Last updated: Monday, July 24, 2006
MARLEY SPARKED SYNTH-POP REVOLUTION?
Reggae legend BOB MARLEY was the unlikely pioneer of new wave and synth-pop after championing new musical technology while recording his landmark EXODUS album while in exile in England.
BOB MARLEY
The ONE LOVE singer sent his musicians out with a huge budget and told them to buy the latest musical effects and equipment after WAILERS bandmate JUNIOR MARVIN introduced him to music boffin ROGER MAYER's sound-altering devices.
Journalist and reggae historian VIVIAN GOLDMAN, who worked as Marley's assistant and confidante throughout the recording of the 1977 album, reveals the late legend was impressed by Brit Mayer's effects after learning he had supplied "devices" to JIMI HENDRIX.
Goldman, who has written about the time she spent watching Marley craft a great album in her new book THE BOOK OF EXODUS: THE MAKING + MEANING OF BOB MARLEY'S ALBUM OF THE CENTURY, says, "Mayer designed all these pedals and sound-altering gizmos and they all fascinated Bob and Junior Marvin.
"When Mayer first saw the Wailers he thought they had a 'raggedy island sound' and so he worked with them. Junior and the band were given as much money as they needed for new equipment.
"As a result, Marley used a vocoder (voice-altering electronic musical instrument) - the first time that was used in reggae - and the album was the first to make use of a drum machine.
"In fact, in an effort to cosmopolitanise (sic) the sound without losing the reggae spirit, there's disco drumming throughout the album. Bob Marley quietly pioneered a movement that was to put session musicians out of work."
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