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Live
at the Rainbow
Bob Marley and the Wailers |
It doesn't get more sublime than this. If anyone is still wondering
what all the fuss was about, check this moment in reggae time
controlled by the music's avatar, the late Robert Nesta Marley.
Marley didn't write and sing songs; he channeled them. And he's
clearly a man possessed here, witnessed by an ecstatic audience
that's clearly been transported to another, better reality!
Of the many performance videos and bio footage devoted to reggae's
king, Live at the Rainbow is far and away the finest. Recorded
with perfect discretion by the filmmakers during the summer
of 1977, just as the Exodus album was peaking on charts and
four years before his untimely death, Marley's charisma comes
off the screen in potent waves. By then, of course, Peter Tosh
and Bunny Wailer had gone their separate ways, and, unfortunately,
a video of comparable quality was never made to capture that
legendary joining. But the new Wailers band packed its own star
power, including that generated by the late Carlton Barrett
on drums and his equally legendary brother "Familyman" on bass,
Junior Marvin on lead guitar, and the exquisite harmonies of
Bob's backup trio. Dressed in modest, colorful Rastawomen gear,
their hair covered, Marley's wife, Rita; Judy Mowatt; and Marcia
Griffiths (the latter two were solo stars before they joined
up with "Brother Joseph") created background harmonies that
remain the competitive standard today.
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