If you had a joint for every Bob Marley compilation that’s been released since the man’s death in 1981, you could keep Willie Nelson high for a month. Legend is, and always will be, the definitive single-disc Marley collection. The folks at Starbucks are hoping their clientele are ready to dig a little deeper—but not too deep—into the Marley catalog. Everything’s Gonna Be Alright does a nice job of including some major singles from Marley & The Wailers’ Lee Perry period ("Duppy Conqueror”, “Sun is Shining"). With only a couple songs duplicated from Legend, you get a couple lesser-known tracks from each of Marley’s Island albums. These include don’t-miss cuts like the wicked “Them Belly Full” and trippy “Natural Mystic”. But Marley fell off on his last few albums, and of the inclusions from those, only “Zimbabwe” stands out. If you can stomach “I Shot the Sheriff” one more time, this is a nice companion piece to Legend, but don’t fool yourself into thinking you’re getting even half Marley’s story.
— 25 September 2006
