Maps of Music

Survival (1979)

Where the lyrics of Survival take you, and where it was really made.

The album was first planned to be called Black Survival, but the title was shortened so its theme would not be misread.

Key places

Recorded at Tuff Gong, Kingston (1979)

Recording site Tuff Gong Recording Studio — The album's recording location is listed as Tuff Gong Recording Studio in Kingston, Jamaica. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Survival: eleventh studio album by Bob Marley and the Wailers
• Released in 1979
• Outwardly militant theme
• Follows the album Kaya
• Originally to be called Black Survival

Background

• Some critics link the militant turn to criticism of Kaya's laid-back atmosphere
• That criticism held that Kaya seemed to blunt the urgency of Marley's message
• Original title stressed the urgency of African unity
• Title shortened to prevent misreading of the album's theme
• The song "Zimbabwe" is a hymn dedicated to then white-dominated Rhodesia
• The song was performed at Zimbabwe's Independence Celebration in 1980, just after independence was declared
• The album was partially censored in South Africa because of its apartheid regime

Recording

• Producers: Bob Marley & The Wailers and Alex Sadkin
• Mastering by Ted Jensen at Sterling Sound, NYC
• Bob Marley on lead vocals, rhythm guitar, acoustic guitar, percussion
• Aston "Family Man" Barrett on bass
• Carlton Barrett on drums
• Junior Marvin and Al Anderson on lead guitar
• Rita Marley, Marcia Griffiths and Judy Mowatt on backing vocals
• Lee Jaffe on harmonica

Cover

• Front cover shows 48 African flags and one Oceanian flag (Papua New Guinea)
• Zimbabwe is shown by two political flags instead of a national flag
• Four sovereign states' flags are absent from the cover but appear on the poster
• Two non-sovereign regions also appear on the poster
• Two flags on the poster are greyed out and shown as numbers
• An early, unused version of the poster included those flags
• Title in white City typeface over the Brookes slave ship engraving
• Cover designed by Neville Garrick

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Formation

• Formed in 1963 in Jamaica around Peter Tosh, Bunny Wailer and Bob Marley, initially as the Teenagers before becoming the Wailers.
• The band had a ska and rocksteady origin and their 1964 hit "Simmer Down" recorded at Studio One shifted Jamaican music toward its own voice.

Members

• Founding members were Bob Marley, Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer; Tosh and Wailer left in 1974.
• Marley continued with a new lineup including Aston and Carlton Barrett and the female backing trio the I-Threes.

Career

• Signed to Island Records in 1972; albums Catch a Fire and Burnin' followed in 1973.
• Released Exodus (1977) and Uprising (1980), and Marley died of cancer in 1981, after which the group disbanded.
• Legend (1984) became the biggest-selling reggae album ever.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• Survival is described as an album with an outwardly militant theme.
• Some critics speculate that the militant tone was partly a response to criticism of Kaya, Marley's previous release.
• Critics faulted Kaya's laid-back atmosphere for seeming to sidetrack the urgency of Marley's message.
• That criticism is read as one reason the album took a sharper, more urgent direction.

Reappraisal

• The militant theme is most visible in "Africa Unite", where Marley proclaims Pan-African solidarity.
• "Zimbabwe" is a hymn dedicated to then white-dominated Rhodesia.
• The song was performed at Zimbabwe's Independence Celebration in 1980, just after the official declaration of independence.
• That later performance ties the song to the country's independence rather than to the album alone.
• The album's focus on African unity is the reason the original title was Black Survival.
• The title was changed to a shorter name to prevent misinterpretations of the album's theme.
• Because of the apartheid regime, the album was partially censored in South Africa.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• The album was first to be called Black Survival, to stress the urgency of African unity, before the title was shortened to prevent misreadings.
• The song "Zimbabwe" was performed at Zimbabwe's Independence Celebration in 1980, just after independence was officially declared.
• The album was partially censored in South Africa because of the apartheid regime.
• An early, unused version of the poster included the flags of South Africa and Zimbabwe Rhodesia.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

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