Bob Marley & the Wailers
Gift guide
Reviewed by Raoul Hernandez, Fri., Dec. 23, 2005
Bob Marley & the Wailers
Live at the Rainbow (Island/Universal)
Like no less than Otis Redding, Bob Marley knew his voice had few limits, so he worked it like a beast of burden. In 1977, when the singer's caravan of Rasta prophets played London's Rainbow Theatre during the Exodus tour, Marley's voice already exhibited the ghost of a rasp that worsened until his death from cancer in 1981. Tuff Gong looks a tad thin, too. Otherwise, Live at the Rainbow preserves one of soul music's greatest acts just off its peak. The Barrett brothers, in the top three of all-time rhythm tandems, drop global grounding, while the I-Threes chirp like "Three Little Birds." Backing's as tight as the one drop, yet loose enough to follow Marley's every lead. Even then, all lens of this expert shoot are the denim-bound preacher, eyes closed, possessed by the spirit; bouncing, running in place, swaying like a dreadlocked scarecrow. Allegorical lyrics or not ("The Heathen"), this is gospel. The second DVD, Caribbean Nights, another Eighties issue VHS finally digitized, doesn't boast any notable extras either, but doesn't need any. The 85-minute documentary, far too estate-oriented, remains definitive, the footage extraordinary.
