It seems demeaning to call one Bob album better than any other, because each contains such magic, but I would probably consider this Bob's finest work. It covers the entire spectrum. The political songs on the album dominate it and simply are the finest set anywhere. "Johnny Was," "crazy Baldheads," "Rat Race," and, of course, the most powerful political song ever, "War," are incredible. Otherwise, the beats that tear up this album are huge. From "Positive Vibration" to "Roots, rock, Reggae" to one of my personal bob favorites "night shift" i found myself putting this CD in basically every night. anyone who does not own thsi disc is missing out on quite a piece of work.

This album is an unmissable addition to any collection of reggae albums. The songs flow together with a craftsmanship and elegance all Bob's own. The rasta ethos is littered throughout, emphasised particuarly in 'Crazy Baldheads', 'War' and 'Positive Vibration', but, as always with the Wailers, the music can be enjoyed by all.

JUST TRY TO LISTEN TO THIS ALBUM WITHOUT SMILING ONCE!

This album is still rather burdened the weak sound that totally wrecked the world-class songs on "Natty Dread," but the songs themselves are beautiful. "War," "Rat Race," "Roots Rock Reggae" and "Who the Cap Fit" are the most famous ones on here, but the rest of the tracks are solid tunes. Bob tries some new sounds, but doesn't really cut loose like he did on "Exodus" -- all in all, not his best, but still a very strong reggae album.

Rastaman Vibrations finds Bob Marley in more of a commentary mood as opposed to the revolutionary tones of his earlier releases. He is reflecting on situations such as police violence in "Johnny Was", abused laborers in "Night Shift" and "Crazy Baldheads" and the vicious circle of life in "Rat Race". "War" is a beautiful song about how wars and violence will never be avoided unless people stop viewing other people as inferiors. The album proved to be highly successful in America as it became his only top album peaking at number 8 in the spring of 1976.

Where this album ranks in the list of Bob's music depends on your view. Here are three perspectives: Musical, Commercial and Political. Musically, reggae purists see it as weaker than it's predecessor -'Natty Dread'. That album was upbeat, positive, classic roots reggae with an emphasis on heavy bass and drum rhythms. An album loved in Jamaica because of it's tunes you could skank to. Generally good reggae meant that you could dance to it; lyrics were really not that important. 'Rastaman Vibration' started to change that and eventually most of Bob's music was listened to as much as it was danced to. Anyway, this album is bluesy, jazzy, downbeat.

Commercially it was a success because this was the album that the Wailers finally penetrated the US market with. 'Roots, Rock, Reggae' was a top ten hit, interestingly achieving one of the lines from the song - "we're bubbling on the top 100/just like a mighty dread" and ironically falling short on another line "play I on the R&B/want all my people to see." Credit for the albums breakthrough, starting in the big markets like N.Y., L.A. Pittsburgh, Boston, Chicago, is due to airplay it received on rock radio, not R&B and soul stations.

Politically now. For anyone in Jamaica in the 1970's, this album (and later ones) served as the background music that seemed to either explain or foretell the significant events of the period. It was the backdrop to everything that was going on around us, and a lot was going on. You had your 'isms' - the ruling Peoples National Party (PNP) was introducing Socialism and the opposition Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) felt that they had to defend Capitalism. People felt strongly enough about their positions that they fought for them and citizens were increasingly getting caught up in it. An election was set for December to decide matters. The Government declared a national State of Emergency, some people were detained, there were some restrictions on what could be said and done, and some literature and music was banned. A term used to describe the times will create a vivid mental picture for anyone who was there - We were 'under heavy manners' In retrospect it's ridiculous to think that this album by Bob Marley could ever have been seen as inflammatory and a threat, but it was. 'War' 'Crazy Baldheads' 'Who the cap fit' and 'Rat Race' with it's lines "political violence fill ya city/Don't involve Rasta in your say say/Rasta don't work for no CIA" - all four songs were banned from the airwaves. Strange and maybe ironic because those are the four best songs musically and are the ones from the album that are considered classics.