Bob Marley and the Wailers-Roots, Rock, Remixed

Artist: Bob Marley and the Wailers
Title: Roots, Rock, Remixed
Genre: Reggae-Electronica
Label: Tuff Gong/Rockr
Free Download-"Soul Shakedown Party" MP3 Link
iTunes Link

Bob Marley's importance goes beyond that of any other reggae artist past or present. Now I'm not, nor have I ever have been a big reggae fan, but Bob Marley is a big exception. He left his mark in music and put an indelible mark upon the consciousness of an entire generation because of what his music stood for - smokin' a spliff and chillin' with good friends.

Now we have another remix of legendary tracks, which makes any purist suspicious right from the beginning. Roots, Rock, Remixed, while an ambitious project, falls short in many areas. It starts strong with "Soul Shakedown Party" (see free download link provided), a very cool mix-down that preserves and accentuates the Lion of Zion's legend with a modern twist. In fact, all the way through to track 8, I was hanging with this. I noticed there was a progression of dilution that emerged with each passing track after that and for a number of reasons that pointed directly to an overstating of today's technology (too much knob turning). I have to be honest, as track 10 droned on, the monotony of the trance beats kicked in and I shut it down - I was finished with this.

There is an audience for this recording; it's the Red Bull guzzling 20 something crowd that gets into a groove listening to electronic and dance music - with some psychoactive drug experimentation mixed in. Now there has been plenty of techno/turntable music that I have found very interesting in the past, however with Marley's music I found it to be a sacrilege and an affront to his art and memory. There are plenty of people who will feel otherwise, but after hearing this CD I am not amongst them.

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Keith "MuzikMan" Hannaleck and Contributing Staff Writer Chad Adams-July 23, 2007