Rita Marley: Who Feels It Knows It - 1981


The highlight of this album from Bob's missus was the single that caused a lot of kerfuffle - One Draw. 

It was a song in praise of the sacred herb and was unsurprisingly banned by the BBC. The title track is very Bob Marley-esque, complete with killer guitar solo. Rita’s voice is great on this, as it is throughout the album - clear and bright. There are also Rasta-orientated numbers present - Jah Jah Don't Want, Good Morning Jah, A Jah Jah and Thank You Jah. Rita also covers Delroy Wilson's I'm Still Waiting in fine easy skanking fashion. 

There is an innate soulfulness to Rita's delivery that she lends to the material on here, making this, and Judy Mowatt's offering from the same period both very fine albums. Both singers prove that they were not just backing singers, and were worthy of releasing albums in their own right. Lioness Of Reggae is another easy skanking collection of recordings from Rita, including some that appear on on the above album as well. 

The highlights being Harambe, the Wailers-ish Who Feels It Knows It (check out the guitar solo), King Street, That’s The Way and the lovely, lilting and afore-mentioned Thank You Jah. A fair amount of the album is praise Jah devotional fare, but all is delivered against an easy melody and with Rita's honeyed vocals sugaring some of the fire and brimstone messages.


Also present was the controversial single in praise of the sacred herb, One Draw.


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