by Joe Wallace

Yes, that’s a great big old marijuana plant or two on the cover of the Joe Gibbs Reggae Christmas album. At Turntabling, we tend to sympathize with Anthony Bourdain, Don Letts, and Peter Tosh when it comes to legalization of the herb–after all, what are malt, hops, and barley? The presence of George Washington’s favorite plant on this album cover is laugh-inducing, but it doesn’t necessarily make it a BAD album cover all by itself…so what gives, Gibbs?

I’ll tell you what gives. The WTF factor for yours truly (aside from having a powerful case of the munchies just LOOKING at this cover) comes when you compare the cover for this vinyl record with the cover for the Joe Gibbs Reggae Christmas album available for download on Amazon.com.

Is this even the SAME ALBUM? Nicely sanitized and pot-free, we’re guessing this makes the world safe for the kiddies who don’t want to come downstairs on Xmas morning to find a nice big fatty in their Christmas stocking. Well, darlings, that’s all YOU. Me, I kind of like the idea of having a glazed Christmas, thanks.

I bet poor ol’ Joe Gibbs had NOTHING to do with any of this–some record company hack or Amazon corporate doink decided that purple sticky wasn’t appropriate for Christmas. After all, it’s marketed at the kiddies, right? Can’t have the rugrats wondering why Mom and Dad are giggling so much and eating all the fruitcake.