A Great Version of No Woman No Cry With No Guitar

I really get a kick out of Caribbean steel bands.  Cuz Justin does too, and has a little collection of them.  They usually show up at Salvation Armys or garage sales when digging or buried in the back of a collection that has nothing else similar.  The majority of the albums found around Michigan can be probably explained by when a couple is on a cruise or tropical vacation, and the steel band comes out and plays, and someone, after 7 or 8 margaritas feels inspired to buy the album.  And a lot of them are signed, as my copy of The Igniters Steel Band, “Jump Up” LP is, by all six members execpt for the lead tenor Stanley Warner.  One of them writes, “To Karen and Dan, Thank You. Please Come Back Soon.”

These albums are always hit or miss.  They seem to be all over the place.  The reason is that they’re mostly trying to sell records to a white American tourist crowd.  So you get a lot of weird covers, steel band style, for example for whatever reason Neil Diamond songs are done a lot.  On this record, they play some pop ballads and even some Beethoven.  Their lineup: single lead tenor, double lead tenor (leader), bass, drums, cello, and rhythm pan.

Justin and I have looked at the cover of many of these albums and the photos of these musicians in wondered in awe how good the album would be if they could just play whatever they wanted, played the real music they play for themselves.  Half the time these records are a bit of a dissapointment.  There are a few diamonds in the rough though, if you search long enough, and sometimes, in this case, the entire album makes up for itself with one good song. 

In this case, it’s The Igniters doing a version of Bob Marley’s No Woman No Cry, one of the more unique versions I have heard.  The LP was recorded in 1976, during the peak years of the Island label for the Wailers, around the time that the Live! album came out.  This song has been covered by a number of like-minded artists.  Off the top of my head, a couple of my favorite versions are Bunny Wailer off his Tribute album (which I definitely recommend picking up), and Wyclef off the Fugees Score album. 

What makes The Igniters take on it unique is that there is no guitar (the rhythm pan takes it’s place)!  Bob Marley’s two most well known recordings of this song are off The Natty Dread album, and then the one everyone knows, which was first found on the Live! album and then later on the Legend greatest hits album.  Both songs feature a distinct guitar solo near the end - I can basically replay the whole thing note for note in my head.  One of my favorite songs by one of the greatest song writers of all time.  I remember No Woman No Cry just blowing me away when I first heard it around my freshman year in high school, it was the song that introduced me to Bob Marley, and I listened to it over and and over.  But the Igniters do it right, even without the guitar, or even a drawn out solo with any instrument - it’s soulful, it’s meaningful to them, it’s the one spiritual song they do on the album.  If I had to guess, if they could have done an album exactly they way they wanted to, there would have been more songs like this.

listen to No Woman No Cry: