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Rating: Excellent |
Uprising was to be Bob Marley & the Wailers' final studio album released during Marley's lifetime. Prophetically, it also contains some of the band's best material, as if they were aware that this would be their final album. The album's blend of religious and secular themes also creates a powerful and unique exploration of spirituality in a material world.
While it's said that an album's graphic design rarely captures the essence of the work within, the powerful rebirthing image of a rock-solid Marley emerging with his arms raised in triumph couldn't be a more accurate visual description of the musical jubilation within.
Musically, the somewhat stiff rhythms often synonymous with reggae are completely inverted to embrace slinky and fluid syncopation. "Work," "Pimper's Paradise," and the opening track "Coming in From the Cold" are all key variations on the lolloping Rasta beat. The key difference is the sonic texture that manipulates and fills these patterns. The inventive and unique guitar work of Al Anderson—the only American member of the original Wailers—redefines the role of the electric lead guitar outside of the standard rock & roll setting.
"Zion Train" is awash in wah-wah-driven patterns that create an eerie, almost ethereal backdrop to Marley's lyrics, which evoke images of Peter Tosh's "Stop That Train," all the way back on Marley & the Wailers' international debut, Catch a Fire. The final track on the original pressing of Uprising is "Redemption Song."
Never before has an artist unknowingly written such a beautiful and poignant epitaph. The stark contrast between the distinctly electric and group-oriented album and this hauntingly beautiful acoustic solo composition is as dramatic as it is visionary. Less than a year after the release of Uprising, Marley would succumb to cancer.
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= Track List =
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