One Love – The Bob Marley All-Star Tribute [VHS]
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Conceived with DVD release in mind, this high-end, live video concert taped in Jamaica lives up to its title with a generous repertoire of Bob Marley songs performed by reverent pop, hip-hop, rock, and reggae veterans. Shot on a rainy night in December 1999, the home video version expands upon an inaugural TNT cable telecast with an additional hour of performances. The DVD edition adds a premium level of special features and exclusive content.
The music’s the main thing, of course, and on that front One Love is uniformly respectful, orbiting around Marley’s songs and infused with whiffs of his Rastafarian world view and reggae’s broader Third World perspectives. Marley’s family members serve as hosts and frequent collaborators, with a limber house band further reinforcing a coherent, communal element to the performances, and the titular all-stars immerse themselves in Marley’s world. Lauryn Hill opens the concert with what is clearly one of its highest points, a joyful “Turn the Lights Down Low.” Chrissie Hynde and Erykah Badu take turns duetting with Jimmy Cliff, and another reggae titan, Toots Hibbert, proves a perfect, ebullient fit with a current lineup of the Wailers. The celebrity choices include a conspicuous subset of American folk-rockers in Tracy Chapman, Ben Harper, and Hootie and the Blowfish’s Darius Rucker, with Chapman the most convincing in a glowing version of “Three Little Birds.”
Avid reggae fans may be mildly frustrated by the overall crossover thrust of this homage, which favors Yankee rap and hip-hop (via Busta Rhymes and Queen Latifah) instead of homegrown dancehall; it tantalizes us with glimpses of Marley’s peers, like Cliff and Hibbert, while being largely occupied with sustaining its parade of non-reggae marquee names. For most viewers, though, the scope of the concert and the first-rate sonic finish will sustain the spell, an effect powerfully expanded on the superb DVD version. –Sam Sutherland
Price: $19.98
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Few people have made the kind of lasting, universal impact that Bob Marley has made with his music. In his short 36 years, Marley managed not only to introduce hundreds of millions to reggae but also spread powerful messages of peace, love, human rights and acceptance. It’s no surprise that almost 30 years after his death, one can travel to any part of the globe and witness his far-reaching musical legacy. Bob Marley would have been 65 in 2010, and in celebration, Putumayo World Music is releasing Tribute to a Reggae Legend, a multi-genre album featuring artists from around the world performing many of his best-loved songs. The collection is the first tribute album Putumayo has produced and its first with five exclusive, original tracks. Artists who recorded songs for this release include Sierra Leone’s Refugee All Stars, a group of refugees displaced to Guinea during the Sierra Leone civil war. They beautifully harmonize on a poignant interpretation of “No Woman, No Cry.” South African Afro-fusion band Freshlyground contributes an original recording of “Africa Unite,” demonstrating their signature mix of African folk, kwela and jazz. Original recordings of “Could You Be Loved” by Québecois singer Caracol, “Natural Mystic” by California reggae/rock band Rebelution and “Sun is Shining” by Ghanaian reggae artist Rocky Dawuni, add to the diversity of the collection. Tribute to a Reggae Legend is the newest addition to Putumayo’s successful reggae series, which includes African Reggae, World Reggae, Jamaica: Reggae Homeland and Reggae Playground.
Marley Magic, a concert recorded in Central Park at SummerStage on a July day in 1996, saw the coming together of Bob Marley’s musical family to play and pay tribute to reggae’s greatest icon, who died in 1981. The youngest Marley offspring, Damien “Jr. Gong” and Julian, kick off events here, with sweet but sturdy pop-reggae. Yvad’s softer acoustic ballads are a little insipid by comparison, but Marley’s wife Rita–now a grand, straw-hatted matriarch on the reggae scene–picks things up with “Good Girls Culture” and a cover of Marley’s “No Woman, No Cry.” Inevitably, it’s Ziggy Marley & the Melody Makers who headline and offer the strongest reminder of the Master’s own stage presence, backed, à la Bob, by three female vocalists and a rhythm section. So inspired is one member of the audience by Ziggy’s rendition of “Stir It Up” that he lifts a cigarette lighter, a gesture that loses something on a blazing summer’s afternoon. But relax, who cares? –David Stubbs
Studio: Uni Dist Corp (music) Release Date: 05/30/2000