Natty Nation’s non-Legend Bob Marley mix-tape

One only needs to look at the staggering sales of Bob Marley’s posthumous compilation Legend to realize that the man’s international renown continues to grow. But finding someone who’s dug more deeply into the reggae legend’s back catalog is a little tougher. To pump to the positive vibrations surrounding Marley’s birthday on Feb. 6 and The Wailers’ upcoming show at the Majestic, The A.V. Club spoke with Jah Boogie and Aaron Konkol of Natty Nation (a band that plays a Marley tribute show on Feb. 5 at the High Noon Saloon) about some of their favorite non-Legend Marley songs, a few of which they perform live. Currently embarked on its “Coming In From The Cold” Tour, Natty Nation has been performing and recording its own “hard rock roots reggae and dub” music (like recently released single “Suffice”) since 1995, but this will be only the third year the band has succumbed to incessant Marley requests.

“Coming In From The Cold,” Uprising
Jah Boogie: Let’s start it off with “Coming In From The Cold.” It deals with what we’re doing right now with the tour, so that’s pretty self-explanatory.

Aaron Konkol: It’s got quite the interesting song structure. When you listen to Bob Marley songs, you go “Oh yeah, whatever. This seems pretty simple.” But when you actually dissect it, you find out it’s got four different parts, and sometimes he sings the same lyrics or same vocal line over a different chord progression. They just make it sound so easy and relaxed, you don’t really consider that it’s changing and pretty difficult.

“War,” Rastaman Vibration
AK: It’s pretty much a riff over two chords, but the vocals are actually a speech that [Ethiopian leader] Haile Selassie gave to the [United Nations]. It’s just incredibly powerful and profound, especially for the time. He’s talking about how, without equality across the world, we’re never actually going to come together and have lasting peace. Obviously the words don’t rhyme, but Bob, the way he put it together, you wouldn’t even notice that. It just sounds like, “That’s the way it goes.”

“Punky Reggae Party” [This song showed up on the deluxe version of Legend, but wasn’t on the original release. —ed.]
JB: That’s one that he did with Aswad, an English reggae band, so that was my reason for picking that one. That gave it a funky vibe. I think he laid that down in the time frame that he laid down the Exodus album. He was noticing all the punk rock phenomenon that was going on. He was getting into that, and it was getting into him as well.

“Positive Vibration,” Rastaman Vibration
AK: Kind of like “Coming In From The Cold,” it’s a very interesting song structure. When it goes to this minor key for a little bit, and then comes out to the major part, they talk about how it’s a new day, new time, and a beautiful feeling, and the words really match the music.

“Concrete Jungle,” Catch A Fire
JB: I like that one because of the bass line; it has a very sweet and melodic bass line to it. That’s the part of it that makes the song, for me.

“Mr. Brown,” Soul Revolution
AK: That’s one he did with [producer] Lee Perry. It’s got this crazy beat. I’m pretty sure that was the first time that was ever laid down, and it’s called “The Creep.” [Mimics the beat.] It became one of the reggae beats …

JB: Styles.

AK: Yeah, one of the styles that everyone needs to learn. “It’s ‘The Creep,’” and then everyone just knows that that’s that one.

JB: It defined the style of reggae.

AK: I bet Lee Perry had a lot to do with that one.

JB: Oh yeah. Oh yeah.

AK: And it’s got this crazy loud keyboard line in it. [Mimics sound.] It’s a strange mix, but for whatever reason it works.

“Zimbabwe,” Survival
JB: That’s one you don’t hear a lot of. It’s a song speaking out against apartheid, and actually the South African government wouldn’t let that song play on the radio station. They tried to ban it for speaking out against their tactics. It’s a pretty obscure one that you don’t hear a lot.

“Kinky Reggae,” Talkin’ Blues compilation
AK: This one is off of, I’m not sure what the original album is, but this is one of the albums that made me want to play reggae, called Talkin’ Blues. It’s a live radio broadcast with a five-piece band on their first American tour. I was in high school when I heard it the first time. I play keys, and the organ in that is just really awesome. The album is a really stripped-down version and really raw. Whatever they did before to get prepared for that was perfect in my opinion. That’s our arrangement too, you know: It’s guitar, bass, drums, keyboards. I really dig on the stripped-down versions.

“Natural Mystic,” Exodus
JB: That seems to be one that doesn’t get played a lot. It has a very spiritual vibration.

“Sun Is Shining,” Kaya
AK: That’s another Lee Perry song. I play melodica, and it’s got a really great melodica line in it that goes throughout, underneath the vocals. That [instrument] came into reggae by a dude named Augustus Pablo who collaborated with King Tubby and Lee Perry to do a lot of the early dub stuff and instrumental versions. That’s a really crazy song. It’s got a super distorted organ in it. Lee Perry’s crazy as hell.