Which Bob Marley CDs were mastered by Barry Diament?

Since they're the apparetnyl the best-sounding versions, I need to know which ones Barry did. I know about these:

Burnin'
Catch A Fire
Confrontation
Exodus
Kaya
Live
Natty Dread
Rastaman Vibration
Survival
Uprising

And of course Legend. Were there any others?

 

He remastered all 13 original Marley albums in 1990 and these were released on the Tuff Gong label.

 

Rebel Music

 

...and Babylon By Bus.

 

Does that include Rasta Revolution and African Herbsman?

 

I've been listening to that version of Exodus the past couple of days. It really does sound fantastic!

 

Allmusic.com shows "Survival" as being mastered by Barry as well.

 

What I love about Barry's mastering on these Marley discs is that they can be cranked and still sound so good!

I like to demo Buffalo Soldier on my system for friends.

 

I don't believe it does as these are on the Trojan label.

 

From a previous thread:


Originally Posted by Studio_Two
Hi,

Did Barry remaster all of those Island Albums, or just the ones where he is credited on the back cover?

For the record, is there a definitive list?

TIA,
Stephen


Hi Stephen,

In 1990, I did remastered the 13 original Bob Marley albums for Tuff Gong.
All of the ones I did have my name on the disc itself.

They were:
Catch A Fire
Burnin'
Natty Dread
Live!
Rastaman Vibration
Kaya
Babylon By Bus
Exodus
Survival
Confrontation
Uprising
Legend
Rebel Music

Hope this helps.

Best regards,
Barry
www.soundkeeperrecordings.com
www.barrydiamentaudio.com

 

I got the 2 LEGEND Remasters, and got rid of my original Legend. I didnt actually compare it very much when I got rid of the old one, but do any of you guys have both to compare? I remember several of the songs, have actual different endings, extended or slightly different beginnings etc?....the actual sound of the Remasters to my ears is not THAT much different. A somewhat more bass sound, and some treble, but nothing Unlistenable...

 

Is there any box set with Mr Diament masterings?

 

How many of them were mastered from the original master tapes? When the remasters with the bonus tracks came out Ice Magazine had said some of the CD's used the original masters for the first time. Something along the lines that they didn't know where the masters were all located until then.

 

Barry has mentioned in the past that to his knowledge, he was using the original analog tapes made right off the mix console in Jamaica.

 

I just found Barry's original post on the subject.

 

Nice. So is the remaster of African Herbsman any good?

 

I've only been a casual Marley fan, but after reading of Barry's remasters, I began looking for them in the bins. I've scored nice copies of Legend and Live, and they are wonderful. Fortunately, they don't appear to be too rare. I also came across Barry's mastering of Natty Dread, but it was in lousy condition. Here's hoping I find another copy soon.

 

I found a few at a record store in Jersey called Tunes. Yes I share my find because they had a lot of Barry MArley stuff. The bass on these discs is amazing. I bought 4 of them and the sound is clean, warm, and natural. Excellent job!

 

Were the original Island Marley albums issued once on CD before the Diament-mastered set came out? I bought this copy of Babylon By Bus online, knowing that it wasn't the most recent reissue. Still, it isn't Barry's version either, as his name is nowhere in the credits. It has the Island logo on the disc, rather than "Tuff Gong" as on Barry's discs. Bus is the only one of the 13 discs that I did not have, so I thought I had plugged that hole in my collection.

 

Yes, that is the original issue available in the 80's before the catalog was remastered by Barry. I used to have a lot of them. Some of those discs sounded pretty good; others less so. . .

 

Legend is one of my all time faves and I always owned the remastered version. After reading info on this forum I bought the Diament Legend and I love it. I think it has a much warmer sound and you can really crank it. I gave the remastered version to my daughter who mostly listens in her car.
Barry's version is pretty easy to find so I would try to get it. It's definitely better on a good home system.
Mike

 

Bill Levenson on Bob Marley master tapes in ICE Magazine 2001

Here is the ICE article

I want to make it clear that I'm not posting the information from this article to disparage or call into question Barry Diament or Bill Levenson's statments about master tapes. If fact, it's not entirely clear whether Bill was referring to the original Island CDs or Barry's Tuff Gong remasters. Barry specifically asked Island for original masters and to the best of his knowledge that's what he was given. As a label VP, Bill was in a position to do extensive tape research. I'm sure both of these gentlemen acted in good faith to do the best possible job with the Marley catalog. I think the results mirror those efforts. Many of us own multiple versions of the Bob Marley remasters in order to have Barry's mastering and the bonus tracks Bill unearthed.

Bill Levenson posts on this forum from time to time. I hope he can elaborate on this subject. The archivist/historian/completist in me is curious which CD versions are the "couple of cases" he refers to in the article.

James

 

Hi James,

Just to clarify, it isn't merely a case of "to the best of his knowledge".
They were the master mixes.

Best regards,
Barry
www.soundkeeperrecordings.com
www.barrydiamentaudio.com

 

Thanks for the clarification, Barry.

 

Now I know why the copy of my Bob Marley CD Survival (stated as remastered by Rob Fraboni and Barry Diament) always sounded heads and shoulders above most of my CDs! Thanks Barry for a great job, this CD has been one of my favs for just about years and years!