Even as works of art, the songs of Exodus were fully in tune with basic truths of the human condition in flesh and blood form. Therefore, the power of Exodus is obvious in its bold, unpretentious and overwhelming emphasis on politics and religion with an amazing, fluent outpour of real to life imagery. Very notably, Woe to the downpressors/ they’ll eat the bread of sorrow is a barbed Exodus backlash against political victimization from the “Guiltiness” track. Religion and politics are vitally ubiquitous and recurrent life themes that dictate the flow and tempo of social life as well as the content of the individual and collective human frame of mind all over the world in real terms that brook no abstract assumptions. Yet, whatever Exodus may have lacked due to absence of heightened dramatic episodes in the mix, it made up for by its crystal clear brilliance in other meritorious angles of artistic appeal.įor the avoidance of doubt, it is plain and clear that in Exodus the power and beauty of art in the musical form was manifested stylishly first and foremost through the formula by which the album balanced Lovers’ Rock with Protest Art which was creative and inventive to say the least. Brown, Duppy Conqueror, Johnny Was, I Shot the Sheriff, Concrete Jungle, Kinky Reggae and Keep on Moving.įor the reason that the story telling element contributes ultimately to lyrical beauty and vocal delivery impacting in song composition, there remains a valid sense in which these worries and concerns may be accepted as legitimate in the main. Insofar as some of them were concerned, these vital elements: drama, street flavor and emotional intrigue triggered by the infusion of the unexpected are the factors that carry indelible responsibility for the enduring attractiveness of well known BMW hits like Mr. Some of these opinion molders in the art and music sphere in Europe, America and Japan were simply dissatisfied at first with what was described as an obvious absence of drama, street flavor and socio-psychological intrigue in the songs of Exodus. Ironically, in the Western media, a good measure of doubt, anxiety and uncertainty typified the initial sentiments with which music and entertainment industry pundits received Exodus. When it appeared freshly on the global music orbit on June 3, 1977, the 10-Track vinyl represented a major career breakthrough for Bob Marley and the Wailers (BMW.) This was then a brand new musical release that richly blended vociferous protest anthems like Natural Mystic, Heathen, So Much things to Say and Guiltiness with bouncy and alluring Lovers’ Rock renditions like Waiting In Vain, Three Little Birds and A close look at factors that gave it a distinctive rank with the experts should be thrilling since the triumph of Exodus was not a fluke. Checking out the merits of Exodus should be rewarding. 129 on the Rolling Stone Magazine’s list of the 500 greatest albums of all time, just to cite a few of the most notable accolades showered on Nesta Marley’s Exodus.
Later in 2001, the TV network VH1 would name the same Exodus as the 26th greatest album of all time and, in 2003, the album was ranked No. It was on the eve of the turn of the millennium in 1999 when the reputable and authoritative TIME Magazine resoundingly honoured the memory of Robert Nesta Marley by declaring his EXODUS LP as the greatest album of the musically flamboyant 20th century. In this 35th anniversary tribute, Bayo Daramola celebrates the merits of the superlative EXODUS.
Among many soul lifting albums of music that Marley contributed to global Art and Entertainment, EXODUS is in a remarkable class of its own. He was truly a master of his craft in every sense. Bob Marley’s position as the King of Reggae was undisputed and could never have been disputed.