This was an album of great transition for Bob, he had split with his childhood friends and original Wailers, Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer. Bob's influence over the band was becoming more and more pronounced and Tosh and Wailer decided that is not the direction they wished to go. The revamped band was now, for the first time, known as "Bob Marley and The Wailers" as opposed to just "The Wailers" thus solidifying Marley as the primary leader of the band. Bob truly took charge of the overall focus and direction of the group and wrote all the songs. In an interesting twist of fate and one of the best business moves in music history, he assigned the credits for many of his songs to his close family memebers and friends as a way to make sure they were taken care of financial, certain charities he believed in and supported were funded and as a way to avoid contractual obligations to his former publishing company, Cayman Music. Although this is a transition album of sorts, it sports some of his most memorable songs and one in particular that would be one of his defining moments, "No Woman, No Cry" which would gain much fame due to his incredible live performances of the record. He would introduce the "I-Threes" a female vocal group that included his wife, Rita Marley, Marcia Griffiths and Judy Mowatt. Their vocals addeded a wonderful compliment to Bob's on songs such as one of my personal favorites on the album, "Them Belly Full (But We Hungry)". The writing on this album seems very personal and almost takes you on a journey through Bob's life in Jamaica and some of the obstacles he had to overcome. This record is also a canvas for Bob to infuse some of his Rastafarian beliefs and he does a marvelous job of this on songs such as "So Jah Seh" and the title track "Natty Dread". This album is almost like Bob saying "Here I Am, The Real Me" and he gives us a fairly detailed revelation of where his heart was and where his and the bands focus was now going to be. I believe this to be one of his most profound works and it's one of my personal favorites. It's only years after it's release and in particular after his death that I think many truly appreciated this album for it's greatness. There are many wonderful songs beyond "No Woman, No Cry" that make this a truly wonderful album and it gives it's listener a front row seat into some of the many tragic situations going on in his homeland and, indeed, many of the places dear to his heart such as the other island nations, Africa and United States. Bob Marley was a revolutionary in every since of the word and he would spend the remainder of his tragically short life fighting for the cause, "Revolution".

Brothers sees Black Keys evolve and are aided superbly again by the exceptional Danger Mouse, Brothers sees The Black Keys toddle away from their mother blues into slightly different territory. The music is thinker with the use of more instrumentation and more layered sound. Stand-out tracks Everlasting Light and You're The Only One see Auerbach employing a great falsetto to his repertoire. Howlin For You sees wonderful glam drumming with only the obligatory "Hey" at the end of each bar missing. Though still heavily soaked in delta blues, this album is heavy on glam-rock licks and rhythm and is a pure joy to listen to. Its easy to criticise a band for trying to evolve and Black Keys succeed and pull it off, much to the chagrin of their obstructionist die hard fan base but so be it, they won't be missed. There's plenty on this album for those who feel Black Keys don't need to stray too far from their formula with I'm Not The One and Too Afraid To Love You both waving the Delta flag. I was a huge fan of the Black Keys before Brothers feeling that Attack And Release could not be topped (this after feeling the same about Rubber Factory). What's also great is that the US vinyl version of this record on nonesuch comes with a full cd promo of the album just like Attack And Release did. MP3 codes are good, but this is the real thing - add to this a massive fold out lyrics poster and the package is very good value. I can't recommend this version enough.

This was an album of great transition for Bob, he had split with his childhood friends and original Wailers, Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer. Bob's influence over the band was becoming more and more pronounced and Tosh and Wailer decided that is not the direction they wished to go. The revamped band was now, for the first time, known as "Bob Marley and The Wailers" as opposed to just "The Wailers" thus solidifying Marley as the primary leader of the band. Bob truly took charge of the overall focus and direction of the group and wrote all the songs. In an interesting twist of fate and one of the best business moves in music history, he assigned the credits for many of his songs to his close family memebers and friends as a way to make sure they were taken care of financial, certain charities he believed in and supported were funded and as a way to avoid contractual obligations to his former publishing company, Cayman Music. Although this is a transition album of sorts, it sports some of his most memorable songs and one in particular that would be one of his defining moments, "No Woman, No Cry" which would gain much fame due to his incredible live performances of the record. He would introduce the "I-Threes" a female vocal group that included his wife, Rita Marley, Marcia Griffiths and Judy Mowatt. Their vocals addeded a wonderful compliment to Bob's on songs such as one of my personal favorites on the album, "Them Belly Full (But We Hungry)". The writing on this album seems very personal and almost takes you on a journey through Bob's life in Jamaica and some of the obstacles he had to overcome. This record is also a canvas for Bob to infuse some of his Rastafarian beliefs and he does a marvelous job of this on songs such as "So Jah Seh" and the title track "Natty Dread". This album is almost like Bob saying "Here I Am, The Real Me" and he gives us a fairly detailed revelation of where his heart was and where his and the bands focus was now going to be. I believe this to be one of his most profound works and it's one of my personal favorites. It's only years after it's release and in particular after his death that I think many truly appreciated this album for it's greatness. There are many wonderful songs beyond "No Woman, No Cry" that make this a truly wonderful album and it gives it's listener a front row seat into some of the many tragic situations going on in his homeland and, indeed, many of the places dear to his heart such as the other island nations, Africa and United States. Bob Marley was a revolutionary in every since of the word and he would spend the remainder of his tragically short life fighting for the cause, "Revolution".

Brothers sees Black Keys evolve and are aided superbly again by the exceptional Danger Mouse, Brothers sees The Black Keys toddle away from their mother blues into slightly different territory. The music is thinker with the use of more instrumentation and more layered sound. Stand-out tracks Everlasting Light and You're The Only One see Auerbach employing a great falsetto to his repertoire. Howlin For You sees wonderful glam drumming with only the obligatory "Hey" at the end of each bar missing. Though still heavily soaked in delta blues, this album is heavy on glam-rock licks and rhythm and is a pure joy to listen to. Its easy to criticise a band for trying to evolve and Black Keys succeed and pull it off, much to the chagrin of their obstructionist die hard fan base but so be it, they won't be missed. There's plenty on this album for those who feel Black Keys don't need to stray too far from their formula with I'm Not The One and Too Afraid To Love You both waving the Delta flag. I was a huge fan of the Black Keys before Brothers feeling that Attack And Release could not be topped (this after feeling the same about Rubber Factory). What's also great is that the US vinyl version of this record on nonesuch comes with a full cd promo of the album just like Attack And Release did. MP3 codes are good, but this is the real thing - add to this a massive fold out lyrics poster and the package is very good value. I can't recommend this version enough.