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Rasta Man Chant acoustically with just traditional Rastafarian hand drums as accompaniment. They then went into full band versions of a series of songs from the first two Island albums. The end of 1973 found the Wailers back in Jamaica preparing to em- bark on the English leg of the Burnin tour. This time Higgs also stayed in Jamaica, which left Bob and Peter to front the band. The reduced- strength Wailers played to small crowds who were not excited about the performances. The group played 11 shows in England, appearing at clubs and universities. The poor reception was made worse when Bob and Peter got into a fist fight and Lindo announced that he was leaving the group to return to the Now Generation band. With this, the Wailers headed in op- posite directions, leaving Bob in London to contemplate his next move. The year 1974 dawned with Bob back in Harry J s studio in Kingston, where he was recording new material with a backing band that consisted OUT OF THE GHETTO, INTO THE LIMELIGHT 25 only of the Barrett brothers and a keyboard player named Bernard Touter Harvey. The traditional tight vocal harmonies usually produced by Bob, Peter, and Bunny were now being sung by the female vocal trio, the I-Threes (Rita, Judy, and Marcia.). This relatively stripped down Wailers unit worked on new songs that reflected on Bob s ghetto youth as a means of escaping the troubles of the present. The group caught a break when they were asked to open for American Motown singing sensation Marvin Gaye when he played a benefit show on the island. The concert was sold out and was an excellent opportu- nity for the group to feature its new material. At show time, the Wailers band that took the stage again included Bob, Peter, and Bunny, plus the Barrett brothers rhythm section and Tyrone Downie on keyboards. The Wailers performance was a big hit and afterward Marvin Gaye s manager, Don Taylor, offered to manage them. Taylor was able to give Bob his most elusive desire, a guarantee of success in the United States, and ultimately Bob agreed to bring Taylor into the fold as the Wailers manager. SEARCHING FOR CROSSOVER SUCCESS Bob was excited about the possibility of crossover success in the United States, but he was dismayed that Peter and Bunny were now obviously planning to leave the Wailers permanently. Peter had long suffered from lack of exposure as Bob was the material front man for the band, and Peter s own more militant sentiments were not being used on the early Wailers records. Bunny also wanted greater freedom to release his own songs, and this, coupled with his refusal to tour, put him at odds with Bob s plans for the band s future. With the band in a state of crisis, Bob busied himself preparing the next Wailers album. Titled Natty Dread, the third Wailers and Island product was the first without Peter and Bunny. The record was a turning point for Bob, as he was finally striking out on his own as the principal songwriter of the band. In addition to Bob, the Barrett brothers, and Touter, the I-Threes provided vocal harmony. Uncredited performers on the album included Lee Jaffe on harmonica, and three horn players named Glen da Costa, David Madden, and Tommy McCook (the horn line of the Zap Pow band). With Bob now acting as a vocal soloist with a backing band, the new album art reflected his central role. He began the album with his approxi- mation of a Yoruba lookout call that signaled the dawn of the new Wail- ers band. The Yoruba are a group of people in West Africa that make up about 30 percent of the population of Nigeria, Benin, and Togo. The Natty 26 BOB MARLEY Dread album cover was an airbrushed picture of Bob alone in the middle of an abstract background of several colors, and the back of the album also depicted Bob only. As was the case with the previous Island Records releases, the recording was done in Jamaica and the mixing was done in London, under Blackwell s careful supervision. An oddity of this album was that it exhibited the Wailers only use of a drum machine. Drum ma- chine technology only became widely available in the early 1970s and the Wailers experiment with it indicated their interest in new technology. While in London for the mixing sessions, Bob and Family Man found the next Wailers guitarist, Al Anderson. Anderson had been playing in an Afro-rock band called Shakatu. However, he agreed to supply some guitar overdubs on Lively Up Yourself and No Woman, No Cry. After [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ] |