions of _Exodus_ and _Jammin'_
that, good as they are, just go on too long. And, there's the track _Smile
Jamaica_ that I don't like at all!
  And now disc 4 - in my mind this is very weak and I shall only play it for
the live version of _Redemption Song_ that comes at the end (oh, and _One
Love/Peaople Get Ready_ which I've got a weakness for). The reason this disc
is not as good as the others is because it has to cover albums like
_Survival_, _Uprising_ and _Confrontation_, which I consider to be relatively
poor. No way do I consider _Survival_ good enough to have 6 of its songs
included here, PLUS a dub version of one of them, AND a 12" version of
another!
  To sum up, if you were considering buying _Songs of Freedom_ then do so,
you won't be disappointed. I will be playing it a lot, and it won't become a
dust-gatherer, like some CDs turn out to be. But, if I were to have to choose
between these 4 CDs and (for about the same price) his _Catch A Fire_+
_Burnin'_+_Live!_+_Exodus_ albums then I'd take the albums!


Hosko


PS. Would anyone care to given me a quick rundown on what topics were
    discussed while I was away - just incase I missed something juicy.
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