Bob Marley’s 70th birthday year (2015) will include a
variety of releases and events to commemorate the legend, his work and iconic
impact. Over the course of the year, his legacy will be remembered by new
releases of rare and unreleased material as well as fan favorite deluxe
editions of his most memorable work. The first release will be available on
February 17. BOB MARLEY & THE WAILERS – EASY SKANKING IN BOSTON ’78,
features two historic live shows from Boston’s Music Hall, June 8, 1978. This
new and unreleased performance is from the Marley family giving unprecedented
access for the first time to their personal material from their private
collections and their vaults. The album will be available on blu-ray/cd combo
pack as well as dvd/cd and standalone cd versions. Additional newly created
animated material will also be a part of this release, marking the first time
the family has incorporated this technology into any official Marley releases.
“But
more than that, the album is a political and cultural nexus, drawing
inspiration from the Third World and then giving voice to it the world over.”
The
video footage was shot with a hand-held camera by a fan that Marley allowed to
sit right in front of the stage. The result is remarkable imagery that captures
Marley from just a few feet away, allowing one to experience the intimacy of
his set. While the cinematographer was shooting with film and forced to change
rolls of tape, the gaps in the live footage have been augmented with specially
created animation over the existing audio. The animation video elements were
produced and created by the animation team of S77 whose credits include recent
projects for Bruno Mars, Pearl Jam, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Disney, ESPN and
many others. The 46-minute video includes seven of the 13 songs in the full
set.
Highlights
of the performance include a lively “Jammin’” and “The Heathen,” a song Marley
and the band didn’t perform during the second set. The show features them at
their most comfortable, truly enjoying themselves in the spotlight, basking in
the appreciation of the audience.
Marley,
a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee, is notable not only as the man who put
reggae on the global map, but, as a statesman in his native Jamaica, he
famously brought together the country’s warring factions — symbolized by rival
politicians Michael Manley and Edward Siega joining hands on-stage -- during
his legendary “One Love Peace Concert” in Kingston, which took place on April
22, 1978, less than six weeks before this Music Hall performance in Boston. It
was five years since Marley and the band arrived from Jamaica, with the 1977
release of EXODUS, recorded in London just after an assassination attempt on
his life, turned into not just a socio-political statement, but one which
included such hits as the title track, “Waiting In Vain” and “One Love,” paving
the way for their next release Kaya and a world tour in ’78. Together with his
music’s theme of liberation, Marley’s own rags-to-riches story brought
inspiration to subjugated people around the world, where he was revered as a
larger-than-life leader.
Today,
Bob Marley remains one of the 20th century’s most important and influential
entertainment icons. Marley’s lifestyle and music continue to inspire new
generations as his legacy lives on through his music. In the digital era, he
has the second-highest social media following of any posthumous celebrity, with
the official Bob Marley Facebook page drawing more than 74 million fans,
ranking it among the Top 20 of all Facebook pages and Top 10 among celebrity
pages. Marley’s music catalog has sold millions of albums worldwide
Thirty
years after its original release, Bob Marley & The Wailers’, LEGEND, shared
the top of the charts, holding the No. 5 spot on Billboard’s 200 Album Chart
among Maroon 5 (#1), Jeezy (#2), Guardians of the Galaxy Soundtrack (#3), and
Ariana Grande (#4). LEGEND also holds the distinction of being the
longest-charting album in the history of Billboard magazine’s Catalog Albums
chart and remains the world’s best-selling reggae album. Marley’s accolades
include inductions into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (1994) and ASCAP
Songwriters Hall of Fame (2010), a GRAMMY® Lifetime Achievement Award (2001),
multiple entries in the GRAMMY® Hall Of Fame, and a star on the Hollywood Walk
of Fame (2001). For more information visit: bobmarley.com and
facebook.com/bobmarley.
The set
listing for the BOB MARLEY AND THE WAILERS – EASY SKANKING IN BOSTON ’78 CD:
Slave
Driver
Burnin'
and Lootin
Them
Belly Full
The
Heathen
Rebel
Music
I Shot
the Sheriff
Easy
Skanking
No
Woman, No Cry
Lively
Up Yourself
Jammin'
War/No
More Trouble
Get Up
Stand Up
Exodus
TRT:
1:15:17
The set
listing for the BOB MARLEY AND THE WAILERS – EASY SKANKING IN BOSTON ’78
Blu-Ray/DVD:
Rebel
Music
I Shot
the Sheriff
No
Woman, No Cry
Lively
Up Yourself
Jamming
War/No
More Trouble
Exodus
TRT
approx. 46min
The
complete list of the performers on BOB MARLEY AND THE WAILERS – EASY SKANKING
IN BOSTON ‘78 :
Bob
Marley - vocals, guitar
Carlton
Barrett – drums
Aston
Barrett – bass
Marcia
Griffiths - backup vocals
Rita
Marley - backup vocals
Judy
Mowatt - backup vocals
Tyrone
Downie – keyboards
Alvin
Patterson – percussion
Julian
Marvin - lead guitar
Throughout
history, no artist has so dominated the world of music as Bob Marley. A
musical, political and even spiritual icon, a figure of almost mythical
proportions, both poet and prophet, Marley was the first Jamaican artist to
give voice to the struggles of his people and the Rastafarian culture, and the
first to gain worldwide fame.
Today,
Bob Marley remains one of the 20th century’s most important and influential
entertainment icons. Marley’s lifestyle and music continue to inspire new
generations around the world as his legacy lives on through his music. In the
digital era, he has the second-highest social media following of any posthumous
celebrity, with the official Bob Marley Facebook page drawing more than 74
million fans. Marley’s music catalog has sold millions of albums worldwide and
his hits compilation, Legend, holds the distinction of being the
longest-charting album in the history of Billboard magazine’s Catalog Albums
chart and remains the world’s best-selling reggae album.
The
Marley family will honor the legacy of Bob Marley commemorating his 70th
birthday milestone and his importance in the history of global music with a
year-long celebration.
UMe, a
division of the Universal Music Group, will work closely with the Marley family
for new unreleased material ensuring the highest possible quality, integrity
and detail to honor the Marley legacy. The Marley family is also giving UMe
unprecedented access for the first time to material from their private
collections and their vaults. Releases will be announced throughout the year,
sure to please longtime fans and collectors with rare and unearthed treasures,
as well as Deluxe editions of key albums with bonus material. New material will
highlight special treasures in both audio and video formats. The first release
on the schedule is BOB MARLEY & THE WAILERS--EASY SKANKING IN BOSTON ’78.
The new package, of completely unreleased material available for the first time
in any format, will come in Blu-Ray/CD combo pack, dvd/cd and cd versions. The
video was shot with a hand-held camera by a fan that Marley allowed to sit
right in front of the stage. The result is remarkable footage that captures
Marley from just a few feet away, allowing one to experience the intimacy of
his set. While the cinematographer was shooting with film and needed to change
rolls during the performance, the gaps in the live footage have been augmented
with specially created animation over the existing audio. This also marks the
first time they have approved newly created material, in this case animation,
for a Marley release. The animation video was produced by Craig Bernard and
Sara Mora Ivicevich; created and directed by S77 & Matt Reed and Michael
Scroggins was the Oil Light Artist on the project. Between them, their resume
includes recent projects including Bruno Mars, Pearl Jam, Red Hot Chili Peppers
and many others.
Robert
Nesta “Bob” Marley was born February 6, 1945 in Nine Mile, St. Ann Parish,
Jamaica. Music was Marley’s escape and way to survive Trench Town, a government
tenement housing project where he lived that was teeming with poverty and
crime. One bright spot from Trench Town was another local, Alfarita “Rita”
Constantia Anderson who he later married. He cut his first single, “Judge Not,”
in 1962 when he was just 17. It turned out to be a local hit, and was followed
by “One Cup of Coffee,” “Terror” and “Do You Still Love Me.” Although he earned
very little money from his records, he ended up meeting Peter McIntosh (Peter
Tosh), and together joined with childhood pal Neville Livingston (Bunny Wailer)
to write songs together as The Wailing Wailers, named because they were ghetto
sufferers who’d been born “wailing.” They debuted with “I’m Still Waiting” and
its “rude boy” ska style follow-up, 1964’s “Simmer Down,” topped the Jamaican
charts. Soon they would be known simply as the Wailers. A man who rose from the
humblest of origins to become a champion for the oppressed, Marley was a
streetwise sharp dresser influenced by the U.S. civil rights movement and the
music and fashion of black America. He sang of rebellion, Rasta, partying,
uprisings and love. Long before the world discovered him, both Bob Marley &
The Wailers and Jamaica were grooving to rocksteady classics “Sugar Sugar”
“Soul Shakedown Party,” and perhaps his deepest devotional track, “Selassie Is
The Chapel.” Other classics included “Duppy Conqueror,” “Soul Almighty,” “My
Cup,” “Trenchtown Rock” and “Small Axe.”
Marley
knew that his music and reggae was just limited to Jamaica and set his eyes on
the world. In order to break out of the Jamaican market and on his own, Marley
moved to London and signed with CBS Records U.K. In 1971, Marley founded his
own Tuff Gong label and was signed to Island Records by its leader Chris
Blackwell, who had licensed some of his band’s previous releases for Island
Records and offered Marley a deal to record their debut album, recording CATCH
A FIRE at Harry J’s in Kingston. 1973’s CATCH A FIRE, their first album
released outside Jamaica, signaled the emergence of reggae’s patron saint and
immediately earned global acclaim, even garnering the group its first tour of
the U.S. Reggae’s first true album, rather than a collection of singles, CATCH
A FIRE included such well-known tracks as “Stir It Up,” “Concrete Jungle” and
“Slave Driver”--all of them fiery, politically charged, and uncompromising.
The
album BURNIN’ that same year launched the reggae anthems “I Shot The Sheriff”
and “Get Up, Stand Up.” Eric Clapton’s #1 pop version of “I Shot The Sheriff”
gave a major boost to reggae’s acceptance with the general public and to
recognition for Marley, who some have called the first Third World superstar.
But the album would be the last Wailers effort with Tosh and Livingston. By
1974, the original trio of Marley, Tosh and Livingston broke up, going their
separate ways.
With a
new backing band which included brothers Carlton and Aston “Family Man” Barrett
on drums and bass, Junior Marvin and Al Anderson on lead guitar, Tyrone Downie
and Earl “Wya” Lindo on keyboards, Alvin “Seeco” Patterson on percussion and
the I-Threes (his wife Rita Marley, Judy Mowatt and Marcia Griffiths) on
background vocals, Bob Marley and the Wailers hit their stride, achieving their
first U.S. hit with “No Woman, No Cry,” from 1975’s NATTY DREAD. The album
featured Marley’s name on top for the first time, and is considered by many to
be his finest album and one of reggae’s best - balancing revolution and
celebration like no other reggae album before or since.
Marley
then followed it up with 1976’s RASTAMAN VIBRATION, which proved to be Marley’s
American and commercial breakthrough, climbing to #8 on the Billboard 200.
RASTAMAN VIBRATION paired hard-hitting tracks such as “War” (essentially a
musical recitation of a speech by Haile Selassie, the Ethiopian emperor
considered a prophet of Rastafarianism) with lighter fare such as “Positive
Vibration.”
Bob
Marley & The Wailers were declared Rolling Stone’s Band of the Year for
1976. “Marley, like Dylan, has transcended genre,” wrote the magazine. “You
only have to see him on stage, a dancing dervish, dreadlocks wind-milling, to
realize that here is a rock & roll star.”
Marley
was becoming an international superstar, not just a pop music personality, but
a political figure for the underclasses around the world, a lightning-rod for
liberation in such songs as “Get Up, Stand Up,” “Exodus,” “Waiting in Vain,”
“One Love,” “Zimbabwe,” “Africa Unite,” “Wake Up and Live” and “Survival.” The
singer/songwriter was the target of an assassination attempt at his Kingston
home on the night of December 3, 1976, during rehearsals for a free concert
called Smile Jamaica. During this attempt, a bullet grazed his chest, wounding
his wife and manager. A defiant Marley went on to perform at the show just two
days later, his injuries visible to one and all, and it further solidified his
heroic stature as a real leader of the people and his true commitment to his words
“One Love.” The violence forced Marley to move to England for a two-year exile.
EXODUS
would be Marley’s only album primarily recorded outside Jamaica; its London
sessions were the first time the band recorded in the 24-track format. His
exodus resulted in an album that was tough and reflective, angry and romantic,
suitable for domestic consumption and for crossover success. Featuring the
international hits “Jamming,” “Waiting In Vain” and “One Love/People Get
Ready,” EXODUS was named Album of the Century by Time Magazine. “Every song is
a classic, from the messages of love to the anthems of revolution,” Time wrote.
“But more than that, the album is a political and cultural nexus, drawing
inspiration from the Third World and then giving voice to it the world over.”
The irony of EXODUS is that in leaving Jamaica, Marley brought reggae home to
the rest of the world. Along the way, he popularized the innovative form known
as “versions,” which separated out and spotlighted the instrumental rhythm
tracks to reggae songs. Due to this process, reggae’s loping, hypnotic rhythms
would find its way into rock ‘n’ roll.
Upon his
return, and not one to give up his quest for peace, he famously brought
together Jamaica’s warring factions, having political rivals Michael Manley and
Edward Siega join hands with him on-stage during his historic “One Love Peace
Concert” in Kingston, which took place on April 22, 1978. No bullets this time.
Shortly
thereafter, Marley was awarded the United Nations’ Peace Medal of the Third
World in June, 1978, by the African delegation for his efforts “on behalf of
millions of disenfranchised blacks round the world.”
The
mellow KAYA in early 1978 was highlighted by “Is This Love,” one of the most
buoyant and unabashed love songs in the Marley repertoire, and “Satisfy My
Soul.” BABYLON BY BUS, released later that year, is considered one of reggae’s
most powerful concert albums. The fist-pumping SURVIVAL in 1979, with the track
“Africa Unite,” was followed the next year by UPRISING, which featured the
impassioned “Redemption Song.” Marley’s support for the struggles of Africans
brought attention to their plight and he became an honored guest on that
continent, including performing in 1980 at the celebration of Zimbabwe’s
Independence Day.
Bob
Marley stands as one of the giants of world popular music, with his untimely
death at the age of 36 on May 11, 1981 in Miami from cancer complications,
leaving us without one of the most revered and influential performers of the
20th century.
In 2014,
thirty years after its original release, Bob Marley & The Wailers, LEGEND,
shared the top of the charts, holding the No. 5 spot on Billboard’s 200 Album
Chart among Maroon 5 (#1), Jeezy (#2), Guardians of the Galaxy Soundtrack (#3),
and Ariana Grande (#4). Marley’s accolades include inductions into the Rock and
Roll Hall of Fame (1994) and ASCAP Songwriters Hall of Fame (2010), a GRAMMY®
Lifetime Achievement Award (2001), multiple entries in the GRAMMY® Hall Of
Fame, and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (2001). His music was the
centerpiece of a 2011 Grammy tribute by Bruno Mars, Sting, Rihanna and sons
Damian and Ziggy Marley. In 2004, Rolling Stone placed Bob Marley #11 in its
list of the “100 Greatest Artists of All Time,” and in 2012, an acclaimed
feature-length documentary, Marley, directed by Kevin McDonald (The Last King
of Scotland, State of Play) was released to critical and audience acclaim.
Bob
Marley’s legacy truly lives in the artists and generations he has influenced.
Today, the spiritual, political and musical resonance of Bob Marley’s work
continues to be felt around the world.
Bob
Marley’s 70th birthday – an occasion to celebrate his global legacy.
