Bob Marley & The Wailers: Uprising - 1980

 

Bob Marley's last studio album before his tragic demise is a melodic merging of aware, political material with a lighter skanking beat as opposed to the traditional roots, Rasta heavier beat. 

Al Anderson's electric guitar is used a lot too, emphasising the close relationship Marley always had with the electric guitar and how he was prepared to use it in a situation very different from its usual rock setting. Marley's reggae was often considerably enhanced by his use of electric guitar.

Coming In From The Cold makes for a superb, lively, singalong opener with Bob on great form, his gruff vocal adding to the song's appeal. Real Situation is a devout number, with Bob getting all theological. Bad Card is an often-forgotten song in the Marley canon, but it is a little underrated, lyrically finding Marley is moaning mode about the cards you are dealt. We And Them deals with social inequality, over a gentle shuffle with some lilting wah-wah guitar. "We no have no friends inna high society..." bemoans Marley. I wouldn't worry about it, Bob. Did you really want their friendship? 

Work is a bluesy, militant skank, a condemnation of anyone idling away their time, or Jah's time, no doubt. Marley has become a spokesman for the sensible, older generation, all of a sudden, intolerant of laziness. A bit like The Rolling Stones on Hang Fire. It is longer than the lighter tracks that came before it, and that seems quite suitable for such a solemn declaration. "If you ain't got nothing to do - work". sings Marley, as if hectoring some surly kids in the tenement yard. How things change. 

Zion Train returns to roots concerns featuring some fine drumming from the always solid Carlton Barrett.

Pimpers' Paradise has Marley sadly telling the tale of a fallen woman over some harmonious I-Threes backing vocals. It is a most agreeable, engaging song yet it tells such a forlorn story. It was unusual to hear Marley criticising a woman so blatantly, but he was also condemning the men who exploited her. "I'm sorry for the victim..." he sings. 

Could You Be Loved was the big hit single from the album - shuffling and catchy, almost dance-disco-ish in its cross-over appeal. It doesn't really fit in with the ambience and musical theme of the rest of the album. Bob has always liked a folky religious number and he provides another one here in Forever Loving Jah, a song I always find myself singing along to every time I hear it. 

Redemption Song is a magnificent oddity. Not reggae at all in this form. It is a haunting, emotive, heartbreaking ballad sung out against a lightly strummed, folky acoustic guitar. Along with Jimmy Cliff's Many Rivers To Cross, it is a non-reggae reggae classic. The full band version, played as a proper reggae song, is included as a bonus track, and, while truly excellent too, with some Rasta drumming and dub undertones, nothing quite matches the evocative, raw feel of this. It was the last track on Bob Marley's last "living" studio album. A fitting epitaph. Many years later, I visited Bob Marley's mausoleum in Jamaica. It was a touching moment for me to lay my hands on his sarcophagus and say a quiet "thank you". RIP.

Non-album track

Also dating from 1980 is Slogans, an underrated little gem of a track originally recorded by just Marley and an acoustic guitar with bass, drums and guitar parts (Eric Clapton, no less) added posthumously to great effect. It is, along with Jah Live, one of the great Marley non-album tracks.