The Complete Wailers

There is actually another part, part 6 called 'Lonesome Feeling', but I cannot find it anywhere to purchase or download. Once/if I do ill post it.

I purchased a book called 'Bob Marley, the Complete Guide to His Music' and it has this to say about the 'Complete Wailers' series.

""These sprawling collections were first released in France although some of the series were subsequently released by Koch in the UK. The French releases were subject to various export embargoes and none of them have been widely available so some of those listed as LP or CD only might well turn up on both CD and Vinyl. These double, triple, and quadruple LP's and CD's are meant to contain everything (meaning everything apart from songs with legal implications) that Bob Marley & The Wailers recorded between leaving Studio One in 1967 and on to Island in 1972.

The sound recording quality is impeccable throughout all of these sets, the presentation extremely impressive and they all include more unseen photographs, pictures of record labels and related ephemera, alternate versions and unreleased takes to satisfy even the most exacting and demanding obsessives and collectors..and that really is the root of the problem with this project.  An unbelievable amount of research and hard work has gone into putting these sets together by a number of respected and dedicated Bob Marley collectors and, consequently, the albums are aimed at committed Bob Marley fans rather than the man on the high street. 

Unfortunately the real fans would still prefer to pay high prices for a scratched or defaced original Jamaican or U.K. 7" single. Because of the French-only distribution, these albums have not achieved the depth and breadth of popularity that they so richly deserve.  The sleeve notes are in French (apart from the U.K. releases of parts one and three) and the way in which the albums have been compiles means that they tend, at times, to lack coherence and continuity. Tracks from different periods and producers are mixed together, the alternate takes are not sequenced properly and vocal versions are not matched with their instrumental counterparts. The overall picture unfortunately becomes clouded, and consequently,  its quite difficult to actually sit down and listen to any one album in its entirety.""

Ian McCann & Harry Hawke ISBN: 0-7119-9884-1

I can say that I can easily listen to all  the albums, apart from the elusive part 6.  The quality of the MP3's is a little awry in places but listenable.

I think a quick recap is need in the next post.