Here’s the isolated vocal to one of the most iconic songs of the 70s that still resonates today as it plays on commercials everywhere. It’s Bob Marley and The Wailer’s “One Love” from their 1977 Exodus album. Here’s what to listen for.

1. The vocal sound is very interesting. It’s fairly thin sounding, but at 1:10 the vocal sounds very different, as it’s much deeper and richer. It sounds like the line was the only one kept from a scratch vocal (since you can hear the leakage from the band) while the rest of the vocal was the overdub.

2. There’s the typical delay that was used on most reggae records of the time, plus a little bit of a short reverb to smooth it out.

3. You can hear another vocal ad lib vocal along with the melody. Sometimes it Bob, sometimes it’s Bunny Wailer, and on one occasion it even doubles the lead vocal.

[Bobby Owsinski]