Released December 12, 1975 Length 33:45 Artist Burning Spear Producer Jack Ruby Genre Reggae | Recorded 1975 Marcus Garvey
(1975) Garvey's Ghost
(1976) Release date 12 December 1975 Label Island Records | |
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Similar Burning Spear albums, Reggae albums | ||
Burning spear marcus garvey garvey s ghost 1976
Marcus Garvey is the third album by the reggae group Burning Spear, released in 1975 on Island Records, ILPS 9377. The album is named after the Jamaican National Hero and Rastafari movement prophet Marcus Garvey. A dub version of it was released four months later as Garvey's Ghost.
Contents
- Burning spear marcus garvey garvey s ghost 1976
- Burning spear marcus garvey full album
- Track listing
- Reception
- Legacy
- Burning Spear
- The Black Disciples
- Production credits
- Songs
- References
This was the first album by the group recorded for Island Records, whose founder Chris Blackwell had been instrumental in breaking Jamaican reggae artists Jimmy Cliff, Toots and the Maytals, and Bob Marley to an international audience. It was produced by Lawrence Lindo, better known by his handle taken from the assassin of Lee Harvey Oswald, Jack Ruby. Apparently, upon their first meeting, Lindo and vocalist Winston Rodney realized the opening track to this album, "Marcus Garvey." The backing musicians, whom Lindo named the Black Disciples, had been assembled from the Soul Syndicate and the Wailers.
On July 27, 2010, this album was remastered and released by Universal's Hip-O Records reissue imprint in tandem with the dub version on one compact disc.
The album was listed in the 1999 book The Rough Guide: Reggae: 100 Essential CDs.
Burning spear marcus garvey full album
Track listing
All tracks written by Winston Rodney and Phillip Fullwood except as indicated.
- "Marcus Garvey" — 3:27
- "Slavery Days" — 3:34
- "The Invasion" (W. Rodney, C. Paisley, P. Fullwood) — 3:22
- "Live Good" (Marcus Rodney, Mackba Rodney, Winston Rodney) — 3:14
- "Give Me" (W. Rodney) — 3:11
- "Old Marcus Garvey" — 4:03
- "Tradition" (D. Hines, R. Willington, W. Rodney) — 3:30
- "Jordan River" (W. Rodney, M. Lawrence, P. Fullwood) — 3:00
- "Red, Gold & Green" (A. Folkes, W. Rodney, P. Fullwood) — 3:14
- "Resting Place" (W. Rodney) — 3:10
Reception
Ed Ward in a 1976 review in Rolling Stone felt that the music was rootsy and compelling, but that it wouldn't be understood by American audiences, and that the lead song about Marcus Garvey wouldn't make sense to anyone who didn't know Jamaican culture.
Robert Christgau felt that it was the most African-sounding and most political reggae album to be released in America at the time.
Legacy
Jo-Ann Greene in an Allmusic retrospective summary feels that the album was a significant recording in roots reggae, though regrets that Island subsidiary Mango remixed the album too commercially, diluting some of the "haunting atmospheres" of producer Jack Ruby's original mix.
The album was included in Robert Dimery's 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die where Jim Harrington commented that he felt it had "a poignant blend of religious aspirations and cultural concerns".
Burning Spear
The Black Disciples
Production credits
Songs
1Marcus GarveyBurning Spear3:27
2Slavery DaysBurning Spear3:33
3InvasionBurning Spear3:20