Bob Marley & the Wailers
One Love: The Very Best of
Bob Marley & the Wailers It's about time to replace that copy of Legend with a new disc that boasts a crisper sound and six more tracks.
… Say what? You don't have a copy of Legend? Shame on ya.
Not to worry. It's never too late to get that ever-crucial Marley component in your stack. He has become a generation unifier, as revered by high school kids as old hippies. He did far more than bring reggae into the global consciousness; Marley was a beloved, socially conscious figure who proved that all popular music needn't emanate from the industrialized West. He had the charisma of the biggest rock stars. He wrote and performed songs that rightfully deserve iconic status.
There are 20 of them here; 79 minutes worth of prime Marley. The single disc runs chronologically, beginning with Stir It Up, from Catch a Fire (1973) Marley's first for Englishman Chris Blackwell's Island label, which launched his international career. One Love covers aspects of the entire Marley canon: protest tunes (Get Up, Stand Up, Exodus, Buffalo Soldier, So Much Trouble in the World); love songs (Waiting in Vain, Turn Your Lights Down Low, No Woman, No Cry, Is This Love); celebratory and spiritual anthems (Jammin', Lively Up Yourself, Roots, Rock, Reggae, One Love/People Get Ready, the band version of Redemption Song); and between-the-cracks stuff, like I Shot the Sheriff, Three Little Birds and Sun is Shining.
For Marley completists, the final track is previously unreleased; cut in '77 and titled I Know a Place, it's an agreeable enough ditty, but not of the same quality as perhaps three dozen other Marley tunes. Still, you can hardly blame the producers for including an unearthed nugget in the collection.
A few words about the new digital remaster: Crisp, full, a marked upgrade.
In the final analysis, it's the rare pop artist who merits a 20-song best-of package that's about 20 tracks too short. (Island)
—Eric Snider 
Call And Response
Call And Response
What is up with indie bands these days? A large percentage of the cutting edge is currently mining pop music's past for new inspiration, and finding it in updating retro styles ranging from disco to AM-radio soft rock. On their newly-revamped and recently re-released self-titled debut (originally issued by Athens' hipster-haven Kindercore) San Franciso's Call And Response mix unassuming pop, light jazz and cheesy dancefloor funk with some newfangled studio tinkering and a contemporary eclecticism. The result is breezy, catchy and utterly without pretense, but it also comes off as a bit insubstantial, and something of a novelty — too much here just sounds like Stereolab screwing around with Midnight at the Oasis. Blowing Bubbles sets the tone with its airy harmonies and jazzy bass and keys; however, this Beck/Anne Murray/Bee Gees amalgam grows old long before the acoustic guitar-driven California Floating In Space offers any respite. The fuzz-guitar and strong grooves of Map and the striking melody of Colors elevate these tracks to a standout position, but it's ultimately too little too late. The majority of Call And Response works a kitschy, dated sound (albeit often in clever, engaging ways) a little too hard for anything to really take hold. (Emperor Norton/Kindercore, www.emperornorton.com)
—Scott Harrell 
Pep Love
Ascension
Pep Love is what you might call a spiritual brother. His rhymes are laced with Buddhist-influenced thoughts, delivered with a serious, street-wise candor. He raps about manifesting one's loftier desires, a direct contrast to, say, DMX. Ascension is the long-awaited debut from this underground icon, who's rhymed on albums for the Hieroglyphics camp since 1991, appearing on every Hiero album except Del the Funky Homosapien's I Wish My Brother George Was Here. The album's 16 tracks total 73 minutes and are void of filler. The songs are melodic, even pretty, and Pep Love infuses them with wisdom. Living Is Beautiful is one big shout out to life. The Fight Club is an old-school battle taunt. And in My Energy Pep gives props to chi. Throw your hands up and say, Om. (Hiero Imperium, www.hieroglyphics.com)
—Cooper Cruz 
Jason Moran
Black Stars
With his third Blue Note album as a leader in as many years, Moran has established himself as one of the most potent young piano voices in jazz. Unlike the post-Bill Evans bunch of Brad Mehldau, Jacky Terrason and the like, Moran is a far more rambunctious, stylistically adventurous player and composer. He calls to mind such iconoclasts as Randy Weston, Andrew Hill and Jaki Byard with his dense, aggro flights that deftly balance dissonance, lyricism and structure. For Black Stars, Moran wrote a series of tunes for sax/flute titan (and Orlando resident) Sam Rivers, who (at 78 years old!) shines here as he works telepathically with Moran and his regular cohorts, drummer Nasheet Waits and bassist Tarus Mateen. The music is vibrant, intense, never predictable.
—Eric Snider 
Eric Taylor
Scuffletown
Anyone out there who still finds satisfaction in hearing a well-developed story augmented by a sparse arrangement and delivered with unfettered feeling, Eric Taylor is the fix you're looking for. An integral part of the Houston scene of the early 1970s that included Guy Clark and Townes Van Zandt, Taylor's ability to craft a tune, although less celebrated, is no less superior. Scuffletown is his most accomplished album yet. The disc is an hourlong chronicle of personal struggles, which are rendered compelling by a gifted singer and guitarist backed by the occasional fiddle, piano, percussion and subtle female supporting vocal. Grab a six-pack, turn up the volume, relax and allow yourself to be carried across a landscape of raw human emotion. (Eminent, www.eminentrecords.com)
—Wade Tatangelo
This article appears in Oct 11-17, 2001.