Marley's great popularity makes suspect his authenticity as a revolutionary. Yet he continues to be the most popular and respected songwriter among black Jamaicans as well as members of industrialized nations. The third cut, "One Drop" shows why Marley has an attraction that slices through age, class and culture. It is a sweet, simple, pretty song about faith and goodness.

But "Ride Natty Ride," is the best on the album. Marley warns the Rastafari that unless they struggle, their way of life will soon be swept away by the forces of modernization. Once again, Marley refers to the need for violence.

Now the people gather on the beach and the leader try to make a speech. But Dread (Rastafari) again tell them it's too late; fire is burning, man, pull your own weight.

This renewed endorsement of violence serves as Marley's own response--if not as the catalyst--to the recent increase in street-fighting in Trenchtown ghettos.

The final song on side one, "Ambush," is Marley's reflection on an incident that occurred when he tolerated the Jamaican political system. Marley had agreed to stage a benefit concert for labor party leader, Michael Manley. Days before the concert, professional gunmen ambushed Marley and his friends, killing one person. Rumors circulated that the attack had been a move by Manley to throw suspicion on his rivals just before the national election. Marley opens the song by mocking the values of the Jamaican power elite. He then asserts that his power to rally black Jamaicans against the system was the reason for the plot against his life.

On side two, Marley continues to blast Bablyon. He points to the American insistence on going to the moon while Jamaicans went hungry as an example of the flaws in ruling class morality. In "Zimbabwe" Marley sings out, proclaiming once again the need for force.

Brothers you're right, you're right, you're so right. We'll have to fight, we gonna fight...Soon we'll find out who are the real revolutionaries.

Marley's voice sounds sad, resigned. Violence works against everything he believes except his desire to end the brutal exploitation of his people.

Survivors--the title cut--is the last song on the album. Marley calls his black brethren the survivors of centuries of hard living, urging them to continue the struggle; to continue to survive "in this age of scientific atrocity and atomic misphilosophy."

IF MARLEY continues to record albums like Survivors, he'll survive quite nicely, and with him, the Rastafarian ideology that gives him his direction. His popularity in places as diverse as Africa and North America proves he has struck a common chord that cuts across class and culture. It's impossible to know whether Marley's popularity in the United States is fed by appreciation or curiosity. The music, fortunately, can be enjoyed on either level.