Bob Marley - The Nash & Sims Demos 1968

"For those who don't know Sims or Nash:
In late 1967, Bunny was arrested on a charge of Marijuana possession and sent to jail for 14 months. Shortly after, in early 1968, Peter Tosh was also behind bars, being arrested at an anti-Rhodesia demonstration alongside singer/producer Prince Buster.

Bob didn't escape the cells either. One day in 1968, Bob was driving his newly acquired second hand Hillman Minx through Kingston, when he let his passenger, Mortimer Planner, take over at the wheel. Planner didn't have a driving licence, and so when the pair were stopped by the police, both were arrested and spent the night locked up.

It was Mortimer Planner who introduced Bob to Danny Sims, a Jamaican based American who promoted concerts throughout the Caribbean. Sims was also the manager of Johnny Nash, a powerfully voiced Texan singer who had enjoyed several hit singles in the States. Both Sims and Nash were highly impressed with Bob's tunes and convinced him to sign a publishing deal with Sims company, Cayman Music.

The deal with Sims also allowed the Wailers to record freely for other producers, giving them the best of both worlds - for if their records failed to sell, they could always rely on Sims for cash. The Wailers set about recording a series of demo tapes for Sims, remaking versions of 'Put It On', 'Nice Time' and even a version of 'I'm Still Waiting', reworked as 'I'm Still Wailing'.

By now the Wailers consisted of Bob, Peter and Bunny, who had just been released from Richmond Prison Farm. Rita would often add harmonies to the recordings made for Sims, but none of these demos were released at the time. In early Spring 1969, the Wailers approached Leslie Kong, who had produced Bob's first ever recordings, at Beverleys Records and had just produced the first ever Jamaican No.1 hit in Britain with Desmond Dekker's 'Israelites'."

Praise the demo blog

The quality is about what one would expect from demos recorded in 1968 Jamaica, but that don't bother me none.

01 Soul rebel 3:48
02 Gonna get you 3:12
03 All It Takes 3:51
04 Lonesome feeling 3:39
05 Stay with me 2:29
06 Milk shake and potato chips 2:51
07 Reggae on Broadway 3:11
08 Do the reggae 3:09
09 I'm hurting inside 3:37
10 Oh lord I got to get there 2:43