Wednesday, June 08, 2016

Day 221 of 365 Day Jamaican Music Challenge - The Wailers - Stand Alone

What can I write about the Wailers which hasn't already been written a thousand times before?  Luckily that allows me to keep it short when it comes to the biographical info and provides me some space to just discuss how much I have always loved today's tune "Stand Alone."  When I first started delving into reggae music I began with the Bob Marley & The Wailers Island releases and because of my minimum-wage paying, high school job assembling skateboards at a surf shop at the local mall, my musical education was kinda stalled.  Sure I would rifle through the minuscule reggae section at the neighboring Sam Goody or the Musicland on my lunch break but I didn't want to fork over $10 for cassettes by artists I'd heard of but soon found that I didn't particularly enjoy.  Previous buying experiences with Aswad, Third World and Steele Pulse (no offense to anyone who likes these bands) had burned me and I was not willing to take another chance.  When I found some budget priced Bob Marley & The Wailers tapes with songs I had yet to hear, I figured I couldn't go wrong.  I bought one of the no-named cassette for $5 which included about twelve to fifteen Lee Perry produced tracks, "Stand Alone" included, and eagerly anticipated my ride home that evening.  Back then I didn't even have a cassette player in my 1986 Volkswagen Golf so I had to rely on listening to music with a boombox perched on the passenger seat.  Well as you can imagine, I was pleasantly surprised!  I didn't know the story behind this era of the Wailers but it was definitely an important education nonetheless.  So here is the 220th track in the 365 Jamaican Music Challenge... "Stand Alone," once available for purchase in cassette racks at gas stations and 7 Eleven's worldwide for a mere $4.99 on less than legitimate compilations, but originally released on the 1973 album African Herbsman when Scratch sold the recordings to Trojan Records without Bob, Peter and Bunny's knowledge.

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