Track Listing

1. So Much Trouble in the World
2. Zimbabwe
3. Top Rankin'
4. Babylon System
5. Survival
6. Africa Unite
7. One Drop
8. Ride Natty Ride
9. Ambush in the Night
10. Wake Up and Live
11. Ride Natty Ride [12" Mix][*]

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3680 in Music
• Released on: 2001-07-31
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Extra tracks, Original recording reissued, Original recording remastered
• Dimensions: .24 pounds

Album Description
Part of the 'Bob Marley Memorial Remaster Series'. Japanese remastered reissue of 1979 album. Packaged in a limited edition miniature LP sleeve. Includes the bonus track 'Ride Natty Dread' (12 inch version).

Customer Reviews

AN ABSOLUTE, ABSOLUTE MUST FOR MARLEY FANS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This is one of the very best of Bob Marley and The Wailers' (the first two were originally released under the group name The Wailers) original 11 Island-era albums. Definitely. (Survival and Exodus are probably the two best.) I own all of these albums on CD and vinyl, and my Marley collection in general is very, very extensive. It is so good that if I had to suggest three releases which include material released during the Island Era, they would be Songs of Freedom (the 4-CD career retrospective box set), Legend, and SURVIVAL. It is so good that seven of the songs from this album are on Songs of Freedom, (for one of them they put the 12" mix instead of the original), and there is an additional dub version of one of these songs on the SOF box set. It is such a good album, that if you consider yourself a fan of Island-era Marley, I guarantee that if you do not have this album already and you buy it, you will like it. "Zimbabwe," "Babylon System," "Africa Unite," "One Drop," "Ride Natty Ride," and "Ambush in the Night" are unstoppably awesome songs!! Just as "No Woman, No Cry [Lyceum, 1975]" is Marley's best LIVE recording, "Africa Unite" is arguably Marley's best Island-era STUDIO recording. It's very beautiful and deep. "Zimbabwe" may be the most important song Marley ever recorded. READ THE WORDS from the liner notes AS YOU LISTEN TO THE SONG! BM&tW were invited to play at the celebration of the opening of the independent country of Zimbabwe in 1980(, at which the people knew the words to this song better than the words of their own new national anthem)! What an honor! They were the only non-African-based musical group that played for the celebration. I have heard SO MANY Marley songs, and this is my favorite Bob Marley song! "Babylon System" is also beautiful and deep, including one unforgettable line which you will discover upon hearing it. "One Drop" is almost unbelievably beautiful. You will melt when you hear it. "Ambush" did not make it onto SOF, but is beautiful and deep. Then you have "So Much Trouble in the World," and "Survival," which have great lyrics, So Much is also quite rhythmic. "Top Rankin" also has great lyrics. Even the arguably weakest song on the album, "Wake Up and Live," has great lyrics.
"Africa Unite-Ambush" could be a candidate for the best four songs in a row on any original album, of all time. I own about 32 or 33 copies of SURVIVAL on vinyl, including all four original colored vinyl editions pressed only in Jamaica in 1979 [according to Catch a Fire biography]. By the way, if you own the SOF boxset, that contains the "bonus track," the 12" mix of Ride Natty Ride, which was put on the remastered version of SURVIVAL, so you would only need to get the old 10-track TUFF GONG version of SURVIVAL (although it is currently becoming increasingly difficult to get a still-sealed copy of the ten-track version of the CD). The 12" mix is a bit more rhythmic, as might be expected of a 12" mix supposedly intended for the dancefloor, but the original version is already a great song that needed no help.

Blistering Genius - a sometimes overlooked Bob album
In the interest of full disclosure, I admit to being a Jamiacan music fanatic, love everything from Mento to hardcore Dancehall.

And this is not my very favorite Bob album (thats reserved for Catch a Fire - you know what they say: you never forget your first)BUT: Survival is an absolute brilliant piece of music-making. From the clarion call of the opening track to "Wake up and Live, ya'll - wake up and live...." to the repeated admonition to "tell the children the truth" in Babylon System, the lyrics on this album are Bob at his very best: passionate, angry, caring, concerned, moving, persuasive, original: with an almost Biblical authority and a heartfelt authenticity that makes you feel as if Bob is speaking directly to YOU, straight outta Yard. Marley's ability to truly connect through these lyrics with everyone (from subarban white Americans to Moari tribespeople and everyone in between) while remaining true to himself and his heritage as a jamaican and member of the african diaspora is on bravura display throughout. For example: 'they bribe us with their guns, spare parts and money... and if you want to get some food, your brother's got to be your enemy..." A more succint and pointed description and indictment of superpower "realpolitik" foriegn policies would be harder to imagine.

And that's just the lyrics. The riddims between Bob, Carly and Familyman on this collection are SO hard, SO right & tight, SO in the pocket, it's hard to describe without simply throwing superlatives at it in a lame attempt to put into words what must be heard to be understood. The album makes extensive yet tasteful use of additional percussion (i.e. the african agogo bells in Ride Natty Ride) throughout, musically reflecting and enhancing the albums' lyrical focus on afrocentric concerns.
The saxaphone is also very heavily used, and it comes off great: I don't know who the soloist is, but he makes that horn growl and wail like a slave under the whip.

Another high point of the collection is the general songwriting. The melodies and structures of the songs reflect Bob's place as one of THE PREMIER pop songwriters ever - up there in Lennon/McCartney, Leiber/Stoller, Goffin/King, Rogers/Hart, territory - he drops out the 3-4 minute gem as naturally as breathing. Ever notice how Bob had distinct verse, chorus AND bridge sections in his mature output...? And still maintains the intergrity of the reggae form.

This album is worth repeated listening for Bob fans, reggae fans, pop music fans, and any lover of music with open ears. If anyone ever argues against Bob's place in music (i.e. he ONLY did reggae, his songs are simple, reggae is all the same, his lyrics stink, he was too "pop", he wasn't "pop" enough, etc), throw this on, adjust the bass up a notch or two and CRANK it.
If they don't change their mind, then they don't know anything about music...

Is this album the greatest of all time?
In the few short years of his Island records career Marley produced a string of astonishingly good studio albums as well as two great live albums. These included Exodus, rated by Time magazine as the greatest album of the century, and Kaya, which is my personal favorite. So where does this leave the rest of the Marley canon.

It seems to me that the Marley albums fall into only two categories, the five star and the four star albums, (see my ratings below). Though I am very stingy with the five star rating, Survival easily makes five stars, and it may even be the best Marley album, and quite possibly the greatest album of all time.

How can this be? Well, every song on the album is just irresistible, with great lyrices, impassioned performance, superb orchestration, catchy hooks... just a superb package. I honestly do not believe that anyone who listens to this album will not find it a life changing experience. Well, to be honest, there are probably lots of people who would fall into that category, but my remarks apply to those with discriminating taste and well developed sensibilities.

OK, I am running on, but this is just a great, great album. 'Nuff said.

* A really worthless CD
** A CD that has some good stuff, but some major defects.
*** An OK CD that will please fans of the artist in question.
**** An excellent CD that represents the best work of the artist in question and can be bought with confidence.
***** An absolute classic that is the best, or among the best, of its genre. Your collection should start here.