Rastaman Vibration is a roots reggae

Roots reggae

Roots reggae is a subgenre of reggae that deals with the everyday lives and aspirations of the artists concerned, including the spiritual side of Rastafari and with the honoring of God, called Jah by rastafarians. It also is identified with the life of the ghetto sufferer, and the rural poor...

 album by Bob Marley & The Wailers

Bob Marley & The Wailers

Bob Marley & The Wailers were a Jamaican reggae, ska and rocksteady band formed by Bob Marley, Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer in 1963. Additional members were Junior Braithwaite, Beverley Kelso, Cherry Smith and Aston and Carlton Barrett...

 released on April 30, 1976. The album was a great success in the USA, becoming the first (and only) Bob Marley release to reach the top ten on the Billboard 200

Billboard 200

The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...

 charts (peaking at No. 8), in addition to releasing Marley's most popular US single ("Roots, Rock, Reggae" was the only Bob Marley single to reach the Billboard Hot 100

Billboard Hot 100

The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...

 charts, peaking at No. 51).
Synthesizers are featured prominently on this album, adding a breezy embellishment to otherwise hard-driving songs with strong elements of rock guitar.

Song writing credits

Although the album's liner notes list multiple songwriters, including family friends and bandmembers, all songs were written by Marley. Marley was involved in a contractual dispute at the time with his former publishing company, Cayman music.

Vincent Ford

Vincent Ford

Vincent Ford , known as "Tata", was a Jamaican songwriter best known for receiving writing credit for "No Woman, No Cry", the reggae song made famous by Bob Marley & The Wailers, as well as three other Bob Marley songs...

, a childhood friend from Jamaica, was given writing credit for "No Woman, No Cry

No Woman, No Cry

"No Woman, No Cry" is a reggae song by Bob Marley & The Wailers. The song first became known in 1974 through the studio album Natty Dread. The live version from the 1975 album Live! is perhaps best known — it was this version which was released on the greatest hits compilation Legend. The original...

" on the 1974 album Natty Dread

Natty Dread

Natty Dread is a 1974 reggae album by Bob Marley & The Wailers. An important transition in Marley's discography, Natty Dread was the first album released as Bob Marley & the Wailers and the first recorded without former bandmates Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer...

, as well as the songs "Crazy Baldheads" (with Marley's wife Rita

Rita Marley

Alpharita Constantia Anderson , better known as Rita Marley, and sometimes called "Nana Rita", is the widow of reggae legend/musician Bob Marley, and a member of the trio the I Threes, Bob Marley's backup singers.-Biography:...

), "Positive Vibration" and "Roots Rock Reggae" from the 1976 album Rastaman Vibration, along with "Inna De Red" and "Jah Bless" with Marley's son, Stephen

Stephen Marley (musician)

Stephen Robert Nesta "Raggamuffin" Marley is a Jamaican American musician and the son of reggae legend Bob Marley and his wife Rita Marley. He is a five-time Grammy award winner as an artist, producer, and member of Ziggy Marley & The Melody Makers.-Life and career:Marley was born in Wilmington,...

.

Marley had not wanted his new songs to be associated with Cayman and it was speculated, including in his obituary in The Independent

The Independent

The Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...

, that he had put them in the names of his friends and family members as a means of avoiding the contractual restrictions and to provide lasting help to family and close friends.

Marley's widow and his former manager Danny Sims sued to obtain royalty and ownership rights to the songs, claiming that Marley had actually written the songs but had assigned the credit to Ford to avoid meeting commitments made in prior contracts. A 1987 court decision favored the Marley estate, which assumed full control of the songs.

Side One

1. "Positive Vibration" (Vincent Ford
   Vincent Ford
   Vincent Ford , known as "Tata", was a Jamaican songwriter best known for receiving writing credit for "No Woman, No Cry", the reggae song made famous by Bob Marley & The Wailers, as well as three other Bob Marley songs...
   
   ) - 3:33
2. "Roots, Rock, Reggae" (Vincent Ford) - 3:38
3. "Johnny Was" (Rita Marley
   Rita Marley
   Alpharita Constantia Anderson , better known as Rita Marley, and sometimes called "Nana Rita", is the widow of reggae legend/musician Bob Marley, and a member of the trio the I Threes, Bob Marley's backup singers.-Biography:...
   
   ) - 3:48
4. "Cry to Me" (Rita Marley) - 2:36
5. "Want More" (Aston Barrett
   Aston Barrett
   Aston Barrett , often called "Family Man" or "Fams" for short, is a Jamaican bass player and Rastafarian.-Biography:...
   
   ) - 4:15

Side Two

1. "Crazy Baldhead" (Rita Marley/Vincent Ford) - 3:11
2. "Who the Cap Fit" (Aston Barrett/Carlton Barrett
   Carlton Barrett
   Carlton "Carly" Barrett was an influential reggae drummer and percussion player. His musical development in the early years were with his brother Aston "Family Man" Barrett as a member of Lee "Scratch" Perry's "house band" The Upsetters. The brothers joined Bob Marley and The Wailers around 1970...
   
   ) - 4:43
3. "Night Shift" (Bob Marley) - 3:11
4. "War
   War (Bob Marley song)
   "War" is a song recorded and made popular by Bob Marley. It first appeared on Bob Marley and the Wailers' 1976 Island Records album, Rastaman Vibration, Marley's only top 10 album in the USA...
   
   " (Allen Cole/Carlton Barrett) - 3:36
5. "Rat Race" (Rita Marley) - 2:49

CD Version

1. "Positive Vibration" – 3:34
2. "Roots, Rock, Reggae" – 3:38
3. "Johnny Was" – 3:48
4. "Cry to Me" – 2:36
5. "Want More" – 4:17
6. "Crazy Baldhead" – 3:12
7. "Who the Cap Fit" – 4:43
8. "Night Shift" – 3:11
9. "War" – 3:37
10. "Rat Race" – 2:54
11. "Jah Live" (Original Mix) – 4:17

Disc One Remastered

1. "Positive Vibration" – 3:34
2. "Roots, Rock, Reggae" – 3:38
3. "Johnny Was" – 3:48
4. "Cry to Me" – 2:36
5. "Want More" – 4:17
6. "Crazy Baldhead" – 3:12
7. "Who the Cap Fit" – 4:43
8. "Night Shift" – 3:11
9. "War" – 3:37
10. "Rat Race" – 2:54
11. "Jah Live" (Original Mix) – 4:17
12. "Concrete" (B-side of Single) – 4:24
13. "Roots, Rock, Reggae" (Unreleased Single Mix) – 3:38
14. "Roots, Rock, Dub" (Unreleased Single Dub Mix) – 3:38
15. "Want More" (Unreleased Alternate Album Mix) – 5:10
16. "Crazy Baldhead" (Unreleased Alternate Album Mix) – 3:08
17. "War" (Unreleased Alternate Album Mix) – 4:03
18. "Johnny Was" (Unreleased Alternate Album Mix) – 3:41

Disc Two: Rastaman Vibration Live Edition

1. "Introduction" – 0:38
2. "Trenchtown Rock" – 4:56
3. "Burnin' & Lootin'" – 4:54
4. "Them Belly Full (But We Hungry)" – 4:13
5. "Rebel Music (3 O'Clock Roadblock)" – 6:08
6. "I Shot the Sheriff" – 6:34
7. "Want More" – 7:02
8. "No Woman, No Cry (Live)" – 5:19
9. "Lively Up Yourself" – 5:44
10. "Roots, Rock, Reggae" – 5:32
11. "Rat Race" – 7:53
12. "Smile Jamaica, Part One" – 3:19
13. "Smile Jamaica, Part Two" – 3:10

Trivia

• On the inside of the original album jacket, to the right, is a message stating "This album jacket is great for cleaning herb."
• Northern Irish
  Northern Ireland
  Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
  
   punk
  Punk rock
  Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
  
   band Stiff Little Fingers
  Stiff Little Fingers
  Stiff Little Fingers are a punk rock band from Belfast, Northern Ireland. They formed in 1977, at the height of the Troubles. They started out as a schoolboy band called Highway Star , doing rock covers, until they discovered punk. They split up after six years and four albums, although they...
  
   covered "Johnny Was" on their debut album Inflammable Material
  Inflammable Material
  Inflammable Material is the 1979 debut album by the Northern Irish punk band Stiff Little Fingers.-Track listing:All tracks composed by Jake Burns and Gordon Ogilvie; except where indicated#"Suspect Device" – 2:36#"State of Emergency" – 2:29...
  
  , which became the first record on an independent label to enter the UK Top Twenty, entering a number 14 on Rough Trade Records
  Rough Trade Records
  Rough Trade Records is an independent record label based in London. It was formed in 1978 by Geoff Travis who had opened a record store off Ladbroke Grove...
  
  . This cover version, though not released as a single, entered John Peel
  John Peel
  John Robert Parker Ravenscroft, OBE , known professionally as John Peel, was an English disc jockey, radio presenter, record producer and journalist. He was the longest-serving of the original BBC Radio 1 DJs, broadcasting regularly from 1967 until his death in 2004...
  
  's Festive Fifty
  Festive Fifty
  The Festive Fifty was originally an annual list of the year's fifty best songs compiled at the end of the year and voted for by listeners to John Peel's BBC Radio 1 show...
  
   at number 15 in 1979 and continued to feature through to 1982.

Quote

• "It's not music right now, we're dealing with a message. Right now the music not important, we're dealing with a message. Rastaman Vibration is more like a dub kinda album and it's come without tampering y'know. Like 'War' or 'Rat Race', the music don't take you away, it's more to listen to." –Bob Marley, June 1976

External links

• Detailed examination of the original album and the deluxe edition from http://www.wailers.co.uk/.
• Transcript of Haile Selassie's 1963 speech addressed to the United Nations
  United Nations
  The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
  
  , which was made into the song "War".
• Sound recording of Selassie's speech, spoken in Amharic
  Amharic language
  Amharic is a Semitic language spoken in Ethiopia. It is the second most-spoken Semitic language in the world, after Arabic, and the official working language of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia. Thus, it has official status and is used nationwide. Amharic is also the official or working...
  
  , but also interpreted in English
  English language
  English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
  
  .