Island In The Sun

Shame Jamaica didn't qualify for the footy world cup this time around. To make up for that a wee bit, here's a rootsy six pack from the island, about the island. "C'mon and smile..."

Bob Marley & The Wailers - Smile Jamaica/Version
Culture - Down In Jamaica
Joe Gibbs & The Professionals - Down Jamaica Way
Jimmy Cliff - Miss Jamaica
The Gaylads - My Jamaican Girl
The Meditations - Running From Jamaica

Bonnie Covers

It's always fun to compare originals and covers, and even more so when we're talking Bonnie Prince Billy. The lion from Louisville has always been keen on interpreting the songs of other musicians - check out a most fascinating list here - and the results are nearly always interesting to say the least. Below's a first batch of cool ones, and there's more on the way.

John Phillips - Someone's Sleeping

Bonnie Prince Billy - Someone's Sleeping

E.C. Ball & Orna Ball - John The Baptist

Bonnie Prince Billy - John The Baptist

Bob Marley & The Wailers - Babylon System

Bonnie Prince Billy - Babylon System

Kate Wolf - Early Morning Melody

Bonnie Prince Billy - Early Morning Melody

Conquering Dreads

"Without love you're like a ship that's lost its anchor, lost at sea in the swirling tides..." Presenting a conquering ten pack, inna strictly roots stylee of course. Cause you just can't conquer natty dreadlocks, seen?

Prince Alla - Only Love Can Conquer MP3

The Meditations - Rasta Shall Conquer MP3

Linval Thompson - Jah Jah The Conqueror MP3

Dennis Brown - Conqueror MP3

Bob Marley & The Wailers - Duppy Conqueror MP3

Dr. Alimantado - Can't Conquer Natty Dreadlocks MP3

Stranger & Gladdy - Conqueror MP3

Yabby You - Conquering Dub MP3

Cornell Campbell - The Conquering Gorgon MP3

Aggrovators - The Conqueror MP3

Never Did A Thing Wrong

"Woman hold her head and cry, 'cause her son had been shot down in the street and died from a stray bullet..." Three years after Marley's grim original, Belfast's Stiff Little Fingers saw that Johnny Was didn't just fit the Kingston ghetto: it happened to be just as relevant for the situation around them in Northern Ireland. The resulting cover remains one of the most blistering examples of the punk-reggae hybrid.

Bob Marley & The Wailers - Johnny Was MP3

Stiff Little Fingers - Johnny Was MP3

Live Fire

Some rare live Wailers from the vaults for all you reggae lovers out deh. We´re talking 1973 here, when Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer were still part of the line-up. Marley and company were touring Babylon to promote Catch A Fire, their first international release. This is the hungry Marley, on the treshold of international stardom. Or, to quote Midnight Ravers: "It's the musical stampede. Right on!" Take it away Bob.

Bob Marley & The Wailers - Stop That Train (Live London ´73) MP3

Bob Marley & The Wailers - Midnight Ravers (Live London ´73) MP3

Bob Marley & The Wailers - 400 Years (Live Boston ´73) MP3
Bob Marley & The Wailers - Slave Driver (Live Boston ´73) MP3
Bob Marley & The Wailers - Concrete Jungle (Live Boston ´73) MP3

Sunshine

I always like it when a cover version differs radically from the original, and that just happens to be the case here. A young Bob Marley recorded his Sun Is Shining in the early seventies under the productional guidance of the one and only Lee Scratch Perry. It´s not Robert Nesta´s best song by far, but still very agreeable, with special thanks to Peter Tosh playing a subtle melodica.

And then it´s time to shine for the Japanese duo of turntablist DJ Krush and trumpeter Toshinori Kondo. Find the superb, Miles-goes-triphop interpretation of Sun Is Shining on their stunning ´99 collaboration Ki-Oku. Now catch them rays.

Bob Marley & The Wailers - Sun Is Shining MP3

DJ Krush & Toshinori Kondo - Sun Is Shining MP3