Bob Marley & the Wailers - Everything's Gonna Be Alright

Genre reggae Publisher Hear Music / Universal Music Company External Links Official Bob Marley Website Official Hear Music Website

The Starbucks Opus Collection strives to showcase music made by legendary artists. So far they have delved into the catalogs of people like Miles Davis, Frank Sinatra, Joni Mitchell and most recently Marvin Gaye. Another one of the newest additions to the collection is the music of Bob Marley & the Wailers.

It does not matter if you are a freshman in college living in the Midwest or an aging hippie living in Sedona - if you have a music collection, Marley's Legend is probably included among the titles you own. While Legend is probably one of the few greatest hits collections that does not embarrass a hipster to own, it is certainly not all encompassing. Neither, of course, is this compilation. However, it does include some must-have tracks that make it worth picking up.

"Sun is Shining" off of Marley's 1978 release Kaya, is reason enough alone to add the record to your tab next time you are forking over four bucks for a latte. It is classic bit of Marley feel-goodnesss that puts a smile on your face and makes you wish you lived closer to an ocean beach. Bob Marley has been quoted as saying that "positive vibrations" are reggae music. For further proof of that just listen to the track of the same name. "Africa Unite" was released in 1979 at a time when, much like today, the suffering in Africa was making headline news. Marley's advice to the people of Africa is as sound today as it was when the song was first released. "Unite for the benefit of your people/Unite for it's later than you think/Unite for the benefit of your children/Unite for it's later than you think."

The same people who make the philosophical argument that Starbucks is inherently evil because it homogenizes neighborhoods will also scoff at the Opus collection offered by the coffee giant. I am not here to defend or attack Starbucks or its policies, I am merely commenting on the quality of the release. While one would always do better to investigate Marley's entire collection, there should be no shame in picking up the Starbucks release Everything's Gonna Be Alright because at the end of the day, isn't it better to have Marley piping through the speakers no matter where the music came from?