silktempest's Full Review: Kaya [Bonus Tracks] [Remaster] by Bob Marley/Bob M...
BOB MARLEY & THE WAILERS' Kaya, on surface, rides a relaxed groove and bears thematic similarity. But large portions of its content were harshly assembled from old tapes. Caught between MARLEY's 1977 assassination attempt by muggers, which prompted him to exodus in England, and his 1978 outrageous burning passion for Miss Jamaica Cindy Breakespeare (mother of DAMIAN ‘JUNIOR GONG' MARLEY), Kaya misses its featherweight aura in a kind of transitional bodily affair - the record is sharply divided between a towering first half and a less than decent coda. You wonder what the Reggae legend would have done thereafter if cancer did not take its toll circa 1981.
I bet he and friends would fit smoothly in the rising Dancehall scene, not just because women and diamba were perennial MARLEY themes. In pioneering tracks such as Kaya, MARLEY showed how he and synthesizers got soul to soul. Pointing the way towards deathbed raver Could You Be Loved, MARLEY's songs got groovier and steamier - with typically politically oriented Survival thrown in 1979 for good nostalgic measure.
Kaya is also a rapacious, vengeful affair. RITA MARLEY was onboard balancing BOB's outbreak of love for Breakespeare with the most gorgeous vocals ever to be found in a Reggae recording. RITA, with a huge help from top cohorts MARTHA GRIFFITHS and JUDY MOWATT, was out to prove her prominence at a time her solo career would not be as valuable as today for world audiences. The legendary I-THREES reach main stage here, often eclipsing MARLEY's hush with ironical, challenging ear candies. Eventually he falls prey to his sonic muses.
Sitting in a lyrical limbo where diamba is the corollary of a youth's rainy day and love for Jah mirrors the demands of a beloved one, MARLEY was struggling with his iconic persona, usually cast in larger than life tones but here strikingly Earthy. He was ready to be taken by storm by the sirens' call. Yet this conquering lion never bowed down in what comes to confidence. His most "acoustic" recording remains a demanding listening. Great synergy between MARLEY's newfound direction and Aston Barrett/Carl Barrett/Junior Marvin/Al Patterson provide one of the most satisfying, mature WAILERS experiences.
The gorgeous, buoyant Easy Skanking unfolds gates with ease. With even a sax thrown in for accessible measure, MARLEY never erupts abruptly, a master of mood and rhythm, letting troubles loose. Acoustic delight is provided by the coalescing of voices and the comfortable lyrical zone - everything eventually falls into I-THREES prominence. Not one of those MARLEY's towering moments, but a great call to ball that SANTANA could have loved.
The title track, almost a decade older, was born by the hands of legendary Dub producer LEE "SCRATCHY"/"SUPER APE"/"UPSETTER" PERRY. MARLEY pushed through the songs' framework with a loophole Tyrone Downie's synth pattern, mixed with Aston's liquefied bass, turning a humble Roots single a snake-charmer favorite, following AUGUSTUS PABLO's Eastern steps. MARLEY was serendipitous all the way down to playing with his newfound synth pal, but the I-THREES were vindicating the song for another brand of senses - turning MARLEY's rainy day enthusiasm inside-out, as he sings the mild chorus KA-ya and they reply, otherworldly, a deep chant from the fringes of a misty world, ka-YA. MARLEY the Jamaican kid taking the easy way out is topped, even haunted by multidimensional African-rooted singing by the I-THREES - defying the songs' appeal to middle of the road electronic syrupy and definitely pacing Kaya as an expressionist song. MARLEY breaks the synths' lead, taming the songs' sonority, a remarkable rhythmic effect (which would be quite influential in the following decade), but gals top the ante - what initially was a great singer and the best backing vocals in unison eventually sweats out of a pit fight.
MARLEY's most straightforward love song ever, Is This Love, follows - for a while, halting his social commentary for the sake of carnal optimism. The official theme for Breakespeare breaking a spear through MARLEY's chest features Marvin's guitar seductive as never before and Patterson's percussion positively making the song high. Between the sheets, in a secure, intimate environment, under the roof in his single bed where Jah provides the bread, MARLEY is still cast in doubt - Is this love/That I'm feeling? Symptomatically, the I-THREES just moan smoothly in the background, leaving room for MARLEY's ebullient rumination.
Fusing political optimist (One Peace Love concert would soon bring him back to the island) with philosophical zeitgeist, MARLEY pointed - Sun Is Shining. Carpe diem. He takes side with whoever may be waiting for taking the world by storm - be Jah, his fans, of his lovers. To a more paced Roots rhythm, MARLEY reiterates his allegiance to social transformation - as the spirit of times is "on our side". Another towering Marvin exhibition (with stinging guitar lines in glissando) but, once again, the I-THREES become the center piece, if you wanna move, let this wind blows, say the muses of time. The rhythm gradually becomes Dub, as sunny afternoons give way to nights of possibility. From a musical standpoint, one of MARLEY's pivotal tracks, yet immensely underrated.
The most traditional number here is also one of the very, very best. The Lovers Rock of Satisfy My Soul is a rocking boat, where MARLEY and I-THREES call-and-demand pendulum build a temporary plateau of equality and mutual reward. Adorning a piece of sheer rhythmic beauty (THE WAILERS in their most accessible and professional), the gorgeous backings (MOWATT's voice getting higher and brighter), for every MARLEY crystal-clear action (why don't you believe me?), bring a rapacious reaction (Satisfy my soul). MARLEY's stubborn demands acquire quasi-religious tones and the ethereal I-THREES burst through the song's expectations, stimulating an inexorable climax - ALTON ELLIS would fall to his knees. This is what is sorely missing in current Reggae scene - bloody lovemaking, instead of graphic pornography.
After a stellar first side, one of MARLEY's very best, a batch of humbler, 1978 compositions. She's Gone will not change the world and frankly, that wasn't the spirit of the Kaya record. Instead we have a friendly Pop-Reggae hybrid, with MARLEY and I-THREES appeased and resorting to commonplaces instead of pondering who may be that woman who's gone. Marvin still provides stirring guitar melodies (RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS will recognize one of John Frusciante's main influences).
I bet MARLEY had great expectations for Misty Morning, the earnest, Technicolor groove rider that is the 7th track here. But here the signs of MARLEY's celebrating himself instead of changing the world become all too evident - the kind of fire and brimstone that would have filled this track, say, in Burnin', here are replaced by motifs of forgetting one's troubles and indulging in sonic delight. Minor key guitar lines (electric and acoustic) make for a sonic tapestry that is innovative within Reggae, but which MARLEY did not know how to ignite back in 1978 (except for the spirited scatting towards the end). And unfortunately, here the I-THREES just play safe, predictable backings. It sounds less than the sum of those parts.
Crisis arrives as the 8th track - a dark spot of political commentary in an otherwise sunny kaleidoscope of sheer emotion? Not exactly. With trumpets, synths and acoustics still prominent, MARLEY tries to regain some political weight (as if matters of the heart weren't as political, or even more!). No matter what the crisis is, says MARLEY, we will have some fun. The song seems a novelty number - the closer THE WAILERS ever got to 1980s Pop fodder. Too comfortable to instigate deeper thought or feeling, it lays on electronic surfaces and polished edges. Once again MARLEY and I-THREES seem just going with the (accessible) motions. If not for the oceanic bass sound, that one would have been a slight failure in a challenging set.
Next-to-last Running Away surges with the urge for simmering rapture. Loosened bass and drums rhythm help BOB relax and let it groove with acquiescence. It seems he is not even pretending to sing - just going with the I-THREES tidal motions. Running Away from these women he is not. But he rears his dreadlocked head out of the blue. Briefly bearing his sage mantle, MARLEY unfolds another lesson of personal responsibility before Godhead through context instead of lyrics - you can't run away from yourself. MARLEY's initially seamless voice acquires resonance through contrast with the all-embracing MOWATT, RITA and GRIFFITHS wail of sound.
Time Will Tell - a prophetic tale? A doomy condemnation? Again, this is Kaya, the chill-out record. This is another nod to MARLEY's and THE WAILERS' folksy roots, just in case you missed the whole picture, they started in early 1960s as a vocal Folk ramshackle Jamaican equivalent to SIMON & GARFUNKEL. Acoustics by Marvin and percussion by Patterson confer a, hum, hippie feel to proceedings. But MARLEY outshines his companions with his clarion voice. I bet MARLEY sons have had a thousand songs out of this one, as well as THE FUGEES etc. And of course, there are no I-THREES here, which make it all the least essential for the matter of MARLEY's discography.
File under: a smoky rainy day or a romantic sunny day
Epinions.com periodically updates pricing and product information from third-party sources, so some information may be slightly out-of-date. You should confirm all information before relying on it.
![Kaya [Bonus Tracks] [Remaster] by Bob Marley/Bob Marley & the Wailers](http://di1.shopping.com/images1/pi/43/97/00/2002017258-177x150-0-0.jpg)
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.