Martha Velez acted on the stage in the sixties, and in movies and TV throughout the eighties and nineties. Her voice is big and brassy, and must have been effective from the stage.
Velez's first recordings were with the folk group Gaslight Singers in 1963-64. Her debut solo record, the bluesy Fiends and Angels in 1969, which featured a cast of famous musicians, failed to be her big break. It's a good record, and well worth a listen. She recorded three other stylistically eclectic records in the seventies that went mostly neglected.
In 1976 Martha Velez went to Jamaica to record a reggae record with Bob Marley producing and The Wailers providing instrumental and backup vocal support. It sounds nothing like anything Velez did before or after. It is also the only record Bob Marley produced for another artist.
Money Man opens the record and the Velez/Wailers combo sounds good on a Velez original that might not be the best fit for a reggae version, but it mostly works. There You Are follows, and it is an excellent take on a Marley original. Wild Bird, another Velez-written tune is an odd folk melody for reggae, but it works and benefits greatly from the I-Threes and a fine Velez vocal. The side closes with Disco Night, featuring less than stellar lyrics, but a strong performance and swell horns from the Zap Pow Horns.
Side two kicks things up a notch. Marley's Bend Down Low is a good fit for Velez, and again the stellar Wailers and I-Threes produce a song worthy of any good reggae mix tape. Happiness repeats the formula again for a hit. Another Velez tune, Come On In, is a blast. It sounds like a Marley written song, and is strong vocal from Velez. The record ends with a cover of Marley and Peter Tosh's Get Up, Stand Up. Velez does a fine job, even if it can't improve on Marley's version, or the definitive version from Tosh's Equal Rights.
The record is just 31 minutes long, and then it's over. Side two is perfect.
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