In honor of Bob Marley’s birthday I grabbed the two compilations I have – the ‘Greatest Hits at Studio One’ disc of early Wailers songs and the ‘Songs of Freedom’ boxset (one of the original issues, numbered 354,687). ‘Songs of Freedom’ was originally a limited edition release, a concept I have always found quite laughable. On the one hand, EVERYTHING is limited – there is only so much matter in the universe – on the other, if something is selling well enough there will always be another ‘special release’ (just see Disney’s endless re-releasing on its movies). Obviously it is a marketing ploy. The question is will this kind of marketing survive once the physical artifact of the purchase has disappeared?

My dad had ‘Legend’ while I was growing up. A great compilation, and it was my main exposure to Bob Marley until I started working at Tower. I was surprised to see how many albums Bob Marley had and how expansive his career was. I picked up the ‘Songs of Freedom’ box set the day it came out. What I love about the set is the way it presents such an amazing retrospective of his career and how his music (and the musical tradition he was working in) changed. I hadn’t heard his earlier ska recordings before, and enjoyed the different mixes and recordings of the songs that had appeared on ‘Legend’. But it is tracks 5-7 on disc 2 that is the jewel on these discs. ‘Guava Jelly’ into the “Guava Jelly/This Train/Cornerstone/Comma Comma/Dewdrop/Stir It Up/I’m Hurting Inside” acoustic medley into the full bad version of ‘I’m Hurting Inside’. Bookending the medley with the songs that begin and end it was a move of genius, and it felt to me more like a friend was making me a mix disc then compiling a 4 disc box set. The acoustic medley is a beautiful snapshot of Bob Marley in what seems to be a personal moment that a tape recorder just happened to catch.

The ‘Studio One’ disc is one I found used and picked up maybe 6 or 7 years ago. I really liked the earlier recordings on the box set, and was excited to find this disc sitting in a bin one day. There is a great cover of ‘And I Love Her’ by The Beatles, and the heavy R&B influence is apparent throughout the disc (especially in ‘I’m Still Waiting’), while at the same time the ska horns make their presence quite known. The biggest surprise on the disc to me though was his version of ‘Sinnerman’. Nina Simone’s version of this song is one of my favorites, and I was surprised to love the Bob Marley version almost just as much.

Like many musicians who create greatness then die young, it is often tempting to wonder what would have happened if they had lived longer. Would they be able to keep on the trajectory they were on? Would they sell out? No way to know of course, but when I hear the acoustic medley on the ‘Songs of Freedom’ box, I wonder if Bob Marley would have found a way to start escaping the large crowds that his concerts were drawing. I have seen pictures of him performing and he appeared as such a huge figure, but because of the acoustic medley the image I tend to get of him in my mind is him sitting alone with an acoustic guitar performing his songs in smaller settings.