Marley's unheard recordings found
published: Thursday | May 8, 2003
Bob Marley
ACCORDING TO Billboard.com, the family of Bob Marley has discovered a batch of unheard recordings by the reggae icon that may be used as the basis for an album partially produced in the same style as the mid-1990s Beatles singles Free As a Bird and Real Love.
Marley's eldest son, Ziggy, told the entertainment magazine the eight-track recordings, which his father made at home, will likely be supplemented with vocals from himself as well as some of his musical siblings.
Just as then surviving Beatles, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr built Free As a Bird and Real Love around rough recordings of unreleased John Lennon vocals, the Marleys would embellish some of the newly discovered songs, says Ziggy. In addition, Ziggy says he would like to have such top-shelf musicians as Carlos Santana (a well-known Marley fan) contribute to the album. The Marley family is in discussion with Universal Music for the release of the album, which Ziggy hopes will be issued next year. Recorded in the late '70s, the songs will not be familiar to Bob's fans. "I didn't know any of these songs," Ziggy says. "The way he was playing the guitar on one song that I heard, it was like jazz. It wasn't what you would expect from him at all."
Last month, Ziggy issued his Private/RCA solo debut, Dragonfly, his first album without his sibling backing group, the Melody Makers. The rock-leaning set features appearances from Red Hot Chili Peppers members Flea and John Frusciante, as well as ex-Jellyfish keyboardist Roger Manning, the Wallflowers' Rami Jaffee and revered multi-instrumentalist David Lindley.
