Live concert music from Bob Marley & the Wailers during their ’70s heyday has often been presented at mid-size to large venues, as evidenced by their 1975 album Live! and 1978 double-album Babylon By Bus, along with the 1978 video Live at the Rainbow. Sometimes the spectacle of the music is quite pronounced and, as amazing as those albums are, the musical subtleties can get lost.
A new concert recording should rectify that. A live session, for the cameras from October 24th, 1973, just a week after the release of their latest album, Burnin’, produced by Denny Cordell, is finally getting a video and audio release from Mercury Studios, co-executive-produced by Cordell’s son Barney.
Filmed and recorded at the Capitol Records Tower in Los Angeles using Cordell’s portable rig of four cameras and mixing the sound live on the fly, even though Marley was under contract at the time with Island Records, this one-off show was thought to be lost, but after a twenty-year, international search, the film and audio were found.
The concert came on the heels of the group’s second Island Records release, Burnin’. That album featured the original version of “I Shot the Sheriff,” later made into a hit by Eric Clapton in 1974 from his 461 Ocean Boulevard album. Burnin’ also included a version of “Get Up, Stand Up” and the classic “Burning and Looting.” The group was then on only its second U.S. tour, after having been in the States the previous spring. For both tours, the group also played in England.
The lineup is Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, Joe Higgs on congas and vocals, replacing the recently departed, original Wailer Bunny Livingston, Aston “Family Man” Barrett on bass, his brother Carlton Barrett (who was murdered in 1987) on drums, and Earl Lindo (who died in 1987) on keyboards. Neither of the group’s two 1970s live albums featured Tosh or Higgs.
Higgs left the group and died in 1999, Tosh would only play a handful of shows with the group after this US tour and like the departed Bunny Livingston, would strike out on his own. Tosh would sign with Rolling Stones Records after his Colombia Records debut, Legalize It, in 1976, and from 1977 through 1983 would release five albums for the label before his final studio album No Nuclear War on EMI in 1987, the year he died. Livingston would make more than 30 studio albums and passed away this past March.
Listening to this unearthed treasure is a revelation. There is an intimacy to this recording. The live-in-the-studio vibe and 12 tracks spread over the two limited edition green colored-vinyl albums make for one of the best sounding archival releases of the year.
It’s great to hear Peter Tosh on the lead vocals of a live Wailers recording, as is the case on his “You Can’t Blame the Youth.” The entirety of side A has a decidedly cool, chill-out vibe. The musical approach also spotlights how important Earl Lindo’s sinewy keyboards are to the Wailers’ sound. Side B includes the classic “Burnin’ and Lootin.’”
On side C again we get to hear Peter Tosh on lead vocals on “Stop That Train,” which Tosh wrote and which has been covered extensively. The group pulls out some classics on the second album, including a hot version of “Kinky Reggae.” “Stir It Up,” dating back to 1967 and a big hit for Johnny Nash, always sounds great live. The Marley/Tosh anthem “Get Up, Stand Up” closes the album.
Bob Marley died 40 years ago this past May and over the past 40 years there has been a slew of Bob Marley and the Wailers reissues, including such live offerings from the past 30 years as Talkin Blues, Live at the Roxy, Live Forever: September 23, 1980 Stanley Theatre Pittsburgh, PA and Easy Skanking in Boston ’78, with the latter three all coming out this century. This latest is more than just a welcome addition to these live reissues; it’s an incomparable recording capturing the group at a key crossroads in its short, historic time together.
GRADED ON A CURVE:
B+
