I went through a dub/reggae phase a year or so ago, mainly due to an interest in Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry and his Black Ark studio. I was particularly interested in the mystical aspect[1] of reggae and its evil twin, dub. Here was a popular music form, arguably the folk music of Jamaica, which was first and foremost a religious, gospel music.
What blew me away more than anything else was the tight cut bop of a reggae rhythm section – equal to anything achieved by Fela Kuti or James Brown’s backing bands or the best mid tempo electronic music anywhere[2].

the Black Ark

Another surprising discovery was that Bob Marley was, as a legitimate musician, by far the leading exponent of reggae’s darker edge. I had always thought of Bob in terms of Buffalo Soldiers and No Woman No Cry. The type of thing that 20 year-old’s drunkenly sing along to at after parties. But his work with Lee Perry was of a different class entirely. His skill as a gospel songwriter, the timbre of his voice and the quality of his performances leads reggae to this day. I still rate Reaction as a transcendental moment.

Imagine my glee when I picked up the May 2007 issue of Mojo[4] at one of those magazine clearance stores featuring a cover article on the recording of Exodus. I never knew that Exodus was recorded mostly in London while B was in tourist exile from the political upheaval of Gun Court-era Jamaica. The magazine also features a cover mount disk with a range of reggae and dub tracks. The centerpiece of this collection is an 11-minute live rendition of the title track(Exodus!) performed by Bob Marley and the Wailers at the peak of their abilities.

Sun is Shining

I don’t do this often[5] but here it is. As a performance it demonstrates supreme skill and feeling and is dominated by the rhythm section’s uninterrupted 2-bar loop. The Wailers do something that very few musicians can claim, they play a single figure consisting of no more than a handful of notes for 11 minutes on end and you cannot tear yourself away from it for even a second.

There is a little piece of magic that happens about 25 seconds into the song[7]. The band start the song out at a tranquil tempo(playing that two bars from the very start of the song) and some 20 something seconds in you can hear Bob taking the microphone from its stand. Then there is a slight upturn in the tempo as Bob picks up the feel. I can imagine him laying down his smoke, getting the feel for where the Wailers are at, wanting more and picking them up with a drop or two of his head. And then he is ready to start, ‘My mhababah shaba shabba shey-now oh-oh-oh Exodus!’

[1] No, not the stoner aspect – the dread.
[2] Musician acquaintances have confirmed that reggae is probably the most challenging form of music to play live[3].
[3] — Except, of course, for 80′s Scandinavian speed metal
[4] I really don’t want to paint myself with the old-time-music-is-still-the-best brush, but the quality of Mojo’s feature journalism is outstanding.
[5] Just in case you might think that this is a free music dumping ground.
[7] Yes, there are other bars and other parts to the song, but the core of the performance is a single loop.
[7] Something that would have been guaranteed to get you fired from Fela Kuti or James Brown’s band, but which I believe was all just part of the moment in the Wailers.