Wailers Recording Session Timeline, 1962 - 1974

Events and notes
Recording sessions
Releases
1962
Robert Nesta (Bob) Marley records his first singles at Federal studios for Leslie Kong's Beverly's label. Neville O'Riley Livingston (Bunny Livingston, Bunny Wailer) is supposed to record a track (Pass It On) at the April session, but was delayed at school and running errands for his father. His tardiness angers Kong who refuses to let Bunny sing during the session.

Bob's mother Cedella moves to America to marry a man named Edward Booker.
Judge Not!, Do You Still Love Me? [February]
One Cup Of Coffee, Terror [April]
• Judge Not! b/w Do You Still Love Me?
• One Cup Of Coffee b/w Snow Boy (Don Drummond)
• Terror b/w ? (no copies have ever been located)
1962
Events and notes
Recording sessions
Releases
1963
Bob, Bunny, Winston Hubert McIntosh (Peter Tosh), Franklin (Junior) Braithwaite, and Ermine Ortense Bramwell (Cherry Green, Cherry Smith) get together and call their group The Teenagers.

Joe Higgs teaches the young group the basics of singing such as breath control and harmony in his kitchen and in the Trench Town yard of Cherry's neighbor Skipper Lako. The group rehearses for almost two years before going into the studio. In Skipper's yard someone suggests the name The Wailers, which the group adopts a week or two before their first recording session.
1963
Events and notes
Recording sessions
Releases
1964
The Wailers first recording session is at Clement "Coxsone" Dodd's Studio One. [July 6] They will record 88 songs for Coxsone over the next two years. Coxsone pays the Wailers £20 per song (to split between the group).

Bob asks singer Beverly Kelso to join the Wailers the day before their first Studio One sessions. [July 5]

The Wailers play their first live show at the Sombrero Club in Kingston. Lineup is Bob, Peter, Bunny, Junior, Cherry, and Beverly. [July/August]

Junior Braithwaite leaves Jamaica the day after recording It Hurts To Be Alone, to join his family who had recently moved to America. [August]

Though Beverly and Cherry are still in the group, in September other female vocalists begin appearing on Wailers recordings. Most notably, Marcia Griffiths and Rita Anderson, who, along with Judy Mowatt, would later make up the I Threes. The members of Rita's group The Soulettes (Rita, Rita's cousin Constantine "Dream" Walker, and Marlene "Precious" Gifford) also sing on many Wailers recordings.

After the group has some success, Coxsone starts paying Bob, Bunny, and Peter a "salary" of £2 or £3 a week. The most money they will see at one time from Coxsone is when he pays Bob £100 two years later in 1966. The Wailers never receive any royalties from the Studio One recordings.

Cedella Marley and Thaddeus Livingston (Bunny's Father) have a daughter together, Pearl. Giving Bob and Bunny a shared sister.
Simmer Down, I Don't Need Your Love, I Am Going Home, Do You Remember (a.k.a. How Many Times), Straight And Narrow Way [July 6]
Climb The Ladder, Your Love, Mr. Talkative [mid July]
Tell Them Lord, Christmas Is Here, Destiny [mid July]
Hoot Nanny Hoot, Maga Dog [mid July]
Habits, Amen [mid July]
Go Jimmy Go [late July]
Donna, Dance With Me, Wings Of A Dove, Nobody Knows [early August]
Teenager In Love, Love Won't Be Mine This Way [early August]
Where Will I Find [late August]
It Hurts To Be Alone, Don't Ever Leave Me, True Confessions [August 28]
Oh My Darling, I Need You [September]
Lonesome Feelings, There She Goes [October]
• Simmer Down b/w I Don't Need Your Love
• It Hurts To Be Alone b/w Mr. Talkative
• Donna (label says "Dana") b/w Don't Ever Leave Me
• Climb Up The Ladder b/w Straight And Narrow Way
• I Am Going Home b/w Destiny
• I Am Going Home b/w It Hurts To Be Alone
• Lonesome Feelings b/w There She Goes
• Do You Remember (How Many Times) b/w Hoot Nanny Hoot (Peter Touch And The Wailers)
• Amen (Peter Touch And The Wailers) b/w Habits
• Go Jimmy Go b/w Do You Remember
• Oh My Darling b/w Trying To Keep A Good Man Down (The Hamlins)
• Tell Them Lord b/w Christmas Is Here
1964
Events and notes
Recording sessions
Releases
1965
Cherry Green sings on several recordings, but her participation isn't consistent. Beverly Kelso, a more active participant, appears on many more recordings. But for both singers, their last session with the Wailers is recording Let The Lord Be Seen In You (the record label lists the performers as "Bob Marley & The Spiritual Sisters") [October]

While the Wailers will always incorporate female voices, after Beverly and Cherry leave, the backup vocalists who replace them are not considered "Wailers." Only Bob, Peter, and Bunny are Wailers (for now).
I Made A Mistake, The Vow [January]
Diamond Baby, Playboy, Where's The Girl For Me, Hooligans, Jumbie Jamboree [January]
Love & Affection, And I Love Her, Do It Right [April/May]
One Love, Do You Feel The Same Way Too, Shame And Scandal, The Jerk [July 8]
What's New Pussy Cat? [July/August]
Rude Boy [September]
I'm Still Waiting, Ska Jerk [October]
White Christmas, Let The Lord Be Seen In You [October]
Another Dance, Somewhere To Lay My Head [October]
Where Is My Mother, This Train, Wages Of Love (rehearsal) [October]
Wages Of Love [October 17]
I Left My Sins, Just In Time [November]
Lonesome Track [November]
I'm Gonna Put It On [November]
Ten Commandments Of Love [November]
Cry To Me, Good Good Rudie [December]
The Wailing Wailers LP (singles compilation) [late in the year]
• Shame And Scandal (Peter Touch And The Wailers) b/w Ska Balena (Roland Alphonso And Soul Brothers)
• Diamond Baby b/w Where's The Girl For Me
• Jumbie Jamboree b/w I Should Have Know Better (Roland Alphonso And The Soul Brothers)
• I Made A Mistake b/w The Vow (Bonny [Bunny] And Rita)
• Playboy b/w Your Love
• I'm Still Waiting b/w Ska Jerk
• Love & Affection b/w Teenager In Love
• Hooligans b/w Maga Dog (Peter Touch And The Wailers)
• Where Will I Find b/w What's New Pussy Cat?
• One Love b/w Do You Feel The Same Way
• Another Dance b/w Somewhere To Lay My Head
• Another Dance b/w Jack And Jill (Theophilus Beckford)
• Just In Time (Bob Marley And The Spiritual Sisters) b/w I Left My Sins
• Rude Boy b/w Pine Juice (Sir Coxson's All Star)
• I'm Gonna Put It On b/w Love Won't Be Mine This Way
• Cry To Me b/w Wages Of Love
• Good Good Rudie b/w Ocean 11 (The City Slickers)
• Rude Boy b/w Ringo's Ska (This Boy) (The Soul Brothers)
• And I Love Her b/w Do It Right
• White Christmas b/w Let The Lord Be Seen In You (Bob Marley And The Spiritual Sisters)
1965
Events and notes
Recording sessions
Releases
1966
Bob Marries Rita Anderson. [February 10] He does not tell the other Wailers that he and Rita are getting married. The only people who know are Coxsone and Beverly Kelso.

A week or so after marrying Rita, Bob moves to Delaware to find work and earn money to start the Wailers record label. [February 12] He stays with his mother on Tatnall Street in Wilmington and works as a janitor at the Hotel DuPont, and in the Chrysler auto plant doing inventory in the parts department (Bunny's brother Carl works at the plant and recommends Bob to his boss). He is away from Jamaica for nine months.

Before leaving for America, Bob is known as Nesta, Lester, Robbie, and a couple of other names as well. It is a Jamaican passport official (insisting Nesta is a girl's name) who puts the name Robert Marley on his passport.

Constantine Walker (now called "Vision") fills in for Bob on Wailers recordings while Bob is in Delaware.

Peter Tosh begins playing guitar on some recording sessions.

H.I.M. Haile Selassie I visits Jamaica. [April 21] Rita is moved by seeing Selassie and writes to Bob in Delaware saying, "Something is happening here." Bob replies, "You must be getting crazy, Rita!" The Wailers are aware of Rastas in Kingston, but Rita's brother, who attends to the University of the West Indies, begins reasoning about Rasta tenets and philosophies with the Wailers in earnest. That, combined with the impact of Selassie's visit, causes the Wailers to become serious about Rastafari.

Bob returns to Jamaica. [November] Shortly after returning, Coxsone tries to convince Bob to carry on without Peter and Bunny. Instead, the Wailers leave Coxsone and start their own record label, Wail 'N Soul 'M. Their first recording is Freedom Time, made with money Bob brought back from Delaware. They record twenty new songs for Wail 'N Soul 'M, and release a number of singles over the next three years.
Sinner Man [March]
Guajara Ska [early in the year]
Rasta Shook Them Up [late April]
The Toughest [May]
Sunday Morning, He Who Feels It Knows It, Let Him Go [June]
Bless You [June]
Jerking Time, Rock Sweet Rock, Don't Look Back, When The Well Runs Dry, Little Boy Blue [July]
Making Love, Lemon Tree, Sentimental Journey [July]
Can't You See, Treat Me Good [August]
What Am I Supposed To Do, Dancing Shoes, I Stand Predominant [August]
I Need You, Dreamland, Rolling Stone, Blowing In The Wind [August]
Bend Down Low, Freedom Time [November]
• Let Him Go b/w Unchained (Horace Andy)
• Rasta Shook Them Up (Peter Touch And The Wailers) b/w Ringo's Ska (This Boy) (The Soul Brothers)
• Guajara Ska b/w Forsaken Friend (The Gaylads)
• Don't Look Back (Peter Touch And The Chorus) b/w Dancing Shoes
• Sinner Man b/w Lonesome Track
• The Toughest (Peter Touch) b/w No Faith (Marcia Griffiths)
• Sunday Morning b/w He Who Feels It Knows It
• Bless You (Bonnie [Bunny] And Rita) b/w Beardman Ska (The Skatalites)
• Jerking Time b/w Rock Sweet Rock
• Lemon Tree b/w unknown
• Making Love (Peter Touch & The Chorus) b/w Voo Doo Moon (The Soul Brothers)
• I Stand Predominant b/w Come By Here (Norma Fraser)
• What Am I Supposed To Do b/w Do The Boogaloo (Jackie Mittoo & The Soul Brothers)
• I Need You b/w Don't Want To See You Cry (Ken Boothe)
• Jail House b/w Great Muga Ruga (The Boss)
• Can't You See (Peter Tosh And The Wailers) b/w Time To Turn (The Soulettes)
• The Toughest (Peter Touch) b/w Toughest Version
• Let Him Go b/w Sinner Man
1966
Events and notes
Recording sessions
Releases
1967
Bob feels uninspired and is having trouble writing songs so he and the other Wailers (as well as Bunny's partner Jean Watt, Rita, and Vision) move to Bob's grandfather's farm in Nine Mile. Peter only lasts a week in the country, but the others stay and plant yams, cocoa, beans, corn, cabbage and other crops. At night they play and sing, and eventually Bob finds his inspiration again, and he and Bunny write a number of songs that the Wailers will go on to record.

Shirley Livingston, Bunny's younger sister, gives birth to Peter Tosh's first child, Andrew. [June 19]

Bunny is sent to prison on herb charges. He spends two months in Kingston's General Penitentiary (built in 1845), then does one year of hard labor at the Richmond Farm Prison. [July] Years later, when applying for a visa to travel to America for the first Wailers foreign shows, Bunny discovers that the 1967 charges against him were actually dropped, but the authorities did not notify him of the fact, and kept him in prison to finish the sentence.
Simpleton [February]
Nice Time, Hypocrite, Mellow Mood, Thank You Lord [June]
Bus Dem Shut, Stir It Up [June]
Lyrical Satyrical I, This Train [June]
• Simpleton (The Crackers And Peas [pseudonym for Peter Tosh]) b/w Warn The Nation (Prince Buster All Stars)
The first couple of Wail 'N Soul 'M singles are credited to Bob Marley and The Wailers, then starting with Bus Dem Shut, it was changed to Bob Marley and The Wailing Wailers.
• Freedom Time b/w Bend Down Low
• Stir It Up b/w This Train (first use of red, gold and green on a Wailers label)
• Bus Dem Shut b/w Lyrical Satirical I
Nice Time b/w Hypocrites
• Thank You Lord b/w Mellow Mood
1967
Events and notes
Recording sessions
Releases
1968
During Bunny's time in prison, Johnny Nash "discovers" Bob Marley and he and his partner Danny Sims proceed to do a number of demos and studio recordings with Bob, Peter, and Rita (with Bob being their focus). [January]

Bob, Peter, and Rita record live demos at Danny Sims' rental house in Kingston. Fallin' In And Out Of Love, Stranger On The Shore, Splish For My Splash, Wings Of A Dove, and Want Love True Love. [January]

Sims begins paying Bob, Peter, and Rita $100 (US) a week as a retainer, and they begin making a living from their music for the first time.

Bob, Peter, and Rita record more casual demos at Danny Sims' house. They sing Fallin' In And Out Of Love, Stranger On The Shore, and Splish For My Splash again, as well as What Goes Around Comes Around, and You Say I have No Feelings. [May]

Sims flies Bob, Peter, and Rita to New York to do a bit of recording, but mostly to meet people in the record industry. [Early in the year]

Bunny is released from Prison. [September]

The company/label that Johnny Nash, Danny Sims, and Arthur Jenkins run is called JAD. More than 30 of the songs that Bob and the Wailers record for JAD are written by rhythm-and-blues singer and songwriter Jimmy Norman. The rhythm tracks for the songs are recorded at Federal Studios (which Bob will one day buy) in Jamaica, and then the tapes are taken to New York where studio musicians add instrumentation that Sims assumes to be more palatable to North American and European ears. As a result, much of the JAD material sounds like a compromise that doesn't satisfy the musical tastes of either country.

The Wailers continue recording and releasing their own music on Wail 'N Soul 'M (and later Tuff Gong) throughout the JAD period.
Funeral, Pound Get A Blow, Hammer [January]
Stepping Razor [January]
I'm Hurting Inside [January]
Mus' Get A Beatin', Fire Fire [April]
Chances Are, The Lord Will Make A Way, Don't Rock My Boat [April]
Nice Time, Soul Almighty, Bend Down Low [May]
Rock To The Rock, Love [mid year]
Rocking Steady [mid year]
Bend Down Low, Nice Time [May/June]
Mellow Mood [June]
There She Goes, Put It On, How Many Times, Chances Are, Hammer [June]
Selassie Is The Chapel [June 8]
Soul Rebel [September]
Touch Me, Treat You Right, The World Is Changing, Lonely Girl, Milkshake And Potato Chips, It Hurts To Be Alone, What Goes Around Comes Around, Soul Shake Down Party, Lonesome Feelings [late in the year]
• Selassie Is The Chapel b/w A Little Prayer (Mortimer Planno And The Wailers)
• Hurting Inside b/w Freedom Time
• Stepping Razor (Peter Tosh And The Wailers) b/w Hurting Inside
• Bend Down Low b/w Play Play Play (Rita Marley)
• Mellow Mood b/w Bend Down Low
• Mus' Get A Beatin' b/w Fire Fire
• Fire Fire b/w Pound Get A Blow
• Funeral b/w Pound Get A Blow
• Fire Fire b/w Don't Rock My Boat
• Chances Are b/w The Lord Will Make A Way Somehow
• Don't Rock My Boat b/w Stir It Up
• Play Play Play (Rita Marley) b/w Don't Rock My Boat
• Mus' Get A Beatin' b/w The Lord Will Make A Way Somehow
1968
Events and notes
Recording sessions
Releases
1969
Bob brings Rita and their children Sharon, Cedella, and Ziggy to Wilmington to visit his mother. [Spring]

Later in the year, Rita convinces Bob to emigrate to Delaware. The plan is to live there permanently. They move in with Bob's mother, and Bob and Rita get jobs and enroll the kids in school. Bob goes back to work at the Chrysler plant, Rita works a series of domestic jobs.

Bob intends to bring Bunny and Peter up to Delaware, but when he writes to them in Jamaica, they don't respond. (Bunny says he didn't respond because Bob asked him to come to America but to leave Peter behind in Jamaica.)

Bob receives a draft notice from the U.S. government inviting him to fight in the Vietnam war. Feeling as if he has no other options, he moves the family back to Jamaica. [Late summer]

Peter (without the other Wailers) records with the Barrett brothers for the first time on the song, Earth's Rightful Ruler, with Lee Perry at the controls. A few months later, all three of the Wailers record Black Progress with the Barretts and Scratch.
Tread Along [January]
You Can't Fool Me Again [March]
Earth's Rightful Ruler [Summer]
Adam And Eve, Wisdom, This Train, Thank You Lord [November]
Black Progress [late in the year]
Trouble On The Road Again, Comma Comma [late in the year]
Sugar Sugar [late in the year]
• You Cant Fool Me Again (Peter Tosh) b/w Green Duck (Peter Tosh)
• Tread Along b/w Organ Version
• Black Progress b/w version
• Trouble On The Road Again b/w Comma Comma
• Sugar Sugar b/w Green Duck (Peter Tosh)
• Apollo 11 (Man's Greatest Adventure) (Peter Tosh) b/w Splashdown (Lennox Brown)
• To The Fields (Peter Tosh) b/w Lady Cut Down Your Speed (Ethiopians)
• Righteous Ruler (Uroy) b/w Handy Cap (Peter Tosh)
• Wellbread (Peter Touch & Muddie's All Stars) b/w It May Sound Silly (Iroy)
1969
Events and notes
Recording sessions
Releases
1970
The Wailers record their first album The Best of The Wailers, with Leslie Kong for the Beverly's label. [May] (Their previous album, The Wailing Wailers is a singles compilation.)

The Wail 'N Soul 'M label name is dropped and the band starts releasing records on Tuff Gong.

The Wailers start working consistently with Lee "Scratch" Perry. My Cup is the first track they do together over the next nine months. [August] (Bob initially approaches Perry to work with him as a solo artist. Perry convinces Bob to include Peter and Bunny in the project, which keeps the original Wailers together for a few more years.)

Between August of 1970 and April of 1971 the Wailers record over 40 songs with Scratch at Randy's that are released on Perry's Upsetter Records label. On days they don't work with Scratch, they record songs to release on their own Tuff Gong label.
Give Me A Ticket [early in the year]
Soul Shake Down Party, Stop The Train [May 5]
Cheer Up [May 19]
Soon Come, Caution, Soul Captives, Go Tell It On The Mountain, Can't You See, Back Out, Do It Twice, Baby Baby Come Home, Sophisticated Psychedelication [May]
Rhythm [Summer]
Feel Alright [Summer]
Oppressor Man [Summer]
Selassie Serenade, The Return Of Al Capone, Sun Valley, Romper Room, Crimson Pirate, Moon Dust, Green Duck [Summer]
Little Green Apples [Summer]
Field Marshall [Summer]
Hold On To This Feeling [Summer]
My Cup [August]
Try Me [August]
Small Axe [September]
More Axe [September]
Man To Man, Duppy Conqueror [September]
Mr. Chatterbox [October]
Soul Rebel, Run For Cover, It's Alright, No Water [November]
400 Years [November]
Reaction [November]
Corner Stone, Jah Is Mighty, Rebel's Hop, Soul Almighty [December]
No Sympathy [December]
Long Long Winter, Put It On [December]
Soul Rebels (singles compilation) [December]
• Adam And Eve b/w Wisdom
• This Train b/w Thank You Lord
• Give Me A Ticket b/w version
• Earth's Rightful Ruler b/w version
• Soul Shakedown Party b/w Shake Down Version
• Caution b/w Stop The Train
• Soon Come b/w version
• Mr Chatterbox b/w Goodnight My Love (The Corsairs)
• Feel Alright b/w Rhythm
• Feel Alright b/w Hurting Inside
• Little Green Apples (Peter Tosh and Randy's All Stars) b/w Stick Up (Count Machukie)
• Man To Man b/w Nicoteen (version)
• My Cup b/w My Dub
Duppy Conqueror b/w Justice (The Upsetters)
Duppy Conqueror b/w Zig Zag (The Upsetters)
• Don't Let The Sun Catch You Crying b/w Sound Underground (Dave Barker)
• Oppressor Man b/w version
• Run For Cover b/w Sun Is Shining
• To The Rescue b/w Run For Cover
• Stranger In Love (John Holt) b/w Jailhouse
• Hold On To This Feeling (Bob And Rita and Lester Sterling's All Stars) b/w version (the first Tuff Gong label release.)
1970
Events and notes
Recording sessions
Releases
1971
Bob goes to Stockholm (via New York) for two months to work on the soundtrack of a Johnny Nash film. He returns to Jamaica in late June or early July.

Someone breaks into The Wailers Record Shack in Kingston (at 127 King Street, corner of Beeston) and steals $960 worth of records and musical equipment. [April 21]

In Stockholm Bob makes an informal acoustic recording of Guava Jelly, This Train, Cornerstone, Comma Comma, Dewdrops, Stir It Up, Cry To Me, and I'm Hurting Inside. [May]

Bunny doesn't like the Best Of The Wailers title, feeling that their best is yet to come. He has some words with Leslie Kong, and may mutter a vague threat about Kong not living long if he released the album with the "Best Of" title. When Kong dies a few months before The Best of The Wailers album is released, a myth grows up around Bunny's "cursing" of Kong that supposedly caused his death.

On the song Trench Town Rock Bob records his distinctive chicka-chicka upstroke rhythm guitar style for the first time. [July]

The Wailers play a show at the Ward Theater in Kingston as part of a "Festival 71" dance competition. Later the same day they play a Miss Jamaica beauty pageant/water pageant at National Stadium Pool. [July 14]

The Wailers play an afternoon show at "The oldest tavern in the New World," the Ferry Inn. [August 1]

The Wailers play a number of "PNP Bandwagon" shows, today's at the Ward Theater in Kingston. [October 3] While they insist they are playing the shows only for the money ($150 per show) and not out of any political affiliation, the shows are clearly promoted as political gatherings.

The Wailers play a pair of shows at the Students Union at the University of the West Indies in Kingston. [October 9, October 13]

Bob returns to Sweden in November and stays until late December.

In a review of a their appearance at a holiday "Nuggets for the Needy" show, the Gleaner calls the Wailer's music "Afro-Jazz."

The Wailers travel to America to play a brief tour. Their first ever U.S. show is on New Years Eve, in the Bronx. [December 31]
Kaya [January]
All In One [January]
Brand New Secondhand, Downpresser [January]
Who Is Mister Brown [January]
Fussing & Fighting, Stand Alone [January]
Riding High, Brainwashing [February]
Memphis [February]
Keep On Moving, African Herbsman [February]
Dreamland [February]
Send Me That Love [March]
Love Light [March]
Sun Is Shining [March]
Don't Rock My Boat [March]
Pour Down The Sunshine [March]
Maga Dog [April]
Rudie's Medley [April]
Them A' Fi Get A Beaten [May]
Black Dignity [June]
Here Comes The Judge [June]
Trench Town Rock [July]
Screw Face [July]
Redder Than Red [July]
Concrete Jungle, Guava Jelly [July]
Leave My Business [July]
Arise Blackman [July]
Screw Face, Satisfy My Soul Jah Jah, Satisfy My Soul Babe [August]
Lively Up Yourself, Craven Choke Puppy, Lick Samba [August]
Once Bitten [August]
Lion, Here Comes The Sun [August]
Why Should I [September]
I'm Still Waiting, Hammer, How Many Times, It Hurts To Be Alone, Music Lesson [October]
The Best of The Wailers [August]
Soul Revolution (singles compilation)
Soul Revolution Part II (Often referred to as a "dub" album, it is simply the tracks from Soul Revolution with the vocals removed.)
• Lively Up Yourself b/w Live (Tommy Mc Cook)
• Redder Than Red b/w Red (version)
• Hurting Inside (newly recorded version) b/w Concrete Jungle
• Send Me That Love b/w Love Light
• Kaya b/w version
• Satisfy My Soul Babe b/w Babe (version)
• Satisfy My Soul Jah Jah b/w version
Trench Town Rock b/w Grooving Kgn. 12 (version)
• Screw Face b/w Face Man (version)
• Craven Choke Puppy b/w Choke (version)
• Guava Jelly b/w Jelly (version)
• Pour Down Your Sunshine b/w Like It Like This
• Stepping Razor (Peter Tosh And The Wailers) b/w The Letter
• Once Bitten (Peter Tosh And The Wailers) b/w (version)
• Lion (Peter Tosh And The Wailers) b/w (version)
• Lick Samba b/w Screw Face
• Mellow Mood (newly recorded version) b/w Thank You Lord
• Who's Mr. Brown b/w Dracular (version)
Small Axe b/w Down The Road (The Upsetters)
• All In One Part 1 b/w All In One Part 2
• Dream Land b/w version
• Here Comes The Sun (Peter Tosh) b/w version
• Downpresser b/w Downpresser Version
• Brand New Second Hand (Peter Tosh And The Wailers) b/w Brand New Second Hand Part 2 (version)
• Give Me A Ticket b/w The Letter
• A Little Love Version 3 (Peter Tosh) b/w A Little Love Version 4 (Peter Tosh)
• Maga Dog (newly recorded version) b/w Bull Dog (version)
• Black Dignity (Peter Tosh) b/w Weed Dat
• Leave My Business (Peter Tosh) b/w Business Man (version)
• Arise Blackman (Peter Tosh) b/w Bongo Version
1971
Events and notes
Recording sessions
Releases
1972
Over the first two weeks of the year the Wailers continue their brief U.S. tour, playing shows (to primarily Jamaican audiences) in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, Pennsylvania, and Delaware.

Bob travels to Sweden to write music for a Johnny Nash film. [mid February] He remains abroad with Nash for almost three months, writing, recording, and doing some small shows together in England (where Nash is billed as "The King of Reggae").

The Wailers (along with Family Man, Carly, and Wya Lindo) go to England to do a full-scale tour with Johnny Nash. [end of May] Rather than a full-scale tour, the Wailers end up doing only one full show as openers for Nash (though Bob opens most shows singing two songs with Nash's band as backup, Reggae On Broadway and Oh Lord I Got To Get There, taken from the single Sims recorded and released in England).

The Catch A Fire album is started as a project for CBS (via a deal made by Nash and Sims), but CBS drops the project. The May recording session listed here takes place at CBS Studios in London. The Wailers then approach Island Records Chris Blackwell for funding to complete the album, which he provides. Bunny recalls that The Wailers also contributed some of their own money to the cost of the recordings. [September]

There are conflicting stories of how Bob made the move from CBS to Island. Bob may have put the breaks on the deal himself after being snubbed at the CBS corporate offices, or Blackwell may have taken interest in Bob and intervened behind the scenes.

The Jamaican sessions for Catch A Fire take place at the Dynamic Sounds studio in Kingston. It's unknown whether any of the tracks recorded for CBS in England are used for the album. [October]

As outlets for their solo material, Bunny starts the Solomonic label and Peter starts Intel-Diplo H.I.M..
I'm Hurting Inside, Dance Do The Reggae, Oh Lord I Got To Get There, Reggae On Broadway, Gonna Get You, Stay With Me [April 4]
Stir It Up, Concrete Jungle, Midnight Ravers, Slave Driver, 400 Years [May]
Searching For Love, Life Line [exact date unknown]
Bide Up [exact date unknown]
Arabs Oil Weapon [exact date unknown]
Pass It On [exact date unknown]
Concrete Jungle [October]
High Tide Or Low Tide [October]
Slave Driver, Kinky Reggae, No More Trouble [October]
400 Years, Stop That Train [October]
Rock It Babe [October]
Midnight Ravers [October]
Stir It Up, All Day All Night, Walk The Proud Land [October]
Can't Blame The Youth, No Mercy [late in the year]
Catch a Fire UK release. [December]
• Here Comes The Judge (Peter Touch) b/w Rebelution (Winston Wright)
• Reggae On Broadway b/w Oh Lord I Got To Get There (Bob Marley) • Searching For Love (Bunny Wailer) b/w Bide Up (Bunny Wailer) (First release on Bunny's Solomonic label.)
• Midnight Ravers b/w Ravers Version
• Rock It Babe b/w Rock It Version (version)
• Hurtin Inside b/w This Train (newly recorded version)
• African Herbsman b/w Keep On Moving
• Them A' Fe Get A Beaten (Peter Toush) b/w Get A Beaten (version)
1972
Events and notes
Recording sessions
Releases
1973
The basic tracks for Burnin' are recorded at Harry J's studio in Kingston. Around the same time demos are recorded (at the request of Island Records) of Small Axe, Oppressed Song, Reincarnated Souls, One Foundation, No Sympathy, and Get Up Stand Up. The group then travels to England to record overdubs on the basic tracks for Burnin' at Island's Basing Street Studios. [April] During the British Burnin' sessions, the Wailers do a short tour of a couple dozen shows to promote Catch A Fire.

The recording of Rasta Man Chant is the last time all three Wailers are in the studio together as a group. (That's based on studio notes. Bunny remembers the last song they recorded being Get Up, Stand Up.)

Tensions in the group rise during the spring recording sessions and British tour. The three Wailers aren't getting along, due in part to increasing frustration over what Peter and Bunny see as Blackwell's favoritism toward Bob. At a meeting to discuss the U.S. leg of the tour, Chris Blackwell mentions that the group would be playing at "freak clubs." Bunny wants no part of a freak club tour, and expects other members of the group to side with him. When they don't, he returns to Jamaica and Joe Higgs takes his place for the tour. Bunny won't perform in America again until 1986.

During the British tour Bob buys the guitar he will play for the rest of his life, a 1950s Gibson Les Paul Special. [May] He bought the guitar in London at the Top Gear music store on Denmark Street. It was previously owned by guitar, effect, and amplifier builder Dan Armstrong. Marc Bolan bought the Special from Top Gear before Bob, but returned it for a Les Paul with humbucking pickups. All the customization and repair of the guitar over the years was done by Roger Mayer, who built and customized effects pedals for Jimi Hendrix.

The Wailers do an abbreviated U.S. tour (without Bunny), Opening 14 shows for Bruce Springsteen at Max's Kansas City in New York and then going on the road opening for Sly And The Family Stone. [October]

After the U.S. tour the group continues on to do more shows in England. During the British leg of the tour Peter quits the Wailers. [late November]

The initial pressing of Catch A Fire sells fewer than 15,000 copies.

The Mark Of The Beast [early in the year]
Reincarnated Soul, Hallelujah Time, Pass It On [April]
One Foundation, No Sympathy [April]
Get Up Stand Up, I Shot The Sheriff, Curfew (Burnin' And Lootin'), Put It On, Small Axe, Duppy Conqueror, Iron Lion Zion [April]
Chant (Rasta Man Chant) [early in the year]
Get Up, Stand Up [late July]
What You Gonna Do, Burial [late in the year]
Catch a Fire U.S. release. [April 13]
African Herbsman (singles compilation) [June 3]
Burnin' [October 19]
Many of the initial Island singles were promotional or advance copies.
• Baby Baby We've Got A Date b/w Stop That Train (Island)
• Concrete Jungle b/w No More Trouble (Island)
• Get Up, Stand Up (mono) b/w Get Up, Stand Up (stereo) (Island)
• Concrete Jungle b/w Reincarnated Soul (Island)
• Get Up Stand Up b/w Slave Driver (Island)
• Chant I (Rasta Man Chant) b/w Curfew (Burnin' and Lootin')
• Cant Blame The Youth (Peter Tosh) b/w version (Possibly the first release on Peter's Intel-Diplo H.I.M. label.)
• No Mercy (Peter Tosh) b/w No Mercy Version
• Life Line (Bunny Wailer) b/w version
• Pass It On (Bunny Wailer) b/w Trod On (version)
1973

Individual Wailers post-breakup sessions

Events and notes
Recording sessions
Releases
1974
"Turn Me Loose" and "Keep On Skanking" is listed as a Wailers session, but Peter and Bunny's vocals were recorded in 1971, so the session was essentially Bob and Lee Perry reworking old tracks.

With Peter and Bunny adamant that they were finished touring with the Wailers, Bob begins recording the songs for the Natty Dread album with the I Threes. Bunny and Peter continue to appear on each other's records, but all three Wailers do not record together again.

They perform perform together a few more times at high profile gigs in Jamaica, opening for Marvin Gaye [May, 1974], and Stevie Wonder [November, 1974] (all three Wailers join Stevie Wonder for his version of Get Up, Stand Up).

Bob continues to use the Wailers name after Peter and Bunny have left the group, which, at least temporarily, irritates both men.

Bunny credits some of his early solo single releases to "Wailers."
Turn Me Loose, Keep On Skanking [January] (Bob Marley & The Wailers)
Why Must I Cry, Till Your Well Runs Dry [early in the year] (Peter Tosh)
Ketchy Shubby [early in the year] (Peter Tosh)
No Sympathy, Brand New Second Hand [early in the year] (Peter Tosh)
Road Block, Talking Blues [early in the year] (Bob Marley & The Wailers)
Belly Full, Bend Down Low, Am-A-Do [early in the year] (Bob Marley & The Wailers)
Lively Up Yourself, So Jah Seh, Knotty Dread, Revolution [early in the year] (Bob Marley & The Wailers)
No Woman No Cry [early in the year] (Bob Marley & The Wailers)
Battering Down Sentence [early in the year] (credited to Wailers)
Natty Dread (Bob Marley and The Wailers) [October 25]
Rasta Revolution (Singles compilation) (Bob Marley and The Wailers)
• Keep On Skanking (Bob Marley & The Wailers)
• Ketchy Shubby b/w Iration (version) (Peter Tosh)
• Bend Down Low b/w Talkin' Blues (Bob Marley and The Wailers) These are different takes done with Lee Perry
• Knotty Dread b/w version
• Road Block b/w Rebel Music (version) (Bob Marley & The Wailers)
• Mark Of The Beast b/w version (Peter Tosh)
• Brand New Second Hand (newly recorded version) b/w version (Peter Tosh)
• Arabs Oil Weapon b/w Dubd (version) (Wailers)
• Battering Down Sentence b/w version (Bunny Wailer)
1974

More to come...

Last updated on March 10th, 2024

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