Legend

As you may have noticed, I have a very soft spot for Bob Marley. My starting point when I was a teenager was Legend, which is a Bob Marley & The Wailers best of album, and as it happens, it’s also the most sold reggae record of all time. I’ve never owned a copy of this record before, all I had when I was younger was a burned CD from a friend. There are really only hits on here as far as I’m concerned, but now that I’m more familiar with the full catalogue, there are some glaring omissions in my book. But hey, you can only fit so many songs on one LP. Be that as it may, listening to this record again brings back a lot of happy memories. 

Paid In Full

Another classic from the golden age of hip-hop crossed off my want list. I can't stress enough how much my taste in music has been influenced by skateboarding. Videos used to be a great source to find new music, at least as long the music was shown in the credits. In the early 2000s, another skateboard related source entered my world: video games. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater was the shiny, cool game and it was admittedly a ton of fun and the soundtrack of each game was great. Thrasher's Skate and Destroy video game was always in the shadow of the THPS franchise, but I enjoyed it a lot as well and it had a fantastic soundtrack. 

Traditionally, Thrasher Magazine has been more associated with a no-frills, grimy approach to skateboarding and was closely aligned with punk rock, so when I got the video game and saw that it had an all hip-hop soundtrack and the booklet even gave a short history of hip-hop and the acts on the soundtrack, I was very surprised. Playing that game was when I first heard Eric B & Rakim and their song, I Know You Got Soul, was a favorite of mine. It only took me some 20 odd years to finally get a vinyl copy of their debut LP Paid in Full. 

Italian Press on Black on Island /???

There's a weird stamp on the A-side label. I can't really make out what it says, except for the word 'Italian'. I doubt it was done by the label, but I have absolutely no idea what it could be. 

Uprising

Last year I picked up a couple of Bob Marley & The Wailers records and I always knew I wanted to get more of their discography. When I saw this copy of Uprising sitting in the record store my friends and I went to for a really good price, I just had to get it even though there’s a stain on the bottom right corner. The songs on the A-side are alright, but on the B-Side there are some real hits. 

Jamming

I‘m aware that I have blogged mainly about hardcore and punk, but of course there are other genres that I‘m into as well. I’ve been listening to reggae since I was a teenager and that has never gone away. There‘s a lot of nostalgia involved obviously, but I still like the music and I find the lyrics much more interesting these days because I know more about the history of Jamaica and reggae itself. 

This is considered to be Bob Marley & The Wailers‘ magnus opus, and it‘s a really, really good record, but it‘s not my personal favourite in the band’s catalogue. 

This may be my favourite Bob Marley & The Wailers albums because it has a bunch of songs that I really love. Can‘t really go wrong with Kaya, Is This Love or Sun Is Shining.