Review:

on 2011-04-04 CharlesMartel Said:

Every now and again, a newspaper (and I use that word with caution in this case) puts out a decent or half-decent free CD as inducement to buy it. The existence of this CD, rather oddly entitled Bob Marley is indeed the only reason why I would buy such a trash rag as the Daily Star. Truth be told, I paid for my copy at a motorway service station, took out the CD, and left the rest on the counter for the shop to do with as it wished. You don't read the Daily Star - you look at the pictures; there's no news in the Daily Star - unless you consider lurid stories of a man being raped by a chicken and the latest antics of the silicone mammaries attached to some stupid stick insect bimbette to constitute news.

I say this CD is oddly titled, for less than half the tracks on it are actually by Bob Marley, whose face also adorns the front cover. Clearly, the newspaper publishers and the promoters of this particular promotional stunt felt that the name of Bob Marley was enough to get people to buy it without looking much further into it. Well, guilty as charged, because I went and bought it on the strength of that name. The result is a mixed feeling.

The eight other tracks not by Bob Marley are included as bonus tracks and are by eight different unsigned acts whose musical style bears no relation whatsoever to Bob Marley. I can only presume they are part of a new crop of British acts, non mainstream but not exactly indie either. Where they came from is unknown. Why there are on this CD is a mystery. The only thing I can think of is that they are there simply to fill up an empty space. As to who picked them again there is no indication, but I would be surprised if the publicity firm involved in this did not have some links, however indirect, to these acts.

First of all, the Marley tracks. Anyone who was thinking they were going to get a greatest hits compilation for free will be severely disappointed. The tracks here are from Marley's years in the early seventies, before he became famous. Songs such as "Trenchtown Rock" and "Small Axe" might not be as well known as his later commercially successful songs, but they show Marley in his formative years. What is instantly noticeable is that, the quality of the production and the use of fewer horns apart, the sound is exactly the same as during his years of commercial success and fame. His style has barely changed at all - it has just filled out a bit. For that reason, I have always felt that Marley was not in the same class as others he worked with, particularly Peter Tosh with whom he began his career with the Wailers many years before.

And the bonus tracks. Mostly these are middle of the road and humdrum offerings from a variety of artists who were unknown at the time this was put out and, on the strength of this, are likely to remain that way. There are some mildly entertaining electronic tracks, a couple of Katie Melua sound-alikes and an instrumental from a band with the unlikely name of Mikeyrowe.com which is probably the best track here. In all honesty I had never heard of any of them before and I seriously doubt if I hear anything from any of them again.

Thankfully, I only paid 85p for this.
Rating: 5/10