Album/DVD review: Bob Marley & the Wailers, Easy Skanking in Boston ‘78
If Bob Marley had peeked down on Earth during the week of what would have been his 70th birthday in February, he would’ve smiled.
The Jamaican singer’s homeland used the occasion to legalise personal amounts of his beloved marijuana; and his son, Ziggy — one of at least 11 children — won the Grammy Award for best reggae album.
He may also have felt a swell of pride at how his music and image have endured through the decades.
Marley died from cancer in 1981, at the age of 36, but has been a ubiquitous presence in popular culture.
Sure, some of it has taken the form of the cliched images in dope-smokers’ bedrooms, but this album and DVD, recorded during the Kaya tour, underline how great music and a conscious world-view combined to create a truly charismatic figure.
It’s not that Easy Skanking: Boston in ‘78 adds a lot of new material to the Marley story.
For those who’ve already heard the previous five live albums (this is the fourth posthumous concert record), the main item of interest is the DVD of footage recorded by a fan with a handheld camera, sitting at the front of the stage.
As well as the captivating presence of Marley himself in full flight, we also see a 10-piece band — complete with wife, Rita, as one of three backing vocalists — who were taking on aspects of the big rock shows of the era as they introduced reggae to the world.
Most of the 14 tracks on offer have become revered as classics — ‘Jamming’, ‘Exodus’, ‘No Woman No Cry’, etc.
Hearing them now brings a tinge of sadness for a musical genius who died far too young, but they also serve as a reminder of what an incredible legacy he left to the world.
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