Got Music? No, Mind Control is Much Better

When I heard the initial title of Stephen Marley's debut album, I cringed. Got Music was just too cliched and lacked the originality I expected from one of Bob Marley's most talented children. I was able to pick up the "Organically Grown Sampler" and was very pleased with what I heard, especially "Mind Control" and the all-too-brief clip of "Chase Dem." Naturally, when Stephen changed the title to "Mind Control," he allayed my fears while we went through multiple release dates and delays. The wait was more than worth it when I finally picked up the album at Best Buy (I chose this retailer because of the two bonus tracks: "Got Music" and the hauntingly wonderful "Someone to Love"). This album reflects much of the same intensity and effort his father was able to put together when creating albums that need no more and no less to feel complete. The album is all killer, no filler. Each song can stand on it own merit, but together the songs create a collage of styles and content. For the lovers out there, "You're Gonna Leave," "Fed Up," and "Hey Baby" will more than fulfill your needs. Stephen also does justice to the Ray Charles cover "Lonely Avenue," so much so that I also had to download the original. The aforementioned "Someone to Love" is struggling to be my favorite song, competing with the straight roots and political critique of "Chase Dem" (as good a song as any Marley has released) and the nyabinghi anthem "Inna Di Red." "The Traffic Jam" and "Iron Bars," songs inspired by his brush with the law in Tallahassee, compose the core and center of the album while managing to mesh nicely with songs before and after. If I am gushing about this album, it is because Stephen Marley didn't miss on a single track. The extra time fans waited might have made us impatient for the album to come out, which turned into impatience for his next release.