Island
2005
Gold
About This Album
Winston Rodney -- the man known as Burning Spear ever since the name stopped applying to the two- or three-man group he fronted -- once said that Island doesn't own any unreleased tracks from him; they only own the tracks given to them through producer Jack Ruby. This helps explain why the numerous Burning Spear compilations the label's parent company, Universal, has released differ very little in their track listings, and maybe why the Chris Blackwell mixes of Spear's albums keep rearing their watered-down heads. They are here again on the two-disc Gold, yet another compilation that covers a sliver of Burning Spear's career. But what a sliver it is. Gold focuses on Spear's early Island albums and, through the magic of major-label mergers, one album from his stint with EMI. It's the "zenith of Burning Spear's brilliant career" according to the liner notes, and the track listing makes that case well, save one horribly misguided decision. Taking three tracks from the limp and universally scorned Garvey's Ghost -- a Blackwell-helmed dub snooze-fest that was done without the permission of an infuriated Rodney -- is a truly bad move. It's doubly frustrating when you consider how well Gold handles Spear's other albums, including his Island debut, Marcus Garvey, which also suffered from some Blackwell-ing.
Track List

Disc 1 (try tracks 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 and 11)

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14.

Disc 2 (try tracks 12 and 13)

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14.