Following Bob Marley’s death from cancer in 1981, the Wailers have survived in various forms over the years, all of which include no original members and only one key player from their peak years: bassist Aston "Family Man" Barrett. As a result, the post-1981 incarnation has been seen as little more than a novelty act, at best a way to commemorate Marley and celebrate his music. The Wailers did try to separate themselves from the Marley legacy with a run of albums like 1996’s Jah Message (RAS), but they were always overshadowed by artists like Bunny Wailer and Peter Tosh. Add to the picture Barrett’s recent legal struggles with Island over unpaid royalties and it was hard not to see the band booked to play the Paradise January 6 as one struggling with past demons.
But on the heels of two new Marley releases — Africa Unite: The Singles Collection and the two-disc DVD Bob Marley and the Wailers Live! — there’s renewed interest in the Wailers. A capacity crowd filled the Paradise, and with Barrett firmly planted to the right of the drums, a whopping eight newcomers took the stage in all their Rasta glory. Singer/guitarist Junior Marvin, the only other Wailers alum besides Barrett, did his best Marley impersonations on " I Shot the Sheriff" and "No Woman, No Cry." Indeed, this version of the Wailers had no reservations about playing up Marley nostalgia with a set full of familiar numbers from the Wailers’ glory days. And, really, that’s what the crowd was there for.
Related:
Flashbacks: May 19, 2006, The Big Hurt: Marley pimped, Miley sorry, Kanye secure, Starting from Scratch, More 
- Flashbacks: May 19, 2006
These selections, culled from our back files, were compiled by Chris Brook and Ian Sands.
- The Big Hurt: Marley pimped, Miley sorry, Kanye secure
This goes to print a week after I write it because of the damnable pre-Web technology of the printed page, but I swear to God that I was the first son of a bitch to think of it: Jackson Browne, James Brown, Bobby Brown, Chris Brown .
- Starting from Scratch
If the hip-hop generation ever calls for martial law, the revolution will be sponsored by Scion. The rectangularly adventurous car company is our closest corporate ally, bankrolling a large segment of the low-slung-pants community, and providing the rest of us with sweet events that rarely dent the pocket.
- Ky-Mani Marley
It’s a little jarring to hear him dropping f-bombs and rapping about packing heat all over his fourth album
- Flashbacks: March 31, 2006
These selections, culled from our back files, were compiled by Chris Brook and Ian Sands.
- Rebel rouser
As a producer at Clement “Coxsone” Dodd’s Studio One in the ’60s and later at his own Black Ark studio, Lee “Scratch” Perry played a critical role in developing the steady grooves of ska and roots into the addled atmospherics of dub.
- Candles + caring
Former Best Music Poll nominee Mike Gendron and uncle Pete Gendron team up and unplug at the Greenwich Hotel on THURSDAY (the 4th), rocking the lounge free of charge til 12:30 am.
- Standing up
Some see — or at least hope to see — Portland's comedy scene as being on the brink of national prominence, as there are now 15 local stages devoting time to comedy and an overflow of new comics to fill them.
- Pop fundamentalism
I keep waiting for Madonna to have her James Frey moment.
- Sharp accents
Boston has its own vital scene of pan-American jazz and folk (hey, Mili Bermejo, Alex Alvear, Sergio Brandão, and everyone at Ryles on Wednesday nights!).
- DJ C freeks out
One of Boston’s favorite mixmasters and music makers, DJ C (a/k/a Jake Trussell), was invited to play New York City, sort of out of the blue, alongside Chicago ragga MC and fellow Mashit artist Zulu at the Freek Factory party.
- Less
Topics:
Live Reviews
, Entertainment, Music, Bob Marley, More
, Entertainment, Music, Bob Marley, Reggae, Bob Marley and the Wailers, Peter Tosh, Bunny Wailer, Less
