Welcome to the ROGER STEFFENS
Feature section at REGGAE. ROUTES AND BRANCHES by Roger Steffens aka Ras RoJah Just how much unreleased Bob Marley is there in the vaults? This is a question that has been asked at least since the day Bob passed on May 11, 1981, more than fourteen years ago. The answer is shrouded in mystery, partially because the material has been dispersed (in fact, stolen in some cases) so widely. But enough is known about some of the material to make solid suggestions for several more legitimate and deeply satisfying albums of unheard Marley gems. Estimates range from Wailers keyboardist Tyrone Downie's conservative "three albums," to lead guitarist Junior Marvin's provocative supposition that "there are at least thirty albums of material that could be released." The raw tapes are widely scattered. Certainly, there are many tracks still remaining in Island's vaults in London, not just alternate versions, but whole songs that the public is unaware of. Others, perhaps two hundred hours or more, are in the possession of Bob's wife, Rita Marley, and kept in a special refrigerated vault at her home in the hills above Kingston. Still more exist in cassette form - composing tapes created on the spur of the moment in hotel rooms, on buses, in the Tuff Gong yard, in the bedrooms of Bob's lady friends, and other more unlikely locales. Bob's mother told me that during the week following Bob's death, his house "was looted by his so-called friends," and many of his private tapes were expropriated by people who just walked through the house and took everything they could get their hands on. The "rehearsal" tapes are of supreme importance because of two facts. First, much of the posthumous album Confrontation was created from such tapes. For example "Mix Up Mix Up" was originally a 24 minute studio jam that was skillfully edited, then overdubbed in 1983 by members of the Wailers and the I Three, to come up with a wonderful "new" composition. A similar transformation could take place on many of the songs known to exist in incomplete form. Second, there are several cassettes of private acoustic sessions that Bob's fans would welcome with open arms. The precedents have already been set, first with Heartbeat's box set One Love: The Wailers At Studio One, on which a rehearsal session for Coxson Dodd of the song "Wages of Love" is included. On the million-selling Island retrospective box set Songs of Freedom there is a section that many fans point to as the high point of the entire four-CD collection - the acoustic medley from a hotel room in Sweden, featuring Bob and Johnny Nash (barely audible in the background). Let's begin with material similar to the latter, private recordings made by Bob in his bedroom at his mother's house on Vista Lane in Miami, sometime between October 1977 and early 1980. The history of these tapes is bittersweet. After Mrs. Booker's home was looted by Bob's "friends," the only thing Mrs. B. discovered remaining were two ten-inch reels in unmarked boxes, kept in her bedroom. The tapes had not been wound properly, and when we opened the boxes on the eighth anniversary of Bob's death, May 11, 1989, we found that the containers were filled with rust-like particles, emulsion that had rotted off the improperly stored tapes. Our initial fear was that if we tried to play them, the tapes would be destroyed forever in the process. With the help of a professional engineer, and a sympathetic public radio station - "Reggae Beat East's Steve Radzi's ironically named WDNA in the suburbs of Miami - we were able to retrieve the sounds on the two hours of damaged tapes. The quality ranged from excellent to execrable. For the latter, we had to use all kinds of filters and equalizers just to get something barely recognizable, and it is doubtful if current technology could clean it up to releasable form. However, enough of the material is up to snuff to do a terrific album of acoustic Bob featuring the following tracks on the bedroom tapes. One must think of these tapes as Bob's daily diary, the spontaneous musing on what is transpiring at that very moment all around the reggae master. The bulk of the lyrics are downbeat, concerning incarceration, wardens, priests attending executions, despair, betrayal, hangmen, disrespect, vexation, extortion, Klansmen, segregation and false prophets - certainly not the typical positive and constructive homilies of much of Bob's released music. My own guess is that these songs come from the period immediately after the assassination attempt on Bob's life, during the time he was in exile, late 77-early 78. Desi Smith, Bob's factotum at the time, confirmed in an interview that "We and Dem" (the only fragment in the whole two hours that we could recognize) was begun in 1977 in Miami, although not released until 1980 on Uprising. Perhaps we shall never know the exact dates of recording. Regardless, Jailbreaker, our guessed-at title for the song, opens the bedroom tapes. It is about twenty-minutes long, and some passages consist merely of humming or unintelligible syllables. The song opens with one of the greatest couplets Bob ever wrote. JAILBREAKER the jury found I guilty Heard it on the radio jailbreak yeah they came and they frame I said we're victim of circumstances how could you put me yes they came and they took I no don't you hang him down as I walk through the dark shadows of the ghetto they say I'm armed and dangerous dem grow up in the ghetto At the very end of the song Bob is heard to say to someone else in the room "Could hear what a gwan jammin' - this is about five hour now." Does this mean Bob has been working on this song during all that time? Or others? If so, are there tapes in someone's possession of the rest of the session? Next up is a series of fragments that last about ten minutes, short sketches of song ideas, that no doubt reflect the deep uneasiness of his personal crises, as in PLACE OF PEACE so far away from where it's happening Then comes the key line of the whole two hours, beginning a passage that ends in a doleful manner as he sings of personal betrayal RECORD A NEW SONG every night you record a new song if you gonna live by the gun now if Rasta no build the house Rastafari is our leader The final word of the next passage is a lengthy, scale-spanning sing-shriek that has a blood-curdling eeriness to it. VEXATION let me in, let me out Following that come much of the nascent lyrics for "We And Dem." The second time Bob sings "me nuh know how we and dem a go work it out," his voice is breaking, almost as if he is sobbing as he sings, struggling for control. It is the most heartfelt moment of the whole two hours. Then comes another very long song, much in the mood of "Jailbreaker," about someone whom the pressure has dropped, and who can finally take no more. JUMP THEM OUT OF BABYLON jump them jump them some would call me an escaped prisoner some would say I'm a freedom fighter an' me say break down the prison walls tell my mama not to make no moise On the second ten-inch reel, there is a great deal of one note doodling, tuning, etc. But a couple of very badly recorded, yet fascinating, tunes are revealed. The first is a bossa nova, which makes one think that it was recorded in early 1980, after Bob and Jacob Miller had returned from a record promotion trip to Brazil. There are at least two guitarists in the room, one of whom lays down a lilting Brazilian bed as Bob sings. PRAY FOR ME tell all the weakhearts hey Mr. Klansman get down from the tree The final song that reveals itself is one that Bob's Rasta lawyer, Diane Jobson, says is among her all time favorites of Bob's unreleased masterpieces, a political diatribe against the folly- ticians, whom Bob felt betrayed him at every opportunity. (Remember his famous line "never make a politician grant you a favor/they will always want to control you forever"? This song could easily be a follow-up.) CAN'T TAKE YOUR SLOGANS NO MORE can't take your slogans no more [repeated 4 times] can't take your slogans no more... Many years ago I told Chris Blackwell of the existence of these tapes and urged him to make safety copies on DAT as soon as possible. It didn't matter, I said, who owned what. But if the tapes were allowed to further decompose, no one would have anything to fight over in the future. To this day, no such digital masters have been struck. Next time, I shall delineate what I think would be a perfect album of unknown tracks, based on master tapes from Tuff Gong and Lee Perry. If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to contact me. The above is a column that will also appear in issue #6 of the finest Wailers "rootzine" in the world, Distant Drums, published quarterly in England. Island Records/Tuff Gong, which has for years solicited names of those interested in subscribing to a Bob Marley Fan Club Magazine, has now approached the intrepid editors of Distant Drums, and asked that their magazine become that "official" Bob Marley publication. Much Marley merchandise will be available solely through the magazine, including unreleased recordings. Distant Drums can be ordered by writing P.O. Box 23, Wolverhampton, West Midlands, England WV6 OYU. Please tell them that Ras John at "reggae.com" sent you. Marley fans are further advised that copies of the book that this writer, and photographer Bruce Talamon, created - Bob Marley:Spirit Dancer - are still available in bookstores in Europe, Jamaica and the United States in paperback. The limited edition hardcover is sold out, but copies, autographed by both authors, can still be available... contacting Jim Marshall's Reggae Archives, 1501 East Chapman Avenue, Suite 292, Fullerton, California, USA 92631.
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