top musicians

After being a fan of Bob Marley's music for years, I decided that I wanted to learn more about the legend. I chose to read Catch a Fire and found it to be an amazing book about an even more amazing person. Not only does it tell everything about the life and times of Bob Marley, but it tells of the origins of reggae and Rastafari. It is a book that I found myself glued to time after time, I just couldn't put it down. The book describes life in Jamaica in an awesome way that makes you feel like your there. I recommend this book to anyone who is even remotely interested in learning more about the Natural Mystic that is Bob Marley.

I picked up this book because I'm a fan of Marley's music but I realized I never knew too much about the guy himself. I wasn't disappointed with the content. "Catch A Fire" takes you through Bob's early childhood into when he first started singing and recording, all the way through to his death, with great stories and details along the way.

In addition to a book about his life, this is also a book about Jamaica's history, rastafarianism, and reggae music. It goes into some depth on these three topics, putting Marley's life into historical perspective.

My gripe is that the writing in the book was only OK. For a topic that I was interested in reading about, the book did a poor job of holding my attention. However, I would recommend the book to a Bob fan, because it is filled with stories and anecdotes about Bob's life that I never knew about. I would not recommend this book to the casual Bob fan. You are probably better off just watching that documentary about him. I forget the name of it right now.

Catch a Fire was a great book. It helped me to better understand the culture of Rastafarians and the type of life which a Rastafarian lives. The book Catch a Fire gave tons of background and information that you do not read in the everyday biography of Bob Marley. The book also helped you to understand the politics of Jamaica which in return helps you to understand the lyrics and songs of Bob Marley on a completely different level.

Reading this book made me understand why such a vast age range of people enjoy Bob Marley's music. I gave this book five stars because I feel that it is not only a great book on Bob Marley but also a great book about the Rastafarian culture and Jamaican politics. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who is at all interested in Bob Marley, Reggae music, Jamaica, politics, and or the history and culture of the Rastafarians. I feel that this book would appeal to a great number of people.

"Legend" is a good starting point to get aquainted with the music of Bob Marley, but any compilation of Marley's work will not do justice to the scope of his amazing career. I even purchased the 4 CD retrospective and found it lacking. Each album that Bob Marley and the Wailers released during his career were really song cycles, and so any collection of Marley will not capture the immediacy and passion that of hearing them on each orginal album. Any collection of Marley are will be just that, a random out of context presentation of his music.

"I Shot the Sheriff" comes from the "Burnin'" album and Bob is an angry young revolutionay, and each song on "Burnin'" reflects that. "Is This Love" is from the album "Kaya" where Marley celebrates the pleasures of the simple life and sensual love. The songs on "Uprising" and "Exodus" capture the internationalism of reggae music, as Bob Marley became the most celebrated musician in the entire world, he wrote songs about the world wide movement of "jah people." In order to "overstand" (as Rasta says) the man...Bob Marley, you must hear these songs side by side with the other songs in the original release. Each song on this compilation will become even more powerful when heard in that context. I still give this collection 5 stars because it has aquainted so many people with Bob Marley, who otherwise would have never heard him. The best way to hear Bob Marley is begin with "Catch A Fire" in which Marley is an angry youth from Trenchtown, and move chronologically through his career ending with "Uprising" his final album before his death. It is they only way to capture the amazing development and scope of Bob Marley's message and music.

Here is the least expensive trip to Jamaica that anyone can buy. This CD is one of the *best* Caribbean vacations at a low, low price.

The music is mellow and breezy ... the lyrics are simple, but profound. This CD encompasses the *best* and most celebrated songs of this world-famous group from the years 1973 to 1980. Bob Marley & the Wailers catapulted reggae music onto the world charts and there it remains for all time. We are richer for this experience. "No woman no cry" and "Three little birds" were played in Nov. 2002 by a Carribean band on the cruise I took to the Western Carribean. They are classics that I have enjoyed from the past and now, *even* more so with the additional memories of my vacation. "Buffalo Soldier" and "I Shot the Sheriff" are classics forever etched in my mind from frequent air-time, when played on the radio during their hey days ... Other favorites are "Get Up Stand Up", "One Love/People Get Ready" and "Stir It Up". If you want to feel relaxed, care-free, and mellow buy this CD. "Eiree mon" as they say in Jamaica! Go buy it and enjoy!!! Erika Borsos (erikab93)

This is a great record. Bob's body of work is extensive so obviously not everyone's favorites can be included and we must understand that. There are many that I would have added.

Under some circumstances I would agree that it seems thrown together but in other respects that too is a representation of Bob. He was a lover and a fighter (activist) all at once. How can you possibly separate the two? If you dont have love, if you care for nothing, then what are you fighting for?

Someone suggested that this CD (or maybe his music) was gloomy and bitter. It pains me to read this because this person does not know anything about reggae, Jamaica,our language or our culture. This CD is overflowing with love. Romantic love: I listen to the seemingly simplistic metaphors and they stir great emotions in me. There is great love for family for understanding that the family helps us through. There is love for life. Love for the struggle that we as Jamaicans, as humans must endure.

Dont let this be your only Bob Marley experience, but if you're a novice its a good place to start.

It seems like the only way anyone hears about this movie, its either from fanatic word of mouth or from seeing it sitting in Blockbusters. Thats a shame, because this first outing by director Troy Duffy is an extremely cool film that deserves all the attention it can get.

Sean Patrick Flannery and Norman Reedus play two good ole Irish Catholic boys in Boston, who one day get sick of the corruption in the city and begin a bloody crusade to wipe it out. Willem DaFoe plays the FBI agent hot on their trail, who is torn between bringing the mysterious vigilantes to justice, or joining their crusade.

The film is, simply put, cool. Its one of the only movies that actually make going to church look cool. Don't be fooled by the description, however; this is not an action movie. Do not expect blazing gun battles with crazy angles and MTV like editing. This is a film about morality, doing what one thinks is right, and having codes of honour. It's about all those things, and how close they may sometimes get to walking the edge between good and evil.

The two actors who play the Irish vigilantes are great in their roles, playing the boys not as superheroes, but as regular joes with a huge chip on their shoulder. A nice twist in the film is DaFoe's portrayel of the FBI agent, who also happens to be gay. He plays him as a great character without being tempted to dip into stereotypes. Great job by the versatile actor.

This is definately a movie not to be missed. If you are fortunate to see this in your video store, take it out and enjoy.

The film "Boondock Saints" far surpasses most Hollywood productions from the outset simply by incorporating a plot different from the mainstream. Although the film contains the usual amount of violence and killing for an action movie, this film has the merit that the motive for the murders is very clear, and quite possibly justifiable. The social and moral questions raised throughout the film cannot help but elicit at least some critical thought. But don't worry about being forced to think too hard; the film is routinely punctuated by witty dialogue and amusing circumstances. The main characters, two selfless Irish brothers and a stray Italian, have delightfully good hearts and are endearing from the start. Willem DeFoe puts forth one of his best performances ever, adding creativity to his rough and tough character by portraying an extremely self-assured gay FBI agent who doesn't quite admit his sexual orientation to himself. His character is an excellent addition to the underlying religious theme of the movie as it pronounces the question of what purpose religion should serve, other than to provide moral direction. The film is a must see for anyone who wants to determine what is truly morally correct, as well as anyone who just likes to watch a couple of nice Irish lads following their calling.

I'm shocked that people have consistently given this movie 5 stars! It Does nothing for my faith in human discrepency. This film was reccomended to me by the bottle nose in the video store. It's my fault because I should have immediately taken that as a sign that this would be just as annoying as he is, and it was! However, I'm not that hard to please, but this movie failed on all accounts - avoid this trash like diptheria. It attempts to be sharp action flic laced with witty lines, simultaneously action and comedy, but fails to be either and falls miserably between the two gernres into a rip-off/gay abyss of boring viewing. Dufoe's performance is cringe-worthy, and the rest of the acting is no better than B-grade. The renegade vigilante premise of the film has been done before, and to much better effect. If I had seen Billy Connoly's name on the box I would have dropped it like a hot-cake, am I the only one who finds this 'quirky' fool comedically inept? Luckily his role is a essentially a cameo, don't worry, the rest of the script more than makes up for his brand of NOT-FUNNY humour. I wonder why in God's name people reccomend films like this, but then I see all these 5 stars and I realise just how rotten and depraved the taste of the common man is. The film doesn't even stick to it's terrible plot and crumbles half way through like a stale cookie - it uses some extra violence as a crutch for it's weak style - And he only laugh I got was a series of hearty guffaws at the folly of my rental - give me back my 4$!