R+ ...maybe you can tell me ....why do white guys like .....

[Tropicana]

Compare which do you like better:

Stir it up - Jamaican Version:

Stir it up - International Version:

[Tropicana]

Do you think Bob Marley would have crossed over without the overdubs that appeal to White guys?

[Tropicana]

[Tropicana]

FYI this is what inspired this thread. Dem a ram dis TV commercial dung we t'roats in Canada now.

[Reggae plus]

Well...I'm not going to comment on any of the videos because I don't play or watch videos on my computer...or on the TV for that matter. It's a personal thing. For me music is for my ears, my mind, my soul. Music is only for the eyes when it is performed live. Otherwise the most important aspect becomes the visual and when THAT happens music takes a backseat, nosedives and dies. Hence 'radio' of these past 15 - 20 years. Dominated by pre-fab JUNK. Junk which hasn't changed, progressed or moved one meaningful iota for almost 2...count 'em T W O decades.

There-in lies the answer to your question Trops.

Back in the day...I mean WAY back in the late 50s/early 60s...babylon tried to drum the rock out of rock 'n' roll. Elvis was sent into the army. Chuck Berry was arrested and tossed in the slammer. Jerry Lee Lewis was attacked and thrown out of respectability. The 'rockers' were tossed, dismissed, died or excommunicated from mainstream viability and all we were left with [with a few exceptions] was an onging onslaught of Bobby this and Bobby that and musical pablum suitable for parents. Not unlike much of the poop we're fed these days...it all sounded the same, followed a formula and didn't challenge the senses.

Then along came a whole new set of sounds...coupled with imagination, creativity, musical virtuosity, presentation and advancing production values...not to mention stereo.

The same old/same old was done. Banished. Replaced by a brave new world of out-of-this-world musicians, song [and lyric...see BOB here] writers...and ever so many of them in some way shape or form while speaking a truer language paid tribute to all of those great hidden artists from the 60s/50s/40s and even older who had been shunted to the sidelines by white 'cover artists' who re-did the original Black [RACE] music for 'gentile' ears. [and racist media outlets]

These artists featured here are by and large all in the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame. It wasn't just "white guys" who liked 'em. So did women. Ended up many of the Black artists [male and female] honoured by the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix [who learned most of his 'tricks' from Buddy Guy] liked them for a variety of reasons too.

It was a brave new world. At least it was for awhile. But it's been shut up and shut down by babylon yet again. It still exists mind you. It just doesn't get played much on or by the mainstream. Just like Reggae...which has also been stolen away and turned into a joke business. Yet great artists still exist. They just don't get their share of attention.

Why? Not because that's what people want. That's what the media barons want. That's what babylon wants. Your average 'joe' just doesn't get the chance to hear it, listen and decide/choose...unless he or she takes the time to investigate and explore.

If there ain't no POWER in the music and no CREDIBILITY in the lyrics then what's the point???

"well....you can dance to it."

It just makes me wretch.
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There is no doubt in my mind that Bob's association with Island Records waas aboslutely HUGE in terms of his international success. [and not just with white people but with men and women from all over the globe] It was content for sure but style and presentation...and FAR advanced production values allowed Blackwell to market Bob to the Rock audience...to the world. Concert attendance records and albums sales suggest that it all worked out extremely well. But it never would have happened if it hadn[t been for Bob...and his lyrics. Would he have made it without Blackwell? Without Family Man? Without Junior on lead guitar? Maybe. But associating with all of these positive influences on the finished product didn't hurt.

[a little blasphemy? I think Bob was smarter and had a WAY better ear than either Leslie King or Lee Perry. He kept looking 'til he found what he wanted and needed. Once he found it you notice how he stayed with it? Island gave Bob all the freedom he needed to do want he wanted. You can easily hear it too.]

[Tropicana]

Bobby this and Bobby that and musical pablum

You mean like this...

I like the Bobbies but you're right it is pablum.

[Tropicana]

Oh you forgot Frankie.

This is a good satire of that genre....

This is also pablum...but I like it.

Still reading.

[Tropicana]

All valid points. I like some of it like Born to be Wild but too much wah-wah-wah does great on the ear drums after a while.


Sometimes Lee Scratch Perry came up with something brilliant based on Bob's music.

[Tropicana]

Now take something like Long Tall Sally.....


The Original

Sanitized for the mainstream....they tried hard ...well done but...not the same power though. It has the wah-wah guitar in places.

[Reggae plus]

I'm not kickin' Lee Perry. He was great. That Peeni Walli lp he did with an all-star cast 10-12 years back was outstanding. His track record is clear and true. Just sayin' that Bob had a different vision and sound in mind and accomplished it.

Sun is Shining is one of my all-time favourite songs. I prefer the post Perry Island version. It captures a feel, a mysticism that Perry didn't see or hear. Bob did. And he made it happen.

Beatles doin' Little Richard? They did it out of love...same as when they recorded a Smokey song and other Motown tunes BEFORE Motown became huge. Maybe they helped that to happen. Anyway Smokey was so amazed and impressed that he reciprocated with Yesterday. It was a mutual admiration society.

It certainly wasn't Pat Boone thiefing Fats Domino.

[Tropicana]

Yes Smokey was on the episode of The Sixties that aired last night and he did say that.

Yes you can feel the love when The Beatles perform those R& B songs.....it's some of their best performances....they showed one live performance of this song by the Beatles on The Sixties last night.

[Tropicana]

Here is another example...again check out the guitar:

You can see The Beatles are enjoying themselves:

[Tropicana]

The first version of this song was recorded by The Top Notes and it was produced by Phil Spector.

Here are the Isley Brothers:

Compare it to this:

[Reggae plus]

Trops...I have a HUGE appreciation for ALL KINDS of music...and genres. Reggae...PLUS. Notice I stipulated M U S I C. I couldn't give a rat's posterior about computer generated beats , bass and instrumentation performed by great looking people who can't sing, write/compose or play a note.

I have a great collection of old Blues dating back to Ma Rainey. Bessie Smith, Ledbelly and up to now. I enjoy 'some' Classical...and in light doses. I DIG Rock 'n' Roll...which began with Big Band Cats and R & B wizz kids...not Bill Haley and his Comets. [or Sha Na Na]. I even like some of the old Pop music from the 40s-80s. SOME. I learned through my Jamaican family and friends to even finally NOT write all Country music off as red-neck tripe. Hell...if Jamaicans can dig it then who am I to label it such?

What I never liked...and this DOESN'T include 'toasters' like U-Roy...is rap and hip-hop. [And hip-hop/computer generated 'pop'. Make that pap.] Stagnate, sterile, music-less enactment of dance party sounds. This is the 'groove' which stole Reggae and Dancehall and turned it into North America swizzle leaving Jamaican influence and creativity in its wake. And that tripe hasn't progressed an INCH since the late 80s/early 90s. It's dead. It's like only having ONE riddim...a computer generated nod of the disinterested cap to Jackie Mittoo.

'Music' has never...since the dawn of recordings...been as devoid of vision as what we've been saddled with since video killed the radio star. Music for the eyes beat down music for the ears...with virtually nobody watching MTV/MUCH Music for THAt anymore yet radio still plays it. So now what do we get coming out the ying-yang? 'Music' for the baxide...to bauxite.

Why do you think I stopped ReggaePlus on the Internet...24/7? For 5 years I was one of the top 3 highest rated Reggae based radio stations on-line. Even beat Irie FM. They legislated that I would have to double my costs by paying money directly to the record companies. The record companies? Not the artists? Not the composers and lyricists? NO FREAKING way I was ever going to feed those old pirates...yes they tried to rob I.

I'd have been funding their poop.

So yes. Give me all of the artists you've featured in this thread. Give me variety. Give me different genres and perspectives. Give me music from around the WORLD. And...YES...most importantly...for the sake of a better eternity...give me T A L E N T.


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By the way...and this is well after this previous onslaught of verbiage directly above was posted....Speaking of TALENT...a relatively 'new' guy...only in his 30s...who started appearing LIVE on the BIG stage back when he was only 12 THANKS in a huge way to BB King who invited him to play with HIS 'crew' ...is one guitar GREAT. The guy is versatile to the enth degree...and one of the all time best. Look up Joe Bonamassa. MAN!!!

I betcha even Ernest Ranglin would sing his praises. Lynn Taitt and Dwight Pinkney too.

[Peasie]

T I learned through my Jamaican family and friends to even finally NOT write all Country music off as red-neck tripe. Hell...if Jamaicans can dig it then who am I to label it such?

Yep. A lot of people in Jamaica love country music. When I would spend time in the country, Charley Pride, Jim Reeves, and Connie Francis "Tennessee Waltz" were constant refrains on the radio