My favorite reggae album. Bob Marley's lyrics are easy to sing along to. The quality of musicianship, and the clarity of the cd is surprisingly great. You get the best of both worlds; good lyrics, and superb music; regardless of your musical taste.

The tempo is slightly faster than the regular albums, so you can dance to it;anybody can dance to it. Man this thing touches the soul. I play mine almost every day.

This exciting album clearly reveals that Marley and the Wailers were, many times, at their best when they were performing live before an audience. This long-playing collection involves many live hits performed in many parts of the world. The rich speaking and singing voice of Marley, amidst the excitement, is loud and clear. I like the hits versions here of "Kinky Reggae," "Rastaman Vibration," "Rat Race," "Concrete Jungle," "Jammin," "Heathen" and "Rat Race" more than on other records. But I must say that my favorites in this collection are "Concrete Jungle" and "Kinky Reggae"...make a point of listening to them, and you will do so over and over again. This becomes the most exciting album a Marley fan would possess. However, the listener is urged to listen and compare these live versions with the versions on such albums as "Exodus," "Catch a Fire," "Rastaman Vibration," and "Rebel Music." Live versions of such famous political songs as "War" and "Rebel Music" are found in this Babylon album as well as on such other albums as "Rebel Music." There is also a "Stir it Up" live version in this Babylon collection...it is truly all big exciting hits in the collection that you would not want to miss. I need not say more. Who can resist the excitement generated by such other hits as "Kinky Reggae Party" and "Lively Up Yourself"?? The listener gets to enjoy and appreciate a marvelous live collection, while appreciating the strength of song, music and dance that the unparalleled Wailers generated as they appeared on stage and performed. The applause is tremendous!! The audience sometimes sings along with Marley, a testimony to how so popular the legendary Marley has been admired all over the world, with so much sentiment. I regretted that it took me so long to discover this live collection, but I have subsequently played it over and over again, over the years.

When describing Bob Marley, words are never powerful enough. I'm still trying to understand what exactly makes Bob Marley so hypnotic. Perhaps because the songs were all done with LOVE in its purest sense, they transcend our imagination and connect with folks from all walks of life even decades after the man's physical absence. The guy never discovered how to make a bad song.

...Haile Selassie I, Jah Rastafari!, ever living, ever faithful, ever sure. That is how Bob greeted you and started his set on many of these concerts that are recorded here as 'Babylon by Bus'. This was from his huge European tour in 1978, most of the recorded tracks coming from the shows at the Paris Pavilion. The greeting was exuberant, the music was good and the crowds were loud - listen on many of the tracks and you can get a feel for it.

The tracks were all from previous Island albums with one noticeable exception - 'Punky reggae party' - the only time you will find it on an Island album, but just like the line from the song says "/and it's all right" Personally, I don't rate 'Babylon by Bus' as one of his best, largely because the studio versions, on the earlier albums, sound crisper. But to be fair my criticism of this album is biased by the fact that I already owned quite a few of the earlier studio albums.

If you don't want to invest in the individual albums though, this is good enough because it has a nice mix of lesser known but good songs, staying away from the 'hits' which by this time had been getting a lot of airplay anyway.

Coming from a HUGE Marley fan, I must say that this is one of his best albums. The live version of "Stir It Up" on this recording gives me the chills every time. Essentially, this will make you wish you were at a Marley show. This is the next best thing. BUY THIS NOW!!!