The Original Wailers celebrate guitarist Al Anderson’s 50th anniversary and lay down a Funkin’ great show for the mellowed-out crowd.
A little story time first. Sixty years ago, the (actual) original group formed in 1963 with Robert Bob Nesta Marley, Hubert Peter Tosh McIntosh and Neville Bunny Wailer Livingstone.
They were playing to some local Jamaican success and helping to develop Ska into Rocksteady. The youngsters were ambitious from the start and already asserting themselves in the mean streets and dance halls of Kingston.
The came under the wings of such legendary producers as Coxsone Dodd, Leslie King Kong and Lee Scratch Perry. There is a wealth of fabulous music amassed in a ten-year period.
They were big in Jamaica, and they craved world domination. Enter Chris Blackwell, owner of Island Records. He established his label with the success of Millie Small’s My Boy Lollipop in 1964. He was looking for the upstart Young Soul Rebels to break into the realm of white-dominated Rock.
The pivot point for these budding Caribbean Beatles was entering a state-of-the-art recording studio, the first for a Jamaican outfit, and laying down Catch a Fire. Production work by Blackwell also involved famous Muscle Shoals studios in America, and guitarist Wayne Perkins overdubbing some parts.
The legend was created. Al Anderson joined soon after and featured on the Natty Dread album. The first one I bought and remains one of my favourites.
After Marleys death in 1981, the ensemble continued with Junior Marvin and Anderson. The great rhythm section of Aston Family Man Barrett and Carly Carlton Barrett were on board.
Later, Carlton was murdered, as was Peter Tosh.
Marley himself survived an assassination attempt in the Seventies.
The Original Wailers formed in 2008 and have continued since. Murvin has left and current members are Chet Samuel lead vocal and guitar, Omar Lopez bass, Paapa Nyarkoh drums and Adrian AK Cisneros keyboards. And senior legend Anderson, of course.
I Shot the Sheriff kicks off the show and immediately the audience is pumping. Not quite, as the rhythm and tempo are modified from the recorded one. Also, it takes time for the air-conditioning to kick in with its lacing of marijuana. I shot(gunned) the sheriff/ But I didn’t shoot no deputy.
I loved the huge hit version by Eric Clapton. It was all over the airwaves. I give him some credit to help break the Wailers artistically and commercially.
Could You be Loved. The band has added a heavier Funk element to most of these familiar anthemic songs. Samuel has a great tenor voice, strong enough to ride above the band and close to Marley’s sound.
Stir it Up has connections to Doo-Wop and the Beatles. Listen to the Trojan Records archival stuff and that sound is all over it. Try the Wailing Wailers, the debut album in 1966. Prototype versions of this sound. Possibly found on YouTube.
Three Little Birds is dedicated to all the ladies, all the ladies in the house! They may invite a bit more than they bargained for in these hysterical times.
Deep dive songs are Hypocrite (written by Bunny Wailer) and Hammer. They extend the vamp on several songs and go into Dub. The latter is a great example.
The rhythm section is mighty, and each song is locked in with the first few bars. The bass rumbles and comes up through the floor.
The real heavy, heavy monster sound. Undeniable backbone skanking and liberating to prelude the beast with two backs. Later everyone, later.
Like singer Samuel, who ponders on whether to smoke a spliff now or later. He decides to get Hammered later.
As an aside, WTF!! did the cannabis referendum fail in a country with the highest per capita consumption?
Peter Tosh’s Legalize It (Don’t criticise it) lays it down, and a perfectly timed drum break leads it into Dub.
Black Comet opens the show as a perfect foil for the Original Wailers. They Funk it up and Funk off with it.
Laughton Kora’s side project, and I first saw them at this venue opening for Living Colour. Doing mashups and havin’ fun says Kora tonight.
The Bop Gun is primed again as they lay down first song Freedom Train.
ParliaFunkadelicment and the heavy sounds of Seventies Black music, prior to Disco and Hip-Hop.
Snatches of dialogue from Pulp Fiction and more. The jumbo riffs of Zepp’s Trampled Underfoot.
Can I get Funky one two three is incorporated into rhythms which echo Public Image’s Swan Lake. Ends in the hard Disco of Chic.
The heavy smell of weed prompts their closing number of Reggae fi Funk y’all. Everybody put your hands together.
The Original Wailers did not play any of the socio-political Soul Rebel music. Love was the message stressed.
Is This Love being an anthem and a chant. Nice guitar note-bending and the keyboards come up with Lee Perry style sonics.
The one moderately activist song is their original Song of the Divine, with high piercing laser guitar from Anderson.
Not quite true. There is No Woman No Cry, a masterpiece which echoes the Beatles Let It Be in its Gospel and hymnal style. Don’t shed no tear/ Everything’s gonna be alright.
They finish with Jamming, of course.
The Original Wailers pay homage to guitarist Al Anderson’s tenure and deliver us all a benediction.
Rev. Orange Peel
Photography by Leonie Moreland
The Original Wailers
Black Comet
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