Marcus Garvey
1975
Tracks
1. Marcus Garvey
2. Slavery Days
3. Invasion
4. Live Good
5. Give Me
6. Old Marcus Garvey
7. Tradition
8. Jordan River
9. Red Gold And Green
10. Resting Place
Well, that wasn't very impressive. Don't get me wrong, it was a decent reggae album. But after listening to Bob Marley, this kind of feels like a poor imitation. Even his name sounds like a rip off of Marvin Gaye. I was distinctly reminded of the band The Monkees that just were never quite as good as the Beatles.
Of course, I am not that much of reggae fan so delving deeper into the genre isn't really my idea of a good time. Still, it wasn't all bad. The lyrics of "Slavery Days" are deeply moving while "Old Marcus Garvey" had a nice melody. Still, lyric wise and talent wise, Garvey is no Marley. It is probably a bit unfair to compare him to the best, but it was hard not to when the style was so similar.
Overall, it didn't blow me away but it wasn't a complete waste of time.
RATING: 2/5
Burning Spear (aka Winston Rodney) is the name of the artist - Marcus Garvey was (I believe) a black civil rights leader in the early 20th century, so probably didn't name himself as an homage to Marvin Gaye
ReplyDeleteHaha I didn't actually think it was intentional but I didn't know that. Interesting...
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