Bob Marley & The Wailers, Legend (1984)
It’s the greatest-selling reggae album of all time and the first significant posthumous hits collection featuring the killer singles by Bob Marley & The Wailers and, for my money, it’s one of the all-time greatest single-disc best ofs for and by any artist. It’s both the token reggae album (for people that don’t really dig the genre/have never really delved) and you’ll often find it in the collection, whether starting point or just a must-have to cap things off, of hardcore reggae heads too. The phenomenon of Marley as the third world’s global pop star really is a mesmerising and somehow slightly underrated thing. The more you think about it the more amazing it really is. And I’m going through a huge Marley phase right now. I mean his music’s been in my life since around the time this album was first released (though this album in particular would only make it into my life a few years on, when CDs really took hold in our house). But I come and go with Bob – in terms of connecting. And right now I’m about as into his music as I’ve ever been – the songs are so great, the band is just terrific, his singing, his lyrics, the feel, the vibe, the politics; the works. It’s all there – just as it’s always been. I bought this on vinyl some time back – having gone through a few CD copies (losing them in flats, scratching them to unplayable, leaving them in pubs, or at people’s places…). I love Bob. And have a few other records – some of the original albums – on vinyl. And I’ll be buying more. And though I don’t often sit with this and play it right through anymore I couldn’t imagine being without it.

Sample Track: [THE WHOLE DAMN T’ING]

The Vinyl Countdown is a document of every LP I listen to, brand new discoveries and old-old favourites; extremely pre-loved, previously abandoned or with the shrink-wrap having just been removed it’s all here at The Vinyl Countdown