Burnin'
| Bob Marley
Burnin'
Burnin' is the sixth studio album by the reggae band The Wailers, released in October 1973. The sixth album by Bob Marley, Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer (the last before Tosh and Bunny departed for solo careers and the band became known as Bob Marley and the Wailers), Burnin' opens with a signature song, the call to action "Get Up, Stand Up" and includes a more confrontational and militant tone than previous records, such as in another Marley standard turned into a number one hit by Eric Clapton, "I Shot the Sheriff". The songs "Duppy Conqueror", "Small Axe", "Put It On" and "Pass It On" are re-recordings of songs previously released. -Wikipedia
Critic Reviews
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Sputnik Music
A beautiful album, that summarizes the best sides of the reggae genre.
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All Music
Such songs illuminated the desperation of poor Jamaican life, but they also looked forward to religious salvation, their themes accentuated by the compelling rhythms and the alternating vocals of the three singers.
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Treble Zine
On every album that he made with the Wailers, Marley showed solidarity with his fellow countrymen and managed to make the true reggae sound evolve each time. But Burnin’ released in 1973 is still today the most genuine definition of the roots reggae sound. It is the fourth effort with the Wailers and the last one with the legendary original lineup featuring Bunny Wailer and Peter Tosh, both who went on to have a good deal of success in their solo careers as well as become prominent dignitaries of reggae in their own rites.
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Pop Matters
Of course, Burnin' is best remembered for the urgent "Burnin' and Lootin'", the anthemic "Get up, Stand Up", and "I Shot the Sheriff", the song that Eric Clapton would famously cover on 461 Ocean Boulevard a year later. Nevertheless, the more understated numbers are also deserving of attention, especially "Small Axe" -- one of several songs on the album that the Wailers had already recorded with Lee "Scratch" Perry -- with its infectious rhythms and harmonies and its pseudo-biblical lyric of resistance . . . Catch a Fire translated the sound of the Wailers in a way that, for the most part, preserved the integrity and essence of the band's sound and made reggae comprehensible and attractive to a broader market. Burnin' achieves that translation more seamlessly.
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Bob Marley & The Wailers
The band's harmonies are exemplary throughout, almost as if the group wanted to go out together on a high. The music is first rate as well, as their spiritual harmonies effortlessly interweave around earthy, simply swaying grooves that accentuate the group’s gift for melody.
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Ultimate Classic Rock
Released six months after 'Catch a Fire' made them, and reggae, a viable new voice to Western ears, the Wailers followed up with the last album to include Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer. The next record, 'Natty Dread,' would be credited to Bob Marley & the Wailers. No surprise. He's responsible for the LP's best tracks – "Get Up, Stand Up" and "I Shot the Sheriff," especially – and he's pretty much settled into the role of reggae's king with comfort and ease at this point.
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