Exodus – Bob Marley & the Wailers, 1977

🎶🔥🌍🌴💚 I was a teenager when Bob Marley’s most famous album, which had just been released, reached my bemused ears, and where reggae was making its way, even into the middle of the Parisian NAP ghetto where I’d grown up. And that’s saying something. However, at the time I had no idea of its history, origin or significance… In 1977, Bob went into exile in London after the assassination attempt he had just escaped in Kingston. He recorded numerous tracks, the best of which are included on Exodus. Well, the waste would provide the material for the album Kaya the following year, which says a lot about the general quality of the compositions, all the same. So, in short, Exodus hit the stores and met with phenomenal success. The reggae-rock feel of many of the tracks was no doubt part of the reason, making it easier for a wider European audience, more familiar with rock, to absorb the music. Rita Marley provides backing vocals and Junior Marvin works wonders on guitar. The album was an uninterrupted string of gems: Jamming, One Love, Turn Your Lights Down Low… An international tour followed the release of Exodus, which unfortunately had to be cut short when Marley was injured and later diagnosed with cancer… But Exodus was my introduction to reggae, and probably one of my first steps into Caribbean music.