Burnin’

Bob Marley & The Wailers recorded Burnin’ in 1973, just as reggae was beginning to cross borders. This album doesn’t sound like their previous ones: the production by Island Records gave it a more polished shine, yet without losing the raw energy that came from Lee "Scratch" Perry’s studios or the days in Trenchtown. The band had already worked with key producers like Leslie Kong, but here the sound feels more connected to the Roots Rock Reggae that would define their most political stage. It’s not a transitional album: it’s the one that marks The Wailers’ leap toward something bigger, with lyrics ranging from calls to action to social lament.

Year: 1973
Songs: 10
Duration: 76 min 59 seg

18 song|s

Song list

# Title Available ⏱

Burnin’ and Lootin’

Get Up Stand Up

I Shot the Sheriff

Lively Up Your Self

No Woman, No Cry

Them Belly Full (but We Hungry)

Trenchtown Rock

Crazy Baldhead

Cry to Me

Johnny Was

Night Shift

Rastaman Vibration

Rat Race

Want More

Roots Rock Reggae

Ride Natty Ride

War

Who the Cap Fit

Genres

Dub jamaican ska Reggae rocksteady roots reggae

Details

Year: 1973
Songs: 10
Duration: 76 min 59 seg

About the album

Burnin’, according to DoReSol

There are three songs that sum up why this album is different. Get Up Stand Up sounds like a punch: the lyrics don’t ask for permission, they demand. I Shot the Sheriff became an unexpected hit years later thanks to Eric Clapton, but here it already shined as an anthem of resistance. And No Woman, No Cry —though the original title says No Cry— is pure warmth live, recorded at London’s Lyceum Ballroom without overdubs. The version everyone knows came out as a single in 1975, but the essence is in this album: Marley singing about hunger and hope with a guitar that seems to breathe.

The album was released in October 1973, and although it never reached number one in any country, its influence was slow but definitive. The Wailers were no longer just a Jamaica band: they were the voice of a generation. Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer left the group the following year, but Burnin’ remained as proof that those three from Trenchtown had found a sound the world needed to hear.

Discography