Some singers are simply irreplaceable. I’m talking Jim Morrison, Freddie Mercury, Bob Marley–well, in theory, anyways. The unfortunate reality is that The Doors have toured with Ian Astbury, Queen’s played and recorded with Paul Rodgers, and The Wailers currently have two singers not named Bob Marley. It seems that nothing is more sacred than the almighty dollar.
In fact with Marley, Peter Tosh and Carlton Barrett all having shuffled off this mortal coil, the only current Wailer who played on Catch a Fire is Aston “Family Man” Barrett, he of the failed £60-million lawsuit. Not to be confused with The Original Wailers, Barrett’s band is coming to Toronto this summer. And in a sign of how the mighty have fallen, a band that sold 250 million records with Bob Marley are relegated to second billing on August 18th below Sublime. Erm, make that Sublime with Rome.
If you remember the 90′s, you probably remember Sublime. The band topped the charts with “What I Got,” the feel-good hit of the summer of ’96, from their self-titled album on MCA Records. Twas somewhat ironic, seeing as their singer, Brad Nowell, died of a heroin overdose before the record was released. As a result, Sublime was unable to capitalize on their success (aside from album sales), as the band died when Brad did, or so their manager at the time put it.
But while Nowell never rose, the band didn’t stay dead. In 2009, they reunited under the “Sublime with Rome” moniker, and put out a new album last year. Apparently, it hit Number 9 on the Billboard charts (which is to say it sold 35,000 copies its first week of release) and now the band is back in business–minus their original drummer, who left after the record came out. But hey, one outta three ain’t bad in baseball and buttsex, or so they say…
Alas, these “all but one” reunions aren’t all that uncommon nowadays, although it’s not usually the vocalist who gets left behind. I mean, it’s not really the original Black Sabbath without Bill Ward behind the kit, nor was Kyuss Lives truly Kyuss minus the guitar stylings of Josh Homme. That said, I paid to see the latter twice (including a $200 New Years Eve gig), and if Black Sabbath comes to Toronto, with or without Ward, I’ll be there. I suppose that if I was bigger into reggae, I might dish out 70 bucks for this show too–though truth be told, that does seem kinda steep for a coupla glorified cover bands.
