RELEASED 24.5.2011
1. Made In Africa 2. False Friends 3. Break Us Apart 4. Can't Keep I Down 5. No Cigarette Smoking (In My Room) 6. Freedom Time 7. Jah Army 8. Old Slaves 9. Pale Moonlight (How Many Times) 10. She Knows Now 11. The Chapel 12. Tight Ship 13. Working Ways 14. Now I Know
An acclaimed singer, songwriter, musician and producer, Stephen Marley is a five-star general in Jah Army's ongoing offensive to uphold the integrity of reggae music. Stephen has won seven Grammy Awards for his work on various Marley family projects, including two Best Reggae Album Grammy nods for his self-produced solo efforts "Mind Control", which debuted atop Billboard's Reggae Album Chart, and "Mind Control Acoustic", a record-setting tally for a Jamaican artist. The second son born to Bob and Rita Marley, younger brother to Sharon, Cedella and Ziggy and mentor to brothers Julian, Ky-mani and Damian, Stephen's acceptance of the responsibilities inherent within his exalted familial legacy is evidenced by the consistent excellence that distinguishes his various musical endeavors. Stephen's third self produced album "Revelation Part 1: The Root of Life" (Ghetto Youths/Universal Republic), which will be released on May 24th, was conceived as a celebration and preservation conduit for roots rock reggae, insuring that the music's regal template is maintained throughout the 21st century. Stephen achieves that objective with 14 soulful, often times soul-bearing tracks that never sacrifice rhythmic purity in deliverance of their powerful messages: "Revelation Part 1: The Root of Life" provides encouragement for the struggling masses ("Working Ways"), depicts the harrowing residual effects of slavery ("Old Slaves"), evokes the sorrow of rejection ("She Knows Now"), and conveys the disappointment of "False Friends", the gravity of these themes offset by exquisite melodies and the subtle shadings of their musical accompaniment, as coordinated by Stephen's production expertise. Conceived as a two part project, "The Root of Life" will be followed by the release of "Revelation Part 2: The Fruit of Life", due in Autumn 2011, which features an array of styles that have emanated from reggae's core. "Reggae music has influenced hip-hop and so many other kinds of music," Stephen reasons, "so `The Fruit of Life' will be a more open, eclectic kind of record. There will be songs for the club; dancehall reggae will be there, love songs in there, but it will remain conscious good music that you can always take something positive from." Stephen embarked on his strategic scheme to safeguard Jamaican music's standards after reading several articles criticizing current dancehall reggae hits that are preoccupied with sex and materialism and devoid of the revolutionary, empowering sentiments that were intrinsic to reggae's development in the late `60s. "The accusations in those articles don't speak for I and I and `nuff more artists' music, but when you check what's breaking through from Jamaica, it's some two-chord, jump up party thing," Stephen explained during a recent visit to New York City's Quad Studios. "There's nothing wrong with that in its appropriate time and place but to preserve the music's integrity you must have a balance. Reggae's consciousness was built on a message, a Black movement, Rastafari, and that is not being pushed today. Me know me have power with my voice and my instrument so, with that vibe, me pick up me guitar, strummed a reggae rhythm, and just started singing; from song to song, that is the spirit within this album." Stephen and his band members rehearsed for two weeks prior to recording "The Root of Life" and the result is an organic, richly textured sound, anchored in reggae's scorching drum and bass backbeat, punctuated by steady guitar strums and fluid keyboard riffs, then embellished with flourishes of saxophone, flute and harmonica. "With "Mind Control" I kinda put songs together but "The Root of Life" is a body of work," Stephen clarifies. "The band came and I gave them the talk: why we need to do it, how it need to come across; we never recorded like that before and I like what we came up with all of us there together; these are the real soldiers in Jah Army." Fittingly, the first single from this remarkable effort is "Jah Army", featuring Damian Marley and Buju Banton spitting formidable, career-defining verses over a thunderous one-drop rhythm intensified by soul shaking dub reverbs. "Jah Army" is the rallying call for troops engaged in this designated undertaking, the significance of which is further underscored on the unity anthems "Break Us Apart", cautioning against those who "take you from the root and teach you their own truth" and "Tight Ship", which urges all concerned parties to focus on their survival. "This is where I speak to the soldiers in Jah Army, saying whether it's in the music or your life, get it together man, the Gideon is on," declares The General. Stephen Marley realized his musical mission at an early age. Born on April 20, 1972, by the time he was old enough to walk, he was dancing and singing onstage at Bob Marley and the Wailers concerts. Bob regularly took Stephen and his siblings into the recording studio so they could learn the rudiments of production and better understand the motivating forces within his work. "My father used to tell us music is like a prayer and you don't put just anything in a prayer, you say important things, pray for people who are suffering," Stephen recalled. "He'd say don't take it for a joke and if you're not really serious don't do it." Stephen, Ziggy, Sharon and Cedella made their professional debut as The Melody Makers in 1979 with the release of the single "Children Playing in the Streets", written by their father. The spotlight shone on eight-year old Stephen's precocious talents the following year when he sang lead on "Sugar Pie"; The Melody Makers' generated much excitement when they performed the song at Jamaica's Reggae Sunsplash in July 1981, staged that year in commemoration of their father's profound musical legacy, just two months after his passing. The group went on to tour the world and earned numerous awards; Stephen assisted in the production of each of The Melody Makers albums since he was a teenager including the Best Reggae Album Grammy winners "Conscious Party" (1989), "One Bright Day" (1990) and "Fallen Is Babylon" (1997). Since his early 20s Stephen has helmed the production for several Marley family members' albums, most notably, those by his youngest brother Damian, including "Half Way Tree" and "Welcome To Jamrock", each bestowed with a Best Reggae Album Grammy. Alongside Damian, Stephen coproduced "Distant Relatives", Damian and Nas's critically lauded collaborative effort, released in 2010. While working on the final mixes of "Distant Relatives", Stephen went into an adjoining studio and laid down a few ideas that became the bedrock of "The Root of Life". Just as "Distant Relatives" closed the cultural gap between hip-hop and dancehall reggae, Stephen sought to bridge the continental divide between Africa and the rest of the world. To fulfill that goal he recruited Nigerian-American rapper Wale who contributes a compelling verse to "Root of Life's" opening track "Made In Africa" and the cast of the Broadway hit "Fela", who provide the song's epic background vocals. The beauty of "Made In Africa" is as breathtaking as the Motherland's natural splendor yet its mood is as somber as the repeatedly cruel exploitation of her resources and her people. "Me start read about Napolean coming from this divide and conquer the place, depriving people of the greatest riches a man can have, it's not material, it is your heritage," Stephen reasoned. "Go to Europe and see how much thing dem take out of Africa; it was the richest place `pon earth, civilization start there. That is why the song is called "Made in Africa" because we're all made in Africa." Africa was of great significance in Bob Marley's music, as the ancestral home of Rastafari and even reggae itself. Stephen pays homage to his father's musical teachings by reinterpreting three songs recorded by the original Wailers (Bob, Bunny Wailer, Peter Tosh) in the late 60s: the melodic liberation anthem "Freedom Time"; the doo-wop flavored love lament "Pale Moonlight" and a hymn to Rastafarian Lord and Savior Haile Selassie I, "The Chapel" (featuring Ziggy Marley), its meditation enhanced by traditional Rastafarian Nyabinghi drumming. "The messages here need to be heard again and we always hope that people can feel the connection and transition of our father's spirit in us when we sing these songs," observes Stephen, whose skillful application of his band's magisterial one-drop grooves provides these decades-old songs with a rejuvenated appeal. The Root's second single "No Cigarette Smoking" is a luscious duet, in reggae's lovers-rock tradition, with Mélanie Fiona's sultry crooning complementing Stephen's raspier tone. Seemingly a contrast to the album's more militant observations, the song is a denouncement of cigarettes and alcohol stemming from the tenets of Stephen's Rastafarian way of life, which he initially wrote 15 years ago. Stephen's spirit is as irrepressible as the rollicking reggae-blues rhythm, punctuated by a wailing harmonica on "Can't Keep I Down". His triumphant exclamation of "I'll always be around", (evoking Bob's prescient lyric "they can't get me outta the race" from "Bad Card"), no doubt alludes to the timeless allure of the songs he has presented here. The Root of Life concludes with "Now I Know", a contemplative song about moving on, ("nothing is permanent in life, all except for change"), whether by choice or by imposed circumstances, with Stephen's evocative phrasing the aural equivalent of a tearful heart. Stephen describes the song's acoustic jazz seasoning, delivered through moodily plunked piano chords, and weeping guitar strands as "transitional, to take you out of The Root a little bit and tastefully into The Fruit". "The Fruit" is what blossoms into different colors and shades," Stephen offers in reference to the second installment in the "Revelation of Life" series, "but `The Root' has to stand predominant."