The summer of 1977. Remember it well.
I was finishing a second year at teacher training college in Wrexham north
Wales. I was six months out of a four year relationship, and finding my feet
again: footloose and fancy free.
As a fledgling DJ in the town and frequent visitor to the local discos, Bob
Marley (nicknamed Tuff Gong by friends) seemed to be booming out on the
dance floors later that year, in December. That year he finally reached the
British consciousness.
Even rock fans such as me were hypnotized by his cool summer grooves. The big
hit of the time was Jammin'. I remember dancing and chatting up a local
girl to it. It was also in sharp contrast to the burgeoning Punk scene which I
hated. Marley’s songs came as a breathe of fresh air during a time when iconic
bands like Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin, on the surface of it, were losing their
appeal.
Following previous albums Catch A Fire (1972) which didn’t make any
serious inroads, and Natty Dread (1974) his first Top 50 entry, it took
another year and one monumental song - No Woman, No Cry - to crack the
UK in ’75.
Eric Clapton had a helping hand too, when he covered Marley’s I Shot The
Sheriff. Released on 3 June 1977, Exodus (appropriately titled,
as Marley and co had relocated to the UK after an assassination attempt in ‘76)
it peaked at number 8, staying on chart for 56 consecutive weeks, spawning
singles Exodus, Waiting Vain and Jammin'. These three songs
sealed his success globally too, with 1984’s Legend: The Best of Bob Marley
and The Wailers eventually becoming the most successful reggae of all time with
12 million sales. And so to Exodus the album.
It’s regularly rated as one of the best summer albums of all time, so buy it
now. Legendary American music mag Rolling Stone has it listed at 169 in their
2003 edition of 500 Greatest Albums Of All Time. Truth is, it should have a
much, much, much, higher placing. Nevertheless, Marley cleverly hung on to some
militant stylings and an acute awareness of the British palette for pop.
Exodus is almost a collection of two parts, beginning with rootsy
Natural Mystic which opens the box of musical delights with its steady
fade in chords and ‘Junior’ Marvin’s wailing guitar ghosting the track beautifully,
while So Much Things To Say with its rolling drum intro continuing the
laid back quality of its predecessor, accompanied by sweet backups from the
I Threes, that included Bob’s missus Rita.
Heathen keeps the rootsy faith going nicely. Then comes the kind of
subtle commercialism that blew the world apart – Exodus, an unstoppable
juggernaut. Hollow, chords, a bit of wah wah, piano, and some brass lead into
"Exodus, movement of Jah people", as the beats increase and the stylings
twist. A more straightforward Jammin' is the groove delight of all time,
in reggae terms. It’s compact, simple, sweet (again the I Threes are on top
form on the chorus) infinitely infectious, and still to this day, timeless.
It also retained Marley’s wholesome approach to reggae and life in Jamaica.
Follower, Waiting In Vain keeps the hit angle in focus with its chunky
chord riffs boosted by mercurial lead solos by Julian 'Junior' Marvin, making
it possibly the best song on the entire album. Bob could always pull off a
smoldering ballad like no other: there was nothing better in his arsenal than
the gorgeous Turn Your Light Down Low, a poetic tale of seduction if
ever there was.
As Marley smoked some ‘herb’ on his door step back in Kingston, he would throw
some seed to the birds, hence Three Little Birds, a peculiar little
ditty held together in parts by Tyrone Downie’s rumbling organ and neat drums
and cymbals by sticksman Carlton Barrett.
Anthemic One Love is the simplest, most singable song of the lot. Its
defining moments are the I Threes swooning away with "One loooooooove."
An all time classic, never to be repeated.
Click on the above Amazon link for details of a bonus 12-track DVD that comes
with the CD.
1. Natural Mystic
2. So Much Things To Say
3. Guiltiness
4. The Heathen
5. Exodus
6. Jammin'
7. Waiting In Vain
8. Turn Your Lights Down Low
9. Three Little Birds
10. One Love / People Get Ready
DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TXW32R4 32" widescreen TV
connected to either a Creative Dxr2 DVD-ROM player or Microsoft Xbox and
played through a Sony STR-DB930 amplifier.
PC games reviewed by the editor are on:
Since Nov 2005: Intel Pentium D 830 3.0Ghz, 1Gb RAM, 128Mb nVidia GeForce 6700XL, Windows XP
Since Aug 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.66Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb GeForce4 MX440 graphics, Windows XP
Since May 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.6Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb ATI Radeon 9600TX graphics, Windows XP
Since Jun 2002: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, 64Mb ATI Radeon 8500LE
Since May 2000: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, Voodoo 3 3000 AGP
Review & concert pics copyright © Elly Roberts, 2004-2008.
