'Natty Dread' (Half-Speed Mastering)

by Bob Marley / The Wailers

Natty Dread (1974) is considered Bob Marley's finest album, the ultimate reggae recording of all time. This was Marley's first album without former bandmates Peter Tosh and Bunny Livingston, and the first released as Bob Marley & the Wailers. The material presented here defines what reggae was originally all about, with political and social commentary mixed with religious paeans to Jah. This record was pressed using a precision technique known as half-speed mastering, in which the source master and cutting lathe run at half speed on a specially adapted Neumann VMS-80. The result is a cut with excellent high frequency response and solid stereo images. In short, half-speed mastering produces a superlative master of the highest quality.