The album revisited some familiar themes, in particular, that of the power of music to bring unity and slay the dragon of oppression, as expressed in “Chant Down Babylon,” “Jump Nyabingi,” “Rastaman Live Up!” and “Trench Town.” There were also more calls to celebrate the life and teachings of Jah the Almighty in “Give Thanks And Praises” and “I Know”, the latter released as a 12-inch disco-mix in Jamaica. The cover artwork of Confrontation by Neville Garrick, which depicted Marley astride a white horse driving a lance through the heart of a dragon, had been Marley’s idea, and was taken to be symbolic of a mortal blow being struck by the Rastafarian superstar in his never-ending battle against the beast of Babylon. According to his biographer Timothy White, the singer had envisioned Confrontation as the last instalment of a consciousness-raising trilogy begun with Survival (1979) and continued with the similarly political musings of Uprising (1980). Marley had settled on the title and tone of the album before his demise. The length of time taken to bring the project to completion reflected the attention lavished on the album by Island supremo Chris Blackwell who, together with contributions from the Wailers and the I-Threes, compiled and mixed the tracks, most of which had originated as unreleased demos and recordings made during the two or three years before Marley’s death. But it was to be two years before Island Records released Confrontation, the first and best of Marley’s posthumous “new” albums, on May 23, 1983. In the UK, “No Woman No Cry” re-entered the chart shortly after Marley’s death, peaking this time at No.8. “He is part of the collective consciousness of the nation,” Prime Minister Edward Seaga declared in a eulogy to the singer who, he said, had “left an indelible imprint.” In Jamaica, a congregation of 6,000 people mourned the loss of the Honourable Robert Nesta Marley, OM (Order of Merit) at a state funeral ceremony in the National Arena. The death of Bob Marley in 1981 at the age of 36 prompted an outpouring of grief around the world.
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