*Please stay posted to the Midnight Raver Blog. I am working on Part II which will be thoroughly researched, detailed, and include press documents, photos, and a lossless (FLAC) file of Marley’s performance.
It is February 26, 1978 and Bob Marley returns to Kingston, Jamaica, from London, landing at Norman Manley Airport just before 5:00 p.m. 2,000 roaring fans are there to greet him. It’s the first time he has touched Jamaican soil since his feverish performance at the 1976 Smile Jamaica concert-just 2 days after the assassination attempt on his life. That night, Bob leads an informal chant session at National Heroes Park, an event that is rudely interrupted by two earthquakes-each 20 seconds in duration, which many believe signify Marley’s return to the island.
Jamaica Gleaner March 10, 1978
This concert is held during a political civil war in Jamaica between opposing parties Jamaican Labour Party and the People’s National Party. It brings together 16 of Reggae’s biggest acts, and is dubbed by the media as the “Third World Woodstock”, “Bob Marley plays for Peace” and simply, “Bob Marley Is Back.” The concert attracts more than 32,000 spectators with the proceeds of the show going towards “much needed sanitary facilities and housing for the sufferahs in West Kinston.”
Jamaica Gleaner April 22, 1978
Bob Marley and the Wailers gather at Chris Blackwell’s Strawberry Hill estate to rehearse for the show. Strawberry Hill was purchased by Island Records Chief Chris Blackwell in 1972. A beautiful mountain estate nestled 3,000 feet atop of Jamaica’s glorious Blue Mountains, this quiet retreat and secluded oasis would become home to one of the music industries most revered producers. Strawberry Hill becomes the meeting place for international and Jamaican artists to link up, compose, and jam together as can be seen by the images in the Bar. Studio One brought up their mixing board to record Mick Jagger and Peter Tosh and shoot a video of them together. Third World recorded their first LP ” Sata Amasa Gana” at the estate in the mid Seventies.
The included rehearsal tape circulates as “One Love Peace Concert Rehearsal” tape or the “Stawberry Hill Rehearsal” tape. It includes 18 tracks in lossless (FLAC) audio. Several of the tracks have multiple takes and false starts. The version included here was remastered by “Son of Thunder” and was originally seeded at Marley and Tosh Torrents.
Bob Marley and the Wailers
The Strawberry Hill Rehearsal
April 21, 1978
01 Exodus
02 Horn Jam
03 Natty Dread
04 Natty Dread
05 Natty Dread
06 Natural Mystic
07 Natural Mystic
08 War
09 War
10 War
11 War
12 War
13 War
14 Exodus
15 Punky Reggae Party
16 Punky Reggae Party
17 Punky Reggae Party
18 Punky Reggae Party
NOTES:
FROM RKL’S OLD NOTE’S:
THIS REHEARSAL** (DOES NOT HAVE THE BEST SOUND) BUT IT IS OF HISTORICAL VALUE IN BOB’S LIFE… THIS IS THE REHEARSAL FROM THE ONE LOVE PEACE CONCERT.
NEW NOTE’S:
ANOTHER RE-MASTER TO THE MARLEY & TOSH COMMUNITY ONCE AGAIN, BUT THIS TIME THESE ARE THE BEST AND ONLY ATTEMPTED MASTER ON THIS SESSION.
