Sunday, March 3, 2013

Bob Marley / Exodus





LINK: Exodus

1. Natural Mystic
2. So Much Things To Say
3. Guiltiness
4. The Heathen
5. Exodus
6. Jamming
7. Waiting In Vain
8. Turn Your Lights Down Low
9. Three Little Birds
10. One Love/People Get Ready

"Exodus" is Bob Marley's best studio album, period. Tight and focused (10 tracks, 37 min.), Marley brings forth the best reggae you will find anywhere. (The 2001 remaster adds 2 "long versions" of "Jamming" and "Punky Reggae Party", the latter not even being on the original album).
Opener "Natural Mystic" sets the tone: easy-flowing reggae sounds, with Bob's never-absent comments on the way things are, or should be. The album's title track is, at 7+ min, the "monster" track on the album, and one of Bob's best ever. The album also contains the well-known (and hits in the US) "Jamming", "Waiting in Vain", and "One Love".
One can argue that Marley was never as good in the studio as he was live (check out the live album "Babylon by Bus"), but as far as his studio output is concerned, it never got any better than this. Essential for any Marley fan.
Fun fact: Marley was always bigger in Europe than he was in the US. Of the original 10 tracks, 7 were issued as a single in the UK, a feat not repeated until Michael Jackson's "Thriller" album, just to give you a sense of "Exodus" impact in 1977.



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