Pitchfork

Bob Marley's Legend is probably the one album most likely to be found in the collections of people who only own 10 CDs. It's time-honored and universal, spanning almost all backgrounds, professions, and upbringings, and those who gave up on following music before the compact disc era are as likely to have a copy lying around as those who just got into the Velvets at school last year. Legend, for many, is reggae; the genre begins with "Could You Be Loved" and ends with "Jamming". But as weathered and worn-out as this compilation has become-- and man, am I tired of it-- it didn't attain its stature by force of marketing. Marley wrote accessible, all-embracing songs, had a radiant voice, and backed himself with great bands. The problem with Legend is not that people love it, but what that love means to Island Records, and how it translates to Africa Unite, their recent repackaging of the compilation.

Eleven of Legend's 14 songs appear here, meaning those whom this collection is directly aimed at already own most of it. Granted, beyond those 11 are nine new cuts for the casual fan, but then two of these are simply slight remixes that few will find enticing. Black-Eyed Peas' will.i.am, for example, was given the nod to update the compilation's title song, but his clumsy programmed drums are mixed much too high and fail to deliver the intended effect of bringing the track up to date. "Stand Up Jamrock" finds Ashley Beedle mashing up "Get Up Stand Up" with brief snippets of Damian Marley's "Welcome to Jamrock", which may make some sense thematically but drains life from both tunes. If anything, it's a reminder that, yeah, "Jamrock" would sound pretty good right about now.

Africa Unite's biggest draw-- and likely the only real incentive for its release-- is the new song "Slogans", which was pieced together "Free as a Bird"-style by adding a full band to an acoustic demo Marley cut in a hotel room in 1979. "Slogans" is a nice song, and its backing arrangements, assembled under the direction of Stephen and David Marley, integrates it well into the catalog. The production faithfully replicates the careful (some would say overly slick) studio sound of his late-70s years at Island, with Eric Clapton adding some restrained fills that threaten to get in the way but never quite do.

But even if this material tacked onto Africa Unite's second half serves as the compilation's impetus, the disc's first track points toward the real area of exploration for Marley neophytes. This compilation is the first ever to combine pre-Island recordings with the material that made Marley a household name. And the opening "Soul Rebel", which Bob and the Wailers cut with Lee "Scratch" Perry at the boards, hasn't lost a bit of its earthy appeal. The Complete Upsetter Singles is the place those made curious by familiar Marley hits should look next. Download "Slogans" somewhere-- it's worth the 99 cents-- and then set your sights for Scratch-produced sides like "Small Axe" and "Mister Brown".