What’s to like?
A joyous celebration captured over four nights, with Bob and his band on top form, uplifting the audience and in turn being uplifted by them, and all sounding beautiful on professional multi-tracked recordings which make these shows essential listening if you’re at all interested in Bob’s music.
The low down
When I first heard Bob Marley’s music back in the eighties, it was from the Legend compilation, and I felt an immediate affinity with the music, even though I didn’t consider myself a reggae fan back then. I’ve since explored the scene a little more, checking out the likes of Steel Pulse, Burning Spear, and of course the original Wailers, Bunny and Peter Tosh. Great music, all of it, but somehow, Marley’s songs seem to rise above to a different level.
Perhaps it’s because the others emphasised cultural and social divisions in their lyrics, whereas Marley’s message of love widened and embraced everyone regardless of background? Or perhaps it’s because being signed to a major label afforded him wider recognition and better recording facilities? His albums are among some of the best sounding I’ve ever had the pleasure to listen to. Or perhaps it’s simply down to the fact that he wrote great songs?
Certainly, listening to his live performances, you can hear that intensity and emotion. However, if like me you never got the chance to see him on stage, then you’ve had to settle for the Live!, and Babylon By Bus albums as an alternative. Both albums are fine in their own ways, but are only edited highlights rather than full shows. More recently there has been Live At The Roxy from 1976 and Easy Skanking in Boston ’78, but even the latter suffers from edits.
However, what if you had the chance to hear a four night run of complete shows from the Exodus tour, all professionally recorded on multi-tracks? The band were touring Europe to support the imminent release of the Exodus album, and played four nights of a planned a six night residency in London’s Rainbow Theatre to close the tour. (The last two shows were cancelled because of Marley’s infamous toe injury.) Tracks from these shows have been drip-fed to fans over the years as bonus tracks on reissues of Exodus, but now you can hear the complete shows as high quality digital downloads. Interestingly, for such a high profile artist, these releases seemed to quietly slip under the radar with little fanfare, and I only learned of them through word of mouth on music forums.
Nevertheless, they’re now up for grabs, and for full details of setlists, this link will help you:
So how do these shows compare to the previous live albums? In a nutshell, I think they could be the defining live document of Marley’s career. They’re that good.
Marley might have been lamenting his exile in London (because of troubles back home), but it fired up his muse, and not only did he produce his finest studio album, but it inspired the outstanding shows represented on these recordings. Backed by the tightest of bands, he comes across like a man reborn, as he exhorts audiences to heed his messages of love and positivity in the face of despair. The band are so locked into the instrumental side of the music, that Marley is able to dig deep into his soul and sing for all he’s worth, knowing that the players have got his back.
This is immediately evident on the first night (1 June), as Marley boldly opens the show with four new songs from the Exodus album, which wouldn’t be released until two days later, so the audience would largely be unfamiliar with these songs. But such is Marley’s faith in his music, the audience immediately buy into it. In fact one of the best moments in this show is his arrival onstage – the band are already up and playing, but the roar of recognition from the audience as Marley appears onstage several beats in, is an indication of how revered the man was.
The first night is also notable for the length of the songs, as the band feel their way through them – Exodus itself clocks in at a whopping 16 minutes – but it doesn’t feel like a drag. The rhythm section of Aston Barrett (Bass) and Carlton Barrett (Drums) lock down the tempo of each song, and it’s easy to become lost in the hypnotic groove – check out the pulsing bass on Positive Vibration as an example.
The overall feel of this night is one of relaxing into the music, and the tempo on subsequent nights would speed up, but I really enjoyed this show’s easy-going vibe.
The second night (2 June) is something of a contrast, ditching the newer tracks and opening with older songs such as Rebel Music (3 O’Clock Roadblock) and Burnin’ And Lootin’, but also throwing in another unfamiliar song as part of a medley – Running Away – which would not be laid down on vinyl until the Kaya album the following year.
The band are still on top form, with guitarist Junior Marvin getting lots of opportunities to throw in solos and licks around the main chords, and some wonderfully warm Hammond organ from Tyrone Downie on No Woman No Cry. And yet there’s something almost too laid back about this show. That is until, appropriately, Lively Up Yourself, and all of a sudden it’s as if someone has thrown a switch and everyone comes to life.
Perhaps it’s the spontaneous energy of the audience as they recognise the opening chords, or perhaps the band simply needed a second wind, but from here on up to the final notes of the show, the band are on fire, especially Marley. He sings like a man possessed, and the version of Exodus on this night is exceptional.
The third and fourth nights ( 3 and 4 June respectively) are identical in terms of the setlist, with Trenchtown Rock being added as the opening track, before the show settles into the same running order as the night before.
The one thing that is noticeable though, is the volume of the audience, who become increasingly more vocal as each night progresses, presumably because some of them will have been present at the previous shows and have become more familiar with the songs. And special mention should be given to the backing singers, the I-Threes, who hold the line when Marley steps out of the songs to improvise his messages. They are such an important part of the Marley sound, and they turn in a particularly strong and harmonious turn on this show’s No More Trouble.
The final show has been cited as the best of the four, in online discussions, and on the basis of listening to one show each night, I have to agree. It seems to combine the best elements of the previous three shows, with the band on an upward momentum and becoming tighter with each performance. The audience too, are on a high (illegal or otherwise) with this show, welcoming every song as if it’s a long lost friend. At one point during The Heathen, Marley simply steps back and lets the bass and drums accompany the audience’s enthusiastic clapping in time to the beat. And hand on heart, this show probably has the best version I’ve heard of I Shot The Sheriff.
The nice thing about these live shows is that the buyer isn’t compelled to purchase them all as an expensive box set, and can choose individual shows to download, at a very reasonable cost. Personally, if I had to choose one, it would be the 4th of June, but really, all four are worth going for because they each bring something different to the music, and collectively they offer a nice overview of the albums from Catch A Fire through to Kaya.
With excellent audio quality, they sound great on hi-fi or headphones, and the clarity allows you to hear every note (and occasionally mistakes where band or singers miss their cue), so these albums are truly live and uncut. But more than that, they offer that rare experience of live albums where the band are the audience are equals, and together become greater than the sum of both parts. You can almost feel as if you’re there, and what more can you ask of a live album?
Highly recommended.
[For information, I purchased these concerts via 7DigitalUK at this link.]
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