Bob Marley & The Wailers Announce Previously Unreleased ‘Roots, Rock, Reggae: Live at the Hammersmith Odeon’
The concert residency was captured 50 years ago in London, England.
It’s been 50 years since Bob Marley & The Wailers’ historic concert staging in London, and now the anniversary is being honored with the release of Roots, Rock, Reggae: Live at the Hammersmith Odeon. The never-before-issued live recording was filmed during the four-night residency at the Hammersmith Odeon that took place from June 15-18, 1976, kicking off the second leg of their Rastaman Vibration tour.
Set for an August 14 release via Tuff Gong/Island/UMe, the live album features 18 tracks that are all newly mixed from the original multi-tracks. It will be available in multiple formats: 180-gram 2LP Vinyl, an exclusive limited-edition 2LP Color Vinyl, 2CD, digital download, and streaming on all DSPs and an ATMOS mix (where available) for the full concert experience.
The standard 2LP set and the 2CD edition will be decked out in a unique cover design that folds out to a full-body performance photo of Bob Marley, custom labels, printed sleeves, and a new essay by longtime Marley confidant and associate Don Letts, a.k.a. “The Rebel Dread,” who shares his own in-person recollections of the residency. In the liner notes, Letts described the experience as “a theatre full of people suddenly sharing the same heartbeat.”
The limited edition set will be pressed on transparent Molten Lava Red (LP1) and Peridot Green (LP2), along with an exclusive mini-poster of the original Island Records advertisement promoting both the new Rastaman Vibration album and the European leg of Marley’s tour, which launched with the London residency.
Album highlights include “Bend Down Low,” which the band only performed on the final night of the Hammersmith run, an extended version of “Crazy Baldhead,” a deep bass rendition of “Lively Up Yourself,” and a 30-minute encore finale boosted by “War” and a 12-minute version of “Get Up, Stand Up” where Bob calls for unity.
The Hammersmith Odeon residency built upon the international momentum of Bob Marley & The Wailers. In 1974, the band dropped their cover of Eric Clapton’s “I Shot the Sheriff” and the concert version of “No Woman, No Cry,” which reached the U.K. Top 20 in early 1976. In the weeks that followed, Rastaman Vibration became the group’s first U.S. Top 10 album.
Bob Marley’s legacy remains steadfast, with a limited-edition 50th anniversary vinyl reissue of Rastaman Vibration and a 420 reissue of Bob Marley & The Wailers’ 1978 Kaya album released back in April.
Listen to Roots, Rock, Reggae Live at the Hammersmith Odeon here.
