Wailing Blues
by John Masouri

Let’s hear it for the band

Relax, this is not yet another addition to the already groaning shelf of books about reggae’s only superstar. The subtitle, The Story Of Bob Marley’s Wailers, tells all: this is the history of the boys (and occasionally girls) in the band.

We follow them all from their disparate musical origins – the brothers Aston and Carlton Barrett from late 60s combo The Hippy Boys, Donald Kinsey from the Chicago blues world, Junior Marvin from the English rock scene, Judy Mowatt from The Gaylettes, and so on – through their adventures, interaction and musical development as Wailers, to their current activities or, too often, their demise. The legal machinations and squabbles over Bob Marley’s considerable fortune (he died intestate) are diligently chronicled and often make galling reading.

Masouri, long-serving senior reggae writer for Echoes magazine, has researched painstakingly, conducted searching interviews with pivotal characters in the story, and writes lucidly and even-handedly. Bob’s widow Rita Marley and Island founder Chris Blackwell have been portrayed elsewhere as grasping, but the author redresses the balance by drawing attention to their acts of philanthropy: Blackwell to needy artists and Rita to underprivileged African people. Absorbing, balanced and al-lencompassing, if at times sloppily edited, this is a masterwork.

4 stars 4 stars 4 stars 4 stars

ISBN 9781846096891

Reviewed by Mike Atherton
<< Back to Issue 353

Login Here

Free Newsletter


Subscribe to
our email newsletter by emailing:

david.harvey@
metropolis.co.uk