As a fan of a wide variety of popular (and not-so-popular) music from the 1950s (and sometimes even earlier) up through the present, one of my bucket list projects for years has been to put together a list of my 100 favorite songs of all time. At some point I decided that, once I got around to figuring that out, I could put it out on a blog, for the infinitesimally small proportion of the Internet world that might be interested. So, here we are. While the Top 100 will be a major focus, I also plan to post on a variety of other musical (and occasionally non-musical) topics, in which you may or may not be interested. (If a particular posting doesn’t ring your bell, you’re only a few clicks away from a dancing cat video on YouTube.)

Tuesday, May 11, 2021

Favorite Best-Of Albums: Bob Marley & The Wailers – Legend

(I actually wrote this a few days ago, but decided to post it on May 11, which is the 40th anniversary of Marley’s death.)

 

This is pretty much a no-brainer; it contains most of Marley’s most famous songs, and has sold over 20 million copies. If you’re going to have only two reggae albums in your collection, this has to be one of them. (The other would be the soundtrack to the movie The Harder They Come, featuring Jimmy Cliff.)

 

Because there are 16 tracks on the album, coming up with my list below was as much a matter of what to leave out as what to include. The only omission I don’t regret is “Three Little Birds” – not because it’s a bad song, but because the Washington Nationals used to play it after each game they lost as we fans were exiting Nats Park, and in their early years that was a lot of games.

 

Favorite Tracks:

One Love / People Get Ready

Waiting In Vain

Redemption Song

Jamming

Exodus

Could You Be Loved

Get Up Stand Up

Buffalo Soldier

Is This Love

I Shot The Sheriff

4 comments:

  1. Last weekend, I listened to the Top 40 from this week in 1963 and even though I knew there were many girl groups during that pre-British invasion era, I was still surprised how many girl groups, solo females, and coed acts appeared on this week's Top 40:
    Girl groups - Shirelles, Chiffons, Orlons, Rocky Fellers, Crystals, Martha and Vandellas;
    Solo acts: Little Peggy March, Brenda Lee, Skeeter Davis,Etta James, Darlene Love, Theola Kikor;
    Coed acts: Peter, Paul, and Mary; Paul and Paula; Dick and Dee Dee; Rooftop Singers.

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  2. Shirelles, Martha & The Vandellas, Brenda Lee, and Etta James all especially great.

    "I Will Follow Him" is about as dated as they come ...

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  3. And I bet Little Peggy March ain't so little any more.

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  4. Born Margaret Annemarie Battavio ...

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