Blackheart Man [Remaster] (CD - 1976)

Personnel includes: Bunny Wailer (vocals, acoustic guitar, jawharp, bass, drums, bongos, timbales, percussion); Karl Pitterson (acoustic guitar, sound effects); Peter Tosh (guitar, harmonica, melodica, background vocals); Aston "Family Man" Barrett (guitar, keyboards, bass); Earl "Chinna" Smith, Eric Frater, M. Murray (guitar); Tommy McCook (flute, saxophone); Bobby Ellis, Herman Marquis (horns); Tyrone "Organ D" Downie (melodica, keyboards); Robbie Shakespeare (bass); Carlton "Candy" Barrett (drums); Willy Pep (bongos); Larry McDonald (congas); Neville Garrick (percussion); Bunny Wailer (sound effects); Bob Marley (background vocals).

Recorded at Aquarius Studios, Kingston, Jamaica. Originally released on Island (9415). Includes liner notes by Jean Fairweather.

All tracks have been digitally remastered.

This is part of Island Records "Reggae Classics" series.

Following Bunny Wailer's 1973 departure from the Wailers, he spent three years retired in the Jamaican countryside before returning to the recording studio. The result was the triumphant BLACKHEART MAN, an essential album for any serious reggae collection. Backing Wailer were a number of legendary Jamaican musicians including the Barrett Brothers (Carlton and Aston), Robbie Shakespeare, Skatalite Tommy McCook and former bandmates Bob Marley and Peter Tosh. Although the original Wailers trio harmonizes on one of their old numbers ("Dreamland"), it's Tosh who contributes the most by playing a number of instruments. The fiery singer's contributions include sinewy melodica on the mesmerizing "Amagideon (Armagedon)" and harmonica on "Bide Up," a remake of an early Wailers single.

Staying true to the righteousness of his Rastafarian faith, Wailer composed a number of songs addressing the afterlife ("Reincarnated Souls"), poverty ("Fighting Against Convictions") and injustice ("The Oppressed Song"). It's easy to hear the influence of American R&B in the swaying horns and chugging rhythms. Wailer's gorgeous tenor wraps itself around the optimistic "This Train," a song Curtis Mayfield might have written had he grown up in Kingston rather than Chicago. minimize