Survival
A militant, pan-African record with a cover of national flags.
Bob Marley and the Wailers, 1979
- Released
- 2 October 1979
- Recorded
- January and February 1979
- Studio
- Tuff Gong Studio, Kingston
- Label
- Tuff Gong/Island
- Producer
- Bob Marley and the Wailers and Alex Sadkin
- Length
- 38:02
Survival has an outwardly militant theme. Some critics speculate that it answered criticism of the laid-back mood of Kaya. Africa Unite declares Pan-African solidarity, and Zimbabwe is a hymn to the then white-dominated Rhodesia that was performed at Zimbabwe's independence celebrations in 1980. The album was to be called Black Survival, but the name was shortened to avoid misinterpretation. It was partly censored in South Africa.
Neville Garrick designed the cover, which shows 48 African flags and one Oceanian flag, that of Papua New Guinea, with the Brookes slave ship engraving behind the title. The album reached number 20 in Britain and number 70 in the United States. Alex Sadkin co-produced, engineered and mixed it. Ted Jensen mastered it at Sterling Sound in New York.
Track listing
- So Much Trouble in the World
- Zimbabwe
- Top Rankin'
- Babylon System
- Survival
- Africa Unite
- One Drop
- Ride Natty Ride
- Ambush in the Night
- Wake Up and Live
Personnel
- Bob Marley lead vocals, rhythm guitar, acoustic guitar, percussion
- Aston "Family Man" Barrett bass, rhythm guitar, percussion
- Carlton Barrett drums, percussion
- Tyrone "Organ D" Downie keyboards, percussion, backing vocals
- Alvin "Seeco" Patterson percussion
- Junior Marvin lead guitar, backing vocals
- Al Anderson lead guitar
- Earl "Wire" Lindo keyboards
- Carlton "Santa" Davis drums on Africa Unite
- Mikey "Boo" Richards drums on Wake Up and Live
- Val Douglas bass on Wake Up and Live
- Earl "Chinna" Smith rhythm guitar and percussion on One Drop
- Headley Bennett alto saxophone
- Lee Jaffe harmonica
- Rita Marley, Marcia Griffiths and Judy Mowatt backing vocals
More from Bob Marley and the Wailers
The Wailing Wailers (1965), Soul Rebels (1970), Catch a Fire (1973), Burnin' (1973), Natty Dread (1974), Live! (1975), Rastaman Vibration (1976), Exodus (1977), Kaya (1978), Babylon by Bus (1978), Uprising (1980), Confrontation (1983), Legend (1984)
Sources
- Survival (Bob Marley and the Wailers album), Wikipedia
- Survival (UK Tuff Gong / Island ILPS 9542), Discogs
- Survival, master release, Discogs