Bounce Back: Wailing Souls

At one point I was amidst convincing a neigh-sayer that reggae wasn’t all Bob Marely, Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer. As proof, I tossed on a Wailing Souls disc. I guess that was problematic based on the name of the group alone, seeing as it obviously bears more than a passing similarity to good ole Bob’s group. My buddy wasn’t impressed. But he should have been. The harmonies that the Wailing Souls get down on tape are pretty far removed from work the Wailers did before and after Bob got pushed out front. And if nothing else, these folks were doing work in a roots vein at roughly the same time as the Wailers.

It’s funny too, because at this point in time, there’s only a handful of classic JA acts touring. And both the Wailers and the Wailing Souls are amongst them – the latter putting on a much better show than the depleted Wailers. There are obvious musical similarities. But that has more to do with the genre than either acts inability to be original. That gets lost on a lot of folks. With only vague familiarity with any type of music, it’s pretty easy to pass of most bands as footnotes. But with any sort of genuine examination, it’s more than clear that the Wailing Souls are many things and original is one of them.

Having been around in one form or another since the mid ‘60s, the Wailing Souls have a pretty tremendous back catalog. And even as the first decade of their existence was really given over to singles and the like, that’s only spurred on the spate of compilations that have been issued working to give some sort of linear idea about what it is that the Wailing Souls achieved.

In just the last several years both The Wailing Souls at Channel One: Sevens, Twelves and Versions and the shorter Most Wanted: Classic Cuts 1978-1984 have been issued. And while each attempts to take a look at the Wailing Souls’ work from a different perspective – and time period – there’re still some over lapping tracks.

The first two tracks from Most Wanted, “War” as well as “Jah Give Us Life,” are represented on both discs. But that first track, being as politically astute and immediate, needs no explanation. The lesser religious track, though, seems as if it could have been replaced by any number of other tracks that lend some sort of deep dissection of Jamaican life. The bass line, though, might be enough on its own to warrant inclusion. An oddity amongst work from this period is the piano figure that’s utilized. It’s obviously being played on some electronic device, but the attempt to incorporate such a texture really ties the Wailing Souls to the Motown sound that they so obviously love.

Choosing between those two compilations though, is really a toss up. Each includes ample dubs after each vocal version. And with both clocking in at over an hour, they’re both worth the cost of the disc. The earlier singles collection might be more consistent as it doesn’t cover as much of the groups recorded life, but Most Wanted without question lends listeners the ability to hear the Wailing Souls over time.