Legend - The Best Of Bob Marley And The Wailers [Original recording remastered, Extra tracks]

"Legend: the Best of Bob Marley" is one of the best selling albums/CD's ever. This single CD contains Marley's most famous songs, which is also the most famous reggae music ever, you've heard most of these songs for the past 30+ years! For most people, this CD is all they need to own of Marley & The Wailers.

I compared this remastered CD with the original and found the sound to be greatly improved --- cleaner, clearer, drier, louder, more rounded spectrum (the original had over emphasized mids and highs), more natural. It was "remastered from the original 2-track master tapes".

Some people have already commented that the original CD used singles mixes and this remastered CD uses album mixes. I have the remastered "Exodus" CD (see my separate review on that CD for more info), and this CD has the same mixes and remastered sound. As far as I can tell, most mixes are the same except that many songs on the remastered CD are longer --- that's probably what was meant by album vs singles mixes. Only the song "One Love/People Get Ready" has a noticeably different mix --- the original CD had the backing vocals far more upfront and with more effect (reverb), which may be more pleasant. "Redemption Song" is noticeably louder, maybe too loud, since it is just voice and acoustic guitar.

The original CD totalled 50:07, while the remastered CD totals 72:33. Here's a breakdown of the approximate time differences between songs which differ on the 2 CD's. In every case, the remastered CD has the longer versions:
* No Woman No Cry (3:00 longer)
* Could You Be Loved (0:25 longer)
* Buffalo Soldier (1:30 longer)
* Stir It Up (2:00 longer)
* I Shot the Sheriff (0:50 longer)
* Satisfy My Soul (1:15 longer)
* Exodus (3:15 longer)

The remastered CD also has 2 additional bonus tracks --- unnecessary songs, IMO. The booklet is reworked as well. It contains all of the previous information and pics, plus lyrics and the names of the all the Wailers. The back of the CD now only lists all the song titles, so it is easier to read the list and find the tracks you want.

Overall, if you love this music, it's worth updating your older CD to this one. Enjoy!

The best modern day Guru of the Islands - He Is just great to listen to
and truly a legend -

I've owned this album since it was released in 1982 and have always treasured it.

A few years ago, Island/Polygram came out with Legend 2 which was a weak attempt to do an unnecessary follow up.

LEGEND is a great sampler of what Bob Marley, Bob Marley and the (original)Wailers, Bob Marley and the (post Bunny Wailer, Peter Tosh)Wailers were about.

Having own quite a few of his blackmarket/ underground concerts none of the official "live" recording of the Wailers stacks up against the ones that are privately owned and circulated, but there is the sense in listening to the few live tracks on this album of what a Bob Marley & The Wailers concert meant.

This is a phenomenal album and the benchmark of what reggae was and what reggae should have always been.

5 gargantuan stars.