Released: 1977
It’s a head spinning piece of counterintuition, but one of the accusations made of Bob Marley as he popularized reggae globally was that he’d done too much to popularize reggae globally. To do so had meant some different practices, of course, and the radio ready sound he created with the Wailers certainly had much more to do with rock and pop than sound systems, or the nefarious political and social issues which plagued Jamaica throughout the turbulent period of his life.
It’s in our nature to need control of things, an unreasonableness that sometimes extends to wanting artists to live in poverty rather than betray our personal ownership of their work. Marley became one of the first performers-as-brands due to a confluence of TV’s coming of age, reggae’s word of mouth (a lot of which had been spread via the Caribbean diaspora), the rise of counter culture and many other factors. Almost none of these were under his control: he just made the music.
If you’re of a sell out disposition, 1977’s Exodus will be Exhibit A. The album which cemented most ideas about the myth, if not so much the actual man, it was recorded in London following a botched (And supposedly CIA sponsored) domestic assassination attempt. In so much as a record can, thematically in part it swirled around righteousness, rebellion and Rastafarianism, all tropes that his legacy has since appropriated.
In ancient format speak, it’s second side – which began with Jamming – represented however one of the most glorious sell outs of all time. With the possible exception of the disco influenced Turn Your Lights Down Low it was as mellow, love-eyed and harmony centric as those who thought the worst could’ve imagined. Jamming itself, with it’s beach-and-rum friendly ethos found singer and ensemble at their minimalist peak, creating a groove and letting the audience do the rest. After it was done there was simply no stopping this thing, whether you wanted it to or not.
The Voice Of Unreason 
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