"Soul Revolution Part II" (CD review)

...by Bob Marley and The Wailers, rec. 1969, rel. 1971.

What are Real Groovy up to, selling this CD to me for a trifling $12?
The Clash, 30 years old.
This album, 40 years old...
Musicians today have a lot to live up to.
If you love Bob Marley, you may already have a copy of this, which, according to Wikipedia, is a dub version of Soul Revolution, with the vocals taken off.
However, on my copy, the vocals, Bob, Peter and Bunny, are coming through loud and clear!
As is every darned sound on the album.
Producer, Lee Scratch Perry - I rest my case!
For it was Perry who produced the early Wailers stuff, before Chris Blackwell signed them to Island and made them global successes - they took Perry's studio band with them, and he was right to be aggrieved at this, because there has never been a rhythm section like the Barrett brothers.
Perry excels in getting a warmth and clarity to the sound, using 2-track recording equipment (that's limited to recording 2 sound sources at a time, children - these days the sky's the limit and it's all digital) - an interesting exercise is to listen to the original Perry-produced Catch a Fire and compare it to the Blackwell version.
If you are less familiar with the Wailing Wailers and "the early stuff" (they go back to 1963 you know!), you will be mystified, if not enthralled (you may find it too raw at first, but persevere!) by the early versions, featured here, of Keep On Moving, Don't Rock My Boat, Kaya and Sun Is Shining....
As a musicologist I am curious about this album as a missing link between the earlier ska form of reggae, as it merged into rock steady, and later into the laid back tightness of reggae proper.
As a human being, I prefer simply to dance to the music!
Bob Marley, Duppy Conqueror - true dat!

G.