As the year’s celebrations commemorating the legendary Bob Marley’s 75th birthday continue, yet more incredible collector edition items and activations have been announced and released for December and January 2021.
On January 29, 2021, the highly acclaimed Songs of Freedom: The Island Years, an extraordinary 6LP set, as well as a 3CD set, will be re-released worldwide. A limited-edition color 6LP set featuring two red, two green, and two gold vinyl LPs will also be available.
In addition to Songs Of Freedom, twelve limited-edition Bob Marley vinyl LP’s pressed exclusively at the legendary Tuff Gong International headquarters in Kingston, Jamaica, will be available on January 22, 2021. The Jamaican pressings will include nine original studio albums, two original live albums, plus the world’s best-selling reggae album, Legend, all individually numbered along with a highly-desirable Tuff Gong stamp. Catch A Fire, The Wailers’ debut album, will be available in its original Jamaica-recorded version, with two extra tracks from the sessions and some tracks with longer fades. Originally recorded in Jamaica, Catch A Fire was eventually released with overdubs and a mix overseen by Island founder Chris Blackwell at the label’s London headquarters. Produced entirely by Bob Marley & the Wailers and mixed by longtime Marley associate Errol Brown, this Jamaican version will be on vinyl for the first time. The limited-edition albums were pressed at Tuff Gong’s newly refurbished vinyl pressing plant, which re-opened in summer 2020 and will have an annual capacity of 250,000 units. Dave Cooley mastered each album at Elysian Masters in Los Angeles.
Additionally, the long-awaited CD version of the iconic Complete Island Recordings LP box was recently released in December and is available now. The Complete Island Recordings CD boxset consists of 11 albums packaged in CD wallets, which are housed in a brushed silver clamshell box that simulates the larger, hinged lighter from the LP set. The set includes all nine Bob Marley & The Wailers studio albums recorded for Island Records, plus two live albums, Live! and Babylon By Bus.
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