Exodus (album)

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Exodus
Studio album by Bob Marley & the Wailers

Publication
(s)

3rd June 1977

Label (s) Island Records / Tuff Gong

Format (s)

LP, CD

Genre (s)

reggae

Title (number)

10 (Bonus 12)

running time

37:24 (Bonus 50:20)

occupation

production

Bob Marley & The Wailers; Chris Blackwell

Studio (s)

Harry J. Studio in Kingston, Jamaica ; Island Studios in London

chronology
Rastaman Vibration
(1976)
Exodus Kaya
(1978)

Exodus is one of the most important reggae albums by Jamaican reggae legend Bob Marley and his band and the fifth studio album for Island Records . The songs were recorded in London in January and February 1977, and the album was released on June 3, 1977. Exodus was written in exile in London because Marley was recovering from the murder attack in December 1976 and the tense political situation in his home country.

Immediately after the band's arrival in England in January 1977, the recording sessions began. A former laundry in Chiswick and a repurposed church in Notting Hill served as recording studios. According to Chris Blackwell , founder of Island and Marley's discoverer, the songs for Exodus and the follow-up album Kaya were recorded during the same period. Marley left the choice of songs and their order on both records to his co-producer Blackwell.

“Our division of labor was that he recorded the tracks and I mixed them. I also chose a series of titles for the album. The songs that became Exodus and his successor, Kaya , were recorded at the same time. Bob gave them to me and I split them up into two albums. We hardly talked about mixing or the sequence of the songs. Our relationship was not based on spending a lot of time together or discussing everything at length. "

- Chris Blackwell

A special feature of the album is the presence of an unusually large number of love songs. The songs Jamming, Waiting in Vain, Three Little Birds and One Love / People Get Ready , as well as the title track Exodus, were all worldwide hits and are now considered modern classics. The album reached number 20 on the Billboard pop album charts and number 15 on the black album charts.

The year 1977 was also the breakthrough for punk and new wave in England. Reggae was very popular with the first generation of punks because it was considered original and unadulterated. Bob Marley and the Jamaican dub musician Lee "Scratch" Perry picked up the trend and produced the catchy title Punky Reggae Party in London in July 1977 . Since most of the Wailers were already back in Jamaica, this song was recorded with the groups Third World and Aswad . In the text, Marley refers to the new style of music (new wave, new craze) and names some potential guests at his punky reggae party :

"The Wailers will be there, The Damned , The Jam , The Clash , Maytals will be there, Dr. Feel good too ” .

The song is now part of the album as a bonus track. In 1998 TIME magazine named Exodus the best music album of the 20th century . TV station VH1 listed it as # 26 of the best albums of all time.

Track list

All titles written by Bob Marley except where noted.

  1. Natural Mystic - 3:27
  2. So Much Things to Say - 3:08
  3. Guiltiness - 3:19
  4. The Heathen - 2:36
  5. Exodus - 7:40
  6. Jamming - 3:31
  7. Waiting in Vain - 4:16
  8. Turn Your Lights Down Low - 3:39
  9. Three Little Birds - 3:00
  10. One Love / People Get Ready (Bob Marley, Curtis Mayfield ) - 2:04
Extra tracks
  1. Jamming (long version) - 5:52
  2. Punky Reggae Party (long version) (Bob Marley, Lee Perry ) - 6:50

literature

Richard Williams (ed.): Exodus - Exil 1977, special edition for the 30th anniversary, book with the original album on CD (12 titles), 2007.

Individual evidence

  1. Chris Blackwell: The special dynamic in: Richard Williams (ed.): Exodus - Exil 1977. Special edition for the 30th anniversary , 2007.