Shortly before his death, Bob Marley had finished the first two albums of a planned trilogy that recounted the Third World's struggles against its oppressors in "Babylon." After releasing Survival in 1979 and Uprising in 1980, Marley's illness prevented him from completing the last installment in the series. When he died in Miami on May 11, 1981, he left behind several unreleased songs that would serve as the basis of his final album. The result, which reflected Marley's physical and inner struggles at the time of it's recording, is the appropriately titled Confrontation.
"While the first two albums were rife with inspirational fight songs, Confrontation was the resolution," wrote The Chicago Sun-Times' Jim DeRogatis on the trilogy. "The war was over, and people would now have to confront the good and evil in their own souls, much as Marley had done while readying himself for death."
Fittingly, Confrontation finds Marley at his most defiant, from the belligerent lyrics in songs like "Stiff Necked Fools" and "Chant Down Babylon" to an album cover that depicted Marley in the role of St. George slaying the Dragon. "Can't get me out a the race," wrote Marley in the liner notes, and it was clear that not even his inevitable demise could derail him.
Some of Confrontation's songs, including "Blackman Redemption" (co-written with Lee "Scratch" Perry), "Trench Town" and "I Know," were reworked versions of older Jamaican singles, but most of Confrontation had never been released anywhere before. The album's best-known track is perhaps "Buffalo Soldier," a moving eulogy to the segregated US Cavalry regiments. The song's mournful lyrics about a soldier, "Stolen from Africa, brought to America/Fighting on arrival, fighting for survival," created a powerful anti-war song in the tradition of "Get up, Stand Up" and "War." But Confrontation also exhibited Marley's laid-back side on the celebratory "Jump Nyabinghi," and the spiritual "Give Thanks and Praises" remains one of his greatest expressions of religious faith. In a reflection of his career, Bob Marley's final artistic statement defies easy categorization, and the vigor, focus, empathy, and devoutness that defined him as an artist are all integral to Confrontation.
On May 23rd, 1983, Confrontation was released worldwide, and twenty-five years later, it remains a perfect final chapter to Marley's storied recording career.