1974-1980 reviews on current reggae releases...

[stepping razor]

BLACK MUSIC OCTOBER 1974

SINGLES REVIEW:
By Carl Gayle:

PRINCE MILLER: Come On Girl / Soul Billy (Ashanti ASH 412).
Not what you`d expect from the compere/comedian supreme after Mule Train. Seems he`s decided to drop the "Count" bit and reveal more of his vocal talent. He produced it himself too, using strings, clipped guitar phrases, piano, and female backing vocals. A very pleasant surprise.

TOOTS AND THE MAYTALS: Time Tough / Version (Dragon 1024).
A great riff, great words, wonderful singing from Jamaica`s most distinctive voice. But makes an even better album track.

JACKIE ROBINSON: Personality / Stone Cold (Horse Hoss 50).
This version of Lloyd Price`s hit has energy and just enough exuberence to make it a hit.

JACKIE ROBINSON: Warm And Tender Love / Love Is A Game (Horse Hoss 43).
Hard to believe it is Jackie of the Pioneers singing: he disguises his voice behind an impressive impersonation of Percy Sledge and brings the song off nicely. Very satisfying.

GEORGE DEKKER: Drift Away / Upside Down (Harry J 6685).
Of the Pioneers George tends to be the most inclined towards earthiness towards roots reggae. The production (by Pioneer Sydney Crooks) is pretty sparse.

THE PIONEERS: Grandma / Jamaica Jerk Off (Trojan 7931).
Their best in ages. An updating of their 1968 hit "Nana" with clavinet riffs adding an extra dimension. It`s a double A side, but "Grandma" wins.

THE MAROONS: Rock Your Baby / Rosey Dozey (Harry J 6683).
Competent, but we expect much more from the Cimarons and this version of McCrae`s hit is hopelessly superfluous. The original B side is more interesting.

THE INNER CIRCLE: You Make Me Feel Brand New / TSOP (Trojan 7933).
One of the tightest, most competent sets of musicians in JA. Both sides demonstrate their virtues admirably. And although reggae versions of soul hits tend to lose their charm very quickly, this will sound great in discos.

B. B. SEATON: Dancing Shoes / Moon River (Virgin VS 111).
A fine vocalist who`s been under-rated for too long. Good uptempo funky/reggae but BB can do much better as far as `commercial` singles go.

HONEY BOY: Private Number / Got To Come Back (Ackee 534).
Slow and more moody than the original, even solemn. Not at all inspired music but not unpleasant.

BLACK MUSIC OCTOBER 1974: - VOL. 1 / ISSUE 11

peace

[stepping razor]

BLACK MUSIC OCTOBER 1974: - VOL 1 / ISSUE 11

UK REGGAE CHARTS OCTOBER 1974

REGGAE SINGLES:
1. Everything I Own - Ken Boothe (Trojan 7920).
2. Time Tough - Toots And The Maytals (Dragon 1024).
3. Can`t Resist Your Tenderness - Ginger Williams (Paradise 01).
4. Rock Your Baby - The Maroons (Harry J 6683).
5. Love Is Overdue - Gregory Isaacs (Attack 8066).
6. You Make Me Feel Brand New - The Inner Circle (Trojan 7933).
7. Rock The Boat - The Circles (Horse 55).
8. End Of The World - Gregory Isaacs (Dragon 0022).
9. Don`t Look Back - The Eagles (Cactus 33).
10. Sex Grand National - Matador And Fay (Magnet 041).
11. Margaret - Dennis Walks (Count Shelly 055).
12. Hold My Hand - The Starlites (Attack 8070).
13. I Admire You - Larry Marshall (Black And White CP 4326).
14. Cathy`s Clown - Jimmy London (Tropical 023).
15. Please Don`t Make Me Cry - Winston Groovy (Harry J 665).
16. Homely Girl - Jackie Robinson (Harry J 66740.
17. Sixpence - Max Romeo (Ackee 529).
18. Sweet Bitter Love - Marcia Griffiths (Horse 52).
19. Atlantic One - Ansell Collins (Attack 8075).
20. Warm And Tender Love - Carl Dawkins (Third World TW 001).
21. Soldier Round The Corner - Jah Ali (DIP 502).
22. Only A Child - Nicky Thomas (Trojan 7929).
23. Grandma Grandpa - The Pioneers (Trojan 7931).
24. Togetherness / Mr. Destiny - Teddy Davis (Orbitone OT 0020).
25. Shame And Pride - The Diamonds (Teen PS 4273).
26. Miracle Worker - Sydney Rogers (Ethnic 22).
27. Living For The City - Pat Rhoden (Attack 8072).
28. Mr. Brown - The Wailers (Trojan 7926).
29. Sweet Harmony - Lloyd Charmers (Horse 47).
30. Over The Rainbow - The Cimarons (Trojan 7919).

REGGAE ALBUMS:
1. Let`s Get It On - Ken Boothe (Trojan TRLS 83).
2. Jah Woosh - Jah Woosh (Cactus 103).
3. Harder Shade Of Black - Various Artists (Santic 001).
4. In The Dark - Toots And The Maytals (Dragon DRLS 5004).
5. Dusty Roads - John Holt (Trojan TRLS 85).
6. Build Me Up - Brent Dowe (Trojan TRLS 76).
7. 1000 Volts Of Holt - John Holt (Trojan TRLS 75).
8. Miracle Worker - Sydney Rogers (Ethnic ETH 2214S).
9. Presenting Winston Groovy - Winston Groovy (Trojan TRLS 88).
10. Officiall - Lloyd Parks (Attack ATLP 1009).
11. A Love I Can Feel - John Holt (Attack ATLP 1010).
12. The Dynamic Junior English - Junior English (Cactus CTLP 102).
13. In Time - The Cimarons (Trojan TRLS 87).
14. Hit Me With Music - Various Artists (Trojan TRLS 82).
15. No Man Is An Island - Dennis Brown (Studio One SOL 1112).
16. Jamaica`s Greatest Hits - Jah Ali (Atra 001).
17. Picture On The Wall - Freddie McKay (Attack ATLP 1013).
18. Big Bamboo Sample - Various Artists (Attack ATLP 1011).
19. Reggae Fever - Byron Lee And The Dragonaires (Polydor 246 0229).
20. Twenty Tighten Ups - Various Artists (Trojan TRLS 90).

Charts compiled with the assistance of the following record shops:
Don Christie, Birmingham 12; Black Wax, Birmingham 19; Record Corner, London SW12 and Roy Craggs, West Indian Music Appreciation Society.

BLACK MUSIC OCTOBER 1974: - VOL. 1 / ISSUE 11

peace

[stepping razor]

BLACK MUSIC OCTOBER 1974: Vol. 1 / Issue 11

COUNT OSSIE AND THE RASTA MYSTIQUE:
By Carl Gayle:

THE RASTA TRADITION in Jamaica is perpetuated in communal groups. Count Ossie and the Mystic Revelation of Rastafari live in a camp at the foot of Warricka Hill in East Kingston.

"It`s the most comfortable place I know," says Junior Lincoln, director of Ashanti Records and the man responsible for the release in Britain of the three LP set "Grounation".

"They live in shacks, or tattoos. But they have nice houses too within the same grounds. Some of them have normal jobs. And they raise their kids very well.

"But you have different types of rastafarians. You have the dreadlocks, and you have the guy who combs his hair, goes clean and goes to work. The dreadlocks, they don`t work. They might live off the land, some don`t. Some don`t work at all, they just exist. The genuine one cuts himself off from society completely except when he makes something with his own hands and comes down from the hills to sell it in town. People like the Mystics now, they don`t have locks. They comb their hair and they`re clean, super clean too".

Yet there are those like Bob Marley for instance who go by the doctrine which says "no comb must come to your hair".

"People like Count Ossie and the Mystics will dispute that," said Junior. "because Emperor Haille Selassie came to Jamaica and told them that there was nothing wrong in combing their hair and keeping themselves clean.

"When we were doing the album sleeve we had a picture of a `dreadlocks` on it. And when I took it down to Jamaica and showed them they went mad. They said `no man, we don`t want no dreadlocks` . . . Mystic Revelation, they`re people I`ve known since I was a little boy. They`ve been playing drums for twenty odd years, maybe thirty years. It`s the rasta way of life. The Grounation album came about because the recording facilities were available and somebody thought it would be a good idea to record the Mystics."

The rastafarian movement is above all religious, and pacifist. True rastafarians hold rigidly to the ten Commandments, and encourage brotherhood love, and spiritual unity and growth. Like all Christians, their passion for the Bible`s written word reveals itself in their mode of speech which is coloured with Biblical language and quotations. Rastafarians are Christians who believe however in the `living God`, Haille Selassie, Conquering Lion of Judah. They are further distinguished by their political standpoint, a philosophy which preaches spiritual and physical repatriation to Africa (Mount Zion) the land of out forefathers, the rightful homeland.

It was Marcus Garvey who first put forth the idea of a `back to Africa` movement at the first convention of the UNIA (Universal Negro Improvement Association) in Harlem in 1920, which he himself had planned. It was Garvey`s intention to establish communication with African nations so as to provide a means whereby those black people who so desired could be repatriated to Africa. But his effort with his steamship company--the Black Star Line--were sunk by rival forces in America who eventually succeeded in bringing Garvey to trial on charges of illegality concerning stocks in his company, and in having him imprisoned. Garvey had already planted the seed that gave rastafarianism birth however.

The rasta cult then, has been in existence long before Jamaica had a music to call its own. But it was not until the late fifties and early sixties that the movement gained real momentum, encouraged by the "black awareness" that inspired black Americans through the struggles of people like Malcolm X, Stokely Carmichael, the Panthers and others, and through the gradual political emergence of African nations themselves.
Carl Gayle:
Part 1

BLACK MUSIC OCTOBER 1974

peace

[stepping razor]

BLACK MUSIC OCTOBER 1974: Vol. 1 / Issue 11

COUNT OSSIE AND THE RASTA MYSTIQUE: - PT. 2
By Carl Gayle:

The rasta movement in Jamaica is not honestly a unified sect however, except in the belief that Haille Selassie is God. Even so, Haille Selassie hasn`t really encouraged the movement with any consistency. He has never been known to refer to his `title` in public and had disclaimed any sort of responsibility until recently when the Ethiopian World Federation was granted to assist in repatriation.

The Ethiopian Orthodox Church seems to be the one unifying body for rastas in Jamaica. But there isn`t a leadership, only a spiritual directive. And the movement`s only political objective seems to be repatriation. Not only rastafarian music but reggae music also has repeatedly proclaimed a "back to Africa" slogan which has now become over-used. The rasta sect has become so popular now--almost hip--that much of its credibility as a serious and dedicated cult movement has been lost.

"I remember when the word `rasta` was a dirty word, something abhorrent," said Junior Lincoln. "It`s easy for any young guy to locks his hair and say he`s rasta. But that`s not what it`s all about. One of the main reasons why I admire the Mystics more than any other rasta is because I`ve known most of them for years and have seen how they`ve lived in the time when `rasta` was a bad word even for me. But that was because of the way it was being promoted as violence and ganja y`know. It`s become a fad now in the same way. The middle class are now getting into rasta. This is why you still have to try and separate the genuine ones from the fakes. The real rasta is a reserved man. When he walks it`s like he doesn`t even want to touch the ground!"

The few recordings that Count Ossie and his drummers had made prior to "Grounation" include the great ska/folk standard "Oh Carolina", "So Long Rastafari" and "Whispering Drums". The group also contributed percussion work to the recordings of more popular artists like the late Don Drummond, who himself was a rastafarian. Producer Arnold Wedderburn, inspired by the ideals of a new company called New Dimension (which wanted to encourage producers to record at theie studios, and handle all the product), decided to produce the "Grounation" set in 1971.

Junior was present at the recording sessions: "The last thing I got was the brass sections," he said. "Cedric Brooks who did the brass arrangements he has now left. He has started his own group. I think Cedric just wanted to. . . . You see, Count Ossie was basically a percussion group, no brass or anything like that. Cedric came in with brass. It was a musical fusion. He now wants a new direction. But if there`s a tour over here he`d be with them. There`s still a brass section in the group but it`s not as dominant as before obviously. Maybe it`s a good thing because they can get back further down to the roots."

The Mystics musical individuality and cultural/social standpoint has given them a sore of esoteric appeal. Nowadays they perform mostly at State functions and banquets, whereas before the LP they`d be playing for themselves and their community in the hills, although they have toured the W. Indies and American universities. "But they still play whenever they get together, it`s a way of life."

The music of the Mystics demands your complete attention and spiritual participation. When you listen to "Lumba" you recognise how carried away by the music the thirteen musicians themselves must have been. Their anguished cries and vocal wailing histrionics tell you that much. The emotive drums combine with the melodic brass phrases, riffs and vocal chants to produce a highly charged atmosphere. You almost feel yourself being carried along by the pulse of the music. It is a spiritual, emotional, and physical force. And no piece of music on "Grounation" is more moving than the excellent "Bongo Man" which is at once peaceful and threatening.

"What I enjoyed most was watching them rehearse in their community when Randy Weston was down there. All the kids were there dancing y`know, that`s what the Mystics are all about." said Junior. "You put them on a stage so that more people can see them, but that`s not them. They`d tear up the Rainbow! But to capture them as they are in their community is impossible unless you film it."
Carl Gayle:

BLACK MUSIC OCTOBER 1974

peace

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Jah Rastafari

[stepping razor]

BLACK MUSIC OCTOBER 1974: Vol.1 / Issue 11

NEW BLOOD - SYDNEY ROGERS:

"MIRACLE WORKER" is the sort of song that makes you want to sing along. It has all the ingredients for a national hit but it probably won`t be, and it`s unlikely to even get radio play. It`s a shame, because Sydney Rogers, who wrote and sings it, is a talent with much potential.

Right now he`s been working as a storekeeper with Britain`s largest engineering group, where he`s been for the last three years.

Previously he`d been touring and singing with a band called the Mohawks.

"It was a drastic change from singing", said Sydney, "but I got married and adapted to it because let`s face it, how many reggae artists around can really make a good living on record sales? I had to work to stabilise my earnings."

Sydney`s first album strikes a fine balance in between authentic earthy rhythms and a polished overall sound.

And "Miracle Worker" is just about the best number on Sydney`s album of the same name. It has a catchy melody backed by a jaunty dance rhythm. Sydney`s vibrant but delicate vocals sound a little like the late JA singer Slim Smith`s, especially at the chorus.

Sydney`s "love" songs portray a fragile personality who`s always falling into hurtful emotional situations.

"I don`t like `protest` songs so I don`t write them. My songs are about love and life. `Miracle Worker` is about a girl I used to know. She made me feel more like a leader rather than a follower. I`m married to her now."

Sydney Rogers used to be a church choir boy before he came to England from Antigua in 1964, and started working as an apprentice engineer. "I didn`t like it much, I think apprenticeships are more or less `cheap labour` . . . I had a lot of admiration for people I knew who sang and I used to practice on my guitar at home. Some friends of mine had a band called the Wranglers and one night the singer had laryngitis. I always used to be around when they were rehearsing, I even knew their programme by heart. So they all decided to let me sing."

Sydney eventually joined up with the band after about two years. They changed their name to the Mohawks and began recording with Pama Records.

"We toured all over the Middle East--Egypt, Beirut, Lebanon y`know. And we did a lot of work in Germany on American bases. We used to be on the road every night from W. Berlin to Dusseldorf.

"We had a feature player in the group--the organist. Then we started doing vocals to his things and we cut `Let It Be` in `71 for Pama. It tickled the bottom of the Top Thirty.

"I used to write songs but I found that I couldn`t present any of them to the band. They either seemed to rush over it or they didn`t have the time to rehearse it. Whereas it was easy to copy a record from the State. They`d all listen very carefully and pick out their individual parts but they didn`t care to start from scratch. . . . We did record one of my songs, it was called `Looking Back` and it was on the B side of `Let It Be`. But we were mishandled by Pama, and I was the first one to leave the group. I realised I had certain latent talents as a writer which were being squashed."

Sydney only re-emerged from musical inactivity last year when a friend told him that Larry Lawrence was starting his company, Ethnic Records.

"We went and met Larry in the studio while he was working with Dave Barker. I had a song with me and when I got the chance we put down the rhythm and vocal."

Larry Lawrence released the single "Don`t Throw Stones" and recognised Sydney`s talents and potential.

He decided to make an album with him. It was recorded at Regent B and at Chalk Farm studios. Jamaican musicians (the All Stars) on tour in Britain at the time with Jimmy Cliff were used. They were: Gladstone Anderson (piano), Winston Wright (organ), Hux Brown (guitar), Jackie Jackson (bass), Mike Chung (drums).

"I play the guitar so it helped me to give them an idea of what I wanted but they still improvised. . . . I hope the public likes my music, but I think I have better things to come because this is just my first attempt."
Carl Gayle:

BLACK MUSIC OCTOBER 1974: Vol. 1 / Issue 11

peace

[stepping razor]

BLACK MUSIC OCTOBER 1974: Vol. 1 / Issue 11

BOB MARLEY - CONFESSIONS OF A RASTA MAN:
Picture by Dennis Morris:
By Carl Gayle:

IN 1964 a song called "Simmer Down" went to the top of the Jamaican radio charts and everyone started talking about the Wailers.

It was the group`s very first record (although two years before Bob Marley had made an unsuccessful solo attempt as a singer with his song "One Cup Of Coffee" for promoter Leslie Kong at Beverlys studios after being introduced by Jimmy Cliff). The talking has never stopped, indeed it`s gotten progressively louder.

in 1964, then, Bob Marley, Peter Mackintosh, Bunny Livingstone, Junior Braithwaite and Beverley Kelso became the Wailers. Beverley and Junior left the group around 1966 and the distinctive flexibility of the five voices on hit records such as "Lonesome Feeling" was cancelled out, leaving the more aggressive vibrance of the remaining three in harmony on a record like "Love And Affection" with Bob leading.

Junior had been the group`s best vocalist, taking a beautifully evocative lead on "It Hurts To Be Alone", a slow painful r&b styled ballad which Marley wrote.

But neither Junior nor Beverley were missed for long. Success was quick and plentiful--even if the naive youngsters never realised what, in terms of financial rewards, they were missing.

By then Bob was doing nearly all of the song-writing and lead singing (although one of the Wailers best ever songs--"Simmer Down"--was written and sung by Bunny while Bob had been in America). Like so many others, the Wailers had begun with promoter/ producer Clement Dodd on his Sir Coxsone label. During that early period (from 1964 to `67) the Wailers, or more appropriately Bob Marley, employed two or three distinct styles of writing. At first he was greatly influenced by the likes of the Drifters and the Impressions. Slow numbers like "It Hurts To Be Alone", "I`m Still Waiting" and "I Need You" were nothing but Jamaican attempts at American R&B even though the group`s first hit "Simmer Down" was neither slow nor sentimental, but a furious ska record in which Marley was apparently addressing trouble makers in general, telling them to "simmer down".

Marley`s appetite for fast tempo ska was evident with things like "Love And Affection", "What`s New Pussycat", "One Love" and "Rude Boy". The latter was an innovation musically and lyrically: "rude boy rough, rude boy strong". These words provided enough fuel for a whole genre of Jamaican music in the mid sixties. They gave birth to the "rudy" cult that people like Prince Buster, Desmond Dekker, and Derrick Morgan made a meal of. By the time the Wailers recorded "Let Him Go (Rude Boy Get Bail)" rudy records were the "in thing". Marley had found a style of writing, a subject matter, with which he could communicate and identify with the ghetto youth of Kingston, and which makes him and the Wailers more popular (in the place he aptly tagged "concrete jungle") than any other set of Jamaican musicians.

That`s also when the Wailers stopped singing about sentimental love in preference for sexually suggestive songs like "Put It On" (1966), "Bend Down Low" (1967), and "Stir It Up" (1968).

After leaving Clement Dodd, they formed their own label, Wailin Souls, in 1968. It was a failure. Their present Jamaican label, Tuff Gong, was formed in 1970 after Bob had returned to JA from a tour of Sweden with Johnny Nash. Nash, who had a hit with "Hold Me Tight" in `68, came to JA in that year and signed Marley to his own label, JAD. The tour resulted, plus a Wailers single on CBS in America called "Reggae On Broadway". Later of course Johnny Nash had hits with Wailers` songs like "Stir It Up" and "Guava Jelly".

The Wailers` biggest hits were released on the Tuff Gong label and were recorded with the help of producer Lee Perry, a friend of Bob`s. During this period (1969 to `71), Aston "Family Man" Barrett (bass) and his brother Carlton (drums) joined Bob, Pete, and Bunny and the best Wailers` band was born.
Carl Gayle:
Part 1

BLACK MUSIC OCTOBER 1974

peace

[stepping razor]

BLACK MUSIC OCTOBER 1974: Vol. 1 / Issue 11

BOB MARLEY - CONFESSIONS OF A RASTA MAN: - PT. 2
Picture by Dennis Morris:
By Carl Gayle:

This was the Wailers` "middle" period, their very earthy, and ethnic reggae period when they also established their tag--"rebel music"--by being radically anti-establishment with their lyrics which began to preach rastafarian / religious ideals. Their music has progressed on these themes and from those inspirations, becoming more stylised and less ethnic, but remaining as authentic as ever.

"Mr. Fire Coal Man", released around 1971, was one of the first and best in the "rebel music" style. Since then we`ve had "400 Years", "Small Axe", and "Duppy Conqueror" (a song describing Marley`s exuberance on his release from jail after a ganja rap and preaching the righteousness of Jah (God): "But through the power of the most I, them had to turn me loose".

We`ve had "Screw Face" and "Trench Town Rock", the group`s biggest hit, of which Bob has said: "It was a message to the police. We told them not to come and cold I (rastafari brethren) up, don`t brutalise us".

The only real "love" song in this period is the sensuous "Satisfy My Soul" with its dirge-like mood. Others like "Nice Time" and "Mellow Mood" (both recorded with Clancy Eccles) may have had "love" in mind but were also sexually suggestive both lyrically and musically. This style was emphasised when the group used "Stir It Up", "Kinky Reggae" and "Baby We`ve Got A Date" on "Catch A Fire", and when they used "Put It On" on "Burnin`."

The lyrical concept on "Catch A Fire" synchronises beautifully with the imaginative and excellent musicianship making the album more listenable than "Burnin" which also lacks "Catch A Fire`s" warmth and sense of atmosphere, but nevertheless has its high points, notably "I Shot The Sherriff".

The Wailers` music had moved into a third gear with Island Records, who released the "Fire" and "Burnin" albums. They were the first Jamaican group to be given the opportunities and advantages of a major pop company and have proved that the music they have to offer is as valid as anyone else`s, regardless of record sales. And their records continue to be anticipated in reverence like no other Jamaican musicians.

"Road Block", a song from their next album, sits comfortably at the top spot on Jamaica`s two radio stations--RJR and JBC--at the time of writing. It`s a mellow but powerful song with emotive lyrics and a haunting chorus that is all the more poignant for the background vocals of Rita Marley, Judy Mowatt, and Marcia Griffiths. It`s one of their best-ever songs.

"Natty Dread" is the title of the new album and might be the next single. A "dub" of it played, not too loudly, as I entered the Wailers` comfortable Kings Road abode in chelsea. They`re in Britain to mix the new album. Carlton fried dumplings in the kitchen while Bob and Family Man listened astutely to the record. Pete Tosh and Bunny Livingstone were absent. They`re back home in JA.

Natty dread has to do with dreadlocks. "Dreadlocks" is what a rasta with hair like Bob`s call his hairstyle. Not all rastas wear their hair in this fashion--untrimmed and uncombed, plaited and waxed. Inevitably the hair gets scruffy and knotted. Instead of "knotty" we say "natty". They are dreadlocks because such a hairstyle gives you a rugged or aggressive appearance. Such a rasta is therefore a "dread locks man", or a "natty dread".

The song is another powerful one with its repetitious lines "dread, natty dread now", and its catchy earthy riff . . . Family Man starts the tape machine and we listen to another track, "Revolution". The title alone reminds me of the Maytals: their next LP also has a track with an identical title. Weighing up the two, I decide that the Maytals` is slightly superior. But I keep my thoughts to myself.

Bob informs me to my delight that one of my all time favourites, "Bend Down Low" is on the new album with another Wailers` oldie "Lively Up Yourself". Other tracks from the new album include "So Jah Say", "Belly Full" and "Talking Blues". The rhythm tracks for two others have recently been completed but nothing is certain about them yet.
Carl Gayle:
Part 2

BLACK MUSIC OCTOBER 1974

peace

[stepping razor]

BLACK MUSIC OCTOBER 1974: Vol. 1 / Issue 11

BOB MARLEY - CONFESSIONS OF A RASTA MAN: - PT. 3
Picture by Dennis Morris:
By Carl Gayle:

Bob turns off the music and informs me that he likes to have a few earthy dance numbers in there to keep the disco fans happy. Then we get into the interview. . . .

**When you first started, did you set yourself any ideals to live up to?**

You mean if I had any aims! Well no, we didn`t have any direct aims. We didn`t know what it was all about.

**How difficult was it just to live then?**

Living was easy. We never had any responsibility. I used to live with my mother. But we know we didn`t get any satisfaction from the people who we were dealing with in the music business. But we didn`t suffer. We could tell you how guys robbed us but "living" was always there.

**What motivated you?**

My intelligence.

**What differences are there now for Jamaican musicians?**

There are differences but they don`t make any difference to me. I live the same way, how I want to live. My head is not in the material world. I`m a man who sleeps on stone. Go into the hills and rest. That`s my pleasure. I own the earth you know, all things belong to I.

**How do you measure success?**

I`m as successful as I want to be. Success is being alive and knowing you have to live. We love music and we play music. That`s a hard political question to answer because that`s not where my head is. I live a different life.

**Are there any particular things that you couldn`t do early on, that you can do now?**

Yes, we can spend more time in the studio, things like that.

**You used to sing songs like "What`s New Pussycat"--that sort of pop material. Nowadays your songs have "messages". . . .**

Well as time goes by and you grow up, Jah (God) makes you do the work when He wants you to. I used to have to learn to sing y`know. Sometimes when I was singing I didn`t really want to sing the song, I just wanted to sing. But if you can`t write a song to sing then you have to sing some other song.

**Weren`t there any influences?**

Those things like "What`s New Pussycat" weren`t really my responsibility, Coxon (his label owner) asked me to sing it so I did. It wasn`t as if I dug it.

**Would you sing things like that now?**

If I felt like it . . . (sings "what`s new pussycat, whoa whoa whoah" and laughs).

**You told me last year that Joe Higgs had been a great influence. . . .**

Well yeah but since I`ve said that already I don`t want to say it again. But me and Joe Higgs used to just sing together, rehearsing, and he was great.

**Have women inspired any of your songs?**

Sometimes. But I`m not the broken heart type y`know. I prefer to say "Stir It Up" or "Kinky Reggae" or "Bend Down Low". I don`t really get broken hearted. I feel "man enough" that if I`m even gonna sing a "love" tune I`m gonna show the girl how much I`m gonna break her heart. But still I`m a great lover you know. . . . Hey it`s cause you don`t know y`see. I`m a great great lover you know. . . (laughs). . . . Let all them women tell you. Right now I`m waiting on a woman named . . . to come round here!!!

**Is Rita Marley your wife?**

Rita is a nice sister, one of my sisters. She`s a female! (laughs heartly).

**But she also has your name, are you married to her?**

Bob Marley isn`t my name, I don`t even know my name yet. . . .

**I know what you mean but . . .**

No, I`m not a married man.

**Rita, Judy Mowatt, and Marcia Griffiths have been singing together as the I Three. Have they been recording?**

Yeah. The group is formed and they`re gonna be recording. And if we`re doing any tours they`re supposed to tour with us. They`re the background singers on our new album.

**Would you say you`re a disciplined musician?**

We don`t go to school. But it is important that everybody in the group understand each other and try and meet the requirements within the group.

**What caused the apparent break up of the group?**

The break up is not the breaking up of the group. It hasn`t broken up, the group is there. If I or anyone else wants to do some music by himself we can still do it. If we want to sing together we can sing. If we don`t want to we don`t.

**Will Wire (Earl Lindo--keyboards) be playing with you again?**

No, I don`t think so.

**What about Pete and Bunny?**

Yeah, we`ll still play together.

**Why aren`t they here in Britain?**

Well people just do what they want to do. Just the other day we played together on Marvin Gaye`s show in Jamaica. but the thing is that some people don`t like touring because it`s hard. Well sometimes I feel that I have to get out. When I thing of my responsibility I have to make certain moves to secure myself. So if Brother Bunny and brother Peter feel like they don`t wanna tour then. . . . But Jamaica is a little bit too small for me, police will kill me. I can`t allow that, I have to look for some way where I can move.

We sang together for eleven years and right now a man feels like he can cool it for a year and make something for himself. Peter has an album coming out, Bunny has one coming out, and I`m working on one.

**Have you ever been accused of selling out, making so called commercial ,music?**

We make music that we can play. What is commercial music, music that sells to pop people? How many of my albums sell to pop people? We live in Jamaica. If we were in JA you`d ask me some different questions.

**Have you been recording with Scratch (producer Lee Perry) recently?**

No. Scratch has a little studio and I went down there one day but we haven`t done anything together recently.

**When you recorded things like "Duppy Conqueror" and "Small Axe" with Scratch four years ago, how much did he contribute?**

We worked very good together. Anyone who I work with has to contribute to the music `cause I use everyone`s ideas. Even if you didn`t know anything at all, any time we meet it`s music `cause I`m just a music tree. So if you even come to the studio where we`re playing and you can play a little guitar you might have to go and dub on something because it`s music. . . . I don`t feel like I have a bright glow shining `round me. I know that I`m just as ordinary as ordinary can be. That`s how I feel, true true!

Carl Gayle:
Part 3

BLACK MUSIC OCTOBER 1974

peace

[stepping razor]

BLACK MUSIC OCTOBER 1974: Vol. 1 / Issue 11

BOB MARLEY - CONFESSIONS OF A RASTA MAN: PT. 4
Picture by Dennis Morris:
By Carl Gayle:

**Which songs do you prefer from the last LP?**

Well I did really love "I Shot The Sherriff" because it was saying something, and I love what Peter and Bunny did. Things like "Hallelujah Time" y`know.

**What was "I Shot The Sherriff" really about, was it just a simple story?**

It`s a simple story. But y`know I don`t wanna get involved in that too much because. . . . But you can imagine the feeling you have to have to make a song like that. It`s like you`d tell the police . . . well it`s lucky I never said "I shot the police" `cause that`d be a different thing! You just have to switch him quick: "I shot the sherriff" papa, not the police . . . (laughs).

**Can a song like that have any physical reprecussions?**

I was just expressing feelings, but those kind of songs can have a whole heap of reprecussions.

**What was the audience reaction like in America when you were on the bill with Sly And The Family Stone?**

The audience never really understood what was going on too well. Only when the sound was right. We went through a little sabotaging you know. But when the sound was right, the PA system, then the audience go off on it. But if you have a guy (sound controller) `round there who don`t know `bout your music and then he`s f . . . around. . . . If he picks up the organ too loud, the bass too loud, and the music sounds. . . . Nobody`s gonna dig that.

**What do you do when you`re not touring or recording?**

In Jamaica we`re always well occupied. Most of the time we try and help some brethren to do certain things.

**What kind of things?**

We`re occupied in some different type of way every day. Some movement, or just talking to people and meeting people to maybe try to help them out of trouble y`know.

**Are you able to do that because you are the Wailers, because you are Bob Marley?**

No. You can only do that because you have the head to do it. Regardless of who I was I`d do it the same way.

**Would you agree that the Wailers are very popular?**

The Wailers have the two number one spots in Jamaica right now (RJR and JBC radio) with a song named "Road Block" so you can`t be more popular than that.

**What is your popularity due to?**

I don`t think I`m so popular. People have only heard about me, nobody knows me. I can count the people who know me personally. . . .

**But you just said the Wailers were popular?**

Well if you`re dealing with popularity in a commercial world in music. . . . To tell the truth we come with music and it`s just the music. King David is the greatest musician so music `ave to play. Now it`s reached the stage where music goes on records and sells and it happened to us because we can do it.

**Who are you really communicating to through your music? It must be more specific than "the whole world" because we know that the vast majority don`t even get the chance to listen. . . .**

Most of the time I`m communicating to the people. But you`re asking me a political question again and I`m not of politics. It`s righteousness. Don`t put me in those realms. Hey, we could stop coming to England you know! We could go into Africa to. . . . I met Taj Mahal the other day and he said "this music you`re playing man it`s played in Ethiopia." So you can see what kind of music this is. It`s not even my music, this is reggae, the King`s music.

**Is it important to you that people like your records?**

It`s very important to me that people get the message. People buy the records and some of the music is for dancing. And this thing is not political. Right now I say "never let a politician grant you a favour" and a politician couldn`t say that. So I`m not into politics.

**You say it`s not political but songs like "Slave Driver" and "Trench Town Rock" definitely have political messages. Your new album also has a song called "Revolution"**

Well what about "right" and "wrong"? It takes a revolution to make a solution. Never let a politician grant you a favour.

**Is itimportant to you to be regarded as the best?**

Not to me but to the Wailers. It is important that we play good music. It is important because we travel and play in England and in America. And it works out right!

**If you were rich would you still tour and make music?**

I have enough money y`know. But I don`t believe in this individual elf thing. Right now there are about 600 people in Jamaic dying to see me come home and they`re not musicians, they`re just my brethren. That`s how we live. So when you see me here I just come to play music. The amount of music we have within us nobody can buy it out.

**What motivates you still?**

I love music so I play. Nothing can stop me. Only Jah can make me stop. regardless of what people might think fortune and fame is . . . I don`t care about that. I`ll go anywhere and play music.

Carl Gayle:
Part 4

BLACK MUSIC OCTOBER 1974

peace

[stepping razor]

BLACK MUSIC OCTOBER 1974: Vol. 1 / Issue 11

BOB MARLEY - CONFESSIONS OF A RASTA MAN: PT. 5
Picture by Dennis Morris:
By Carl Gayle:

**What are your goals now?**

To be in Africa. But not to run away and leave 600 or 6,000 of my brethren just because I can afford it. we want repatriation. We might not be doing anything towards it but we`re playing music. And it`s a revolution we`re dealing with in that respect. But we`re not political revolutionaries.

**What do you mean when you say you`re a rasta man?**

Don`t I look like a rasta man to you?

**Surely it`s not just what you look like?**

No. You have to live up to certain principles to be a rasta man You have to know that His Imperial Majesty, Emperor Haille Selassie is the true and living God. If you can really know that and do good things for yourself and others then you are rasta . . . I`m not a leader y`know, I`m just an ordinary sheep in the pasture. So I couldn`t know what`s going to happen. All I know is that rasta man is of the twelve tribes of Israel and they`re coming back together. Now His Imperial Majesty, Emperor Haille Selassie, has granted them this Ethiopian World Federation so that the black man can come home. I`m a member of Charter 24, the twelve tribes of Israel. Sometimes we go to meetings y`know. . . . So I`m a rasta man playing some music. I love sound in music and the music helps.

**Why do you have your hair in locks?**

Plenty reasons!

**Such as?**

The first thing is, when you take the vow to be a rastafarian no razor nor scissor must come to your head. You must let the locks of your head grow, that`s what the Bible says.

**What music do you listen to?**

Let me tell you. right now I couldn`t afford to buy a record changer and sit down in my yard and have a selection of records and play and listen to and all that. That`s not my trip. My trip is I just get up and walk. I might hear some music playing in a dance hall and I go over there and a fight breaks out and I`m gone. It`s like that.

My grandfather now, used to have a sound system, that`s where I used to listen to most of my music when I wanted to. He used to play a whole heap of calypso and one or two meringue. Everybody in my family was musical. . . . The most thing I listen to is reggae. But they play the music too loud at dances and I can`t stand loud music.

**How was it that you, the Wailers, got the chance to record with Island?**

We were over here with Johnny Nash and we didn`t like what they (Trojan) were doing so we checked Island and did a deal with them. . . . We were in Jamaica and we heard that Trojan released our records. We came over to check Trojan and we can`t find the guys there. Imagine, we`re in Jamaica, we don`t know these people over here. We make our records, spend our money, put them out. They just take one of our records, bring it to Britain and cut records off it and sell it. plenty of them man! And not even the real quality! Even "Trench Town Rock", the majority of them. The only ones they should have are the ones where they did a deal with Lee Perry. So the only thing I could do was check out Island.

**How much better is the deal with Island?**

Right now I don`t really understand them too good. It`s like they`re trying to show us that they built us and bla, bla, bla. . . . And I can show them that there are companies in America who`re offering us half a million dollars to come to them. But I still, through my conscience, will let them have another album. But I don`t really like the way they handle the business that much. But we have a lawyer coming to check out what`s really going on.

**Do you think that Island has had an influence on the way you make your music now?**

No they can`t influence the music.

**What are your thoughts on the new album?**
It`s coming closer to what we really want to deal with. Sometimes I just let go myself y`know and take what I get. Sometimes I`m just afraid to say do that . . . I hear something going wrong and I can`t say it! But I think this one really comes nearer to what we want.

**What effect has the Wailers` music had on the rest of Jamaican music?**

It`s made them think bigger. You know, show them that we`re no underdogs. We`re just big! Even the youth can respect himself and love his dreadlocks. Plenty guys can`t do this (points to his hair) but I`m glad I can do it. And I don`t feel like it`s a burden.

**What have you achieved through music that you`re proud of?**

My direction. Music keeps me calm. If I wasn`t music the Earth would be upside down. Music is the highest in the realms. I know I was born with a price on my head in them ways. I felt it from I was very very small.

**ALBUMS:**
The Wailin Wailers (Studio One).
The Best Of The Wailers (Beverlys).
Soul Rebel (Upsetter) and (Trojan in England).
Soul Revolution (Upsetter).
Catch A Fire (Island).
African Herbsman (Trojan).
Burnin (Island).
Rasta Revolution (Trojan).
Natty Dread (Island).

Carl Gayle:

BLACK MUSIC OCTOBER 1974

peace

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Jah Rastafari