Originally issued in 1970, {|Soul Rebels|} was the first album credited to {|Bob Marley & the Wailers|}, and it was also the band's first full-length collaboration with producer {|Lee Scratch Perry|}, for whom they had already recorded a string of fa... Read more

Originally issued in 1970, {|Soul Rebels|} was the first album credited to {|Bob Marley & the Wailers|}, and it was also the band's first full-length collaboration with producer {|Lee Scratch Perry|}, for whom they had already recorded a string of fairly successful singles. Working with the newly configured {|Upsetters|} band, {|Marley|} and crew delivered a strange and wonderful set of early {|reggae|} that at times plays fast and loose with the already established conventions of the genre -- on {|My Cup|} the beat sounds inside out, while {|It's Alright|} sounds like a slightly Jamaicanized version of {|Motown|} {|soul|}. Other songs, such as the beautifully harmonized {|Try Me,|} show their deep roots in {|rocksteady|}. One of the most arresting tracks on the album is the {|Peter Tosh|} sung {|Four Hundred Years,|} on which {|Tosh|} unburdens himself of some of his typically dread pronouncements in his rich, chesty voice. ~ Rick Anderson Less