Marcus Garvey

Marcus Garvey was released in 1975 on Fox Records in Jamaica and then internationally on Island Records later in the year. It is named after the Jamaican National Hero. A dub version, Garvey's Ghost, followed four months later. It was the first album Burning Spear recorded for the producer Lawrence Lindo, known as Jack Ruby, and the two apparently realised the opening track on their first meeting.

Island, whose founder Chris Blackwell had already broken Jimmy Cliff, Toots and the Maytals and Bob Marley to an international audience, believed the original Jamaican mix was too threatening, or at least too commercially unviable, for white audiences. The label remixed it, which outraged Rodney. Jesse Ducker of Albumism wrote that Island had it remixed without the group's permission, believing the original recordings were too raw. The Jamaican release also leaves out the last track, "Resting Place", which there had appeared only as a single. The backing musicians, whom Lindo named the Black Disciples, were assembled from the Soul Syndicate and the Wailers.

Ed Ward, reviewing it in Rolling Stone in 1976, found the music rootsy and compelling but doubted American audiences would understand it. Robert Christgau gave it an A-, calling it the most African and political sounding reggae LP yet to reach the United States. Jo-Ann Greene of AllMusic regretted that Island's Mango imprint remixed it too commercially, which diluted some of the haunting atmospheres of Ruby's original mix. Jim Harrington, in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die, commented that it had "a poignant blend of religious aspirations and cultural concerns". It was remastered by Universal's Hip-O Records on 27 July 2010 and paired with its dub version on one CD.