Bob Marley and the Wailers Live at the Rainbow (1977) Review

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(More customer reviews)So it falls to me to review this first? This June 1977 concert at London's Rainbow Theater captures the recently reconfigured Wailers ending a European tour to promote the masterful 'Exodus' album. The rare videotaped performances of 'Trenchtown Rock' and 'Rebel Music', and 'Crazy Baldhead', dating from the earlier Wailers repertoire, and performed wonderfully well here, are the treasures of this collection, however. Missed notes on some songs, including the beginning of 'Exodus', and guitarist Junior Marvin's failure to notice his boss Bob about to start singing 'Lively Up Yourself', are minor annoyances, as is the loss of Aston Barrett's famous distinctive bass line in 'No More Trouble', jettisoned in favor of a 'new', harder sound (surely a reaction to the exciting energy of London's 'new wave' summer of 1977). By the way, it always annoyed me that the front cover picture on the VHS and now the DVD editions is most definitely not from this 1977 show, but rather is the same photo that graces the 1975 Live at the Lyceum album. I wish those responsible would show some commitment to historical accuracy, and use a photo from the actual show in '77. The DVD sound and picture are good, considering the age of the videotape source. I purchased my DVD copy of 'Live at the Rainbow' from Amazon France, and it includes an accompanying DVD entitled 'Carribbean Nights', which is an informative and enjoyable look at Marley's life and times. While 'Caribbean Nights' contains no full-length performances, it does contain several exciting if brief film clips of various performances such as the Leeds, UK 1973 show with Peter Tosh. Hopefully these early performances will someday make it onto DVD as well.


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BOB MARLEY & WAILERS:LIVE AT THE RAIN - DVD Movie

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Small Island (Masterpiece Theatre) Review

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(More customer reviews)While selective TV viewing, I found Small Island showing on PBS and couldn't change the channel. I'm glad I didn't. What a delight to see Jamaicans portrayed with the dignity and class that most Jamaican's deserve. The acting was superb and I felt a kinship to all the characters, African and European. I was tempted to buy the book and finally purchased a book and DVD for my sister. The video with the narrative gave voice to the book and sensitivity to the subject. At the time, I felt no need to read the book, and enjoyed every moment of advice, cliches', antidote's and consciousness of love, life & passion that swept through every scene.
The revelations on the colonial history of Jamaica and the affection Jamaican's felt to the "Motherland" aka England, made the teachings of Marcus Garvey and the music of Bob Marley, even more relevant. It's no wonder Marcus Garvey was not accepted in Jamaica as he was preaching for Africans in Jamaica to look to Africa as the Motherland.
The struggles Jamaicans went through to live and be accepted in England after World War 2 is something that many people are not aware of, thank you Ms. Levy. I really love this movie and will share it with many friends, for its history and as a great love story that touches the heart on the many levels of joy and sorrow.

I absolutely loved the entire story, until the end. It left me with a sad question. Why didn't Queenie give Hortense the photo of the baby's father, she had it...but she sent her photo along with the baby? Hortense wouldn't of been too shocked, and maybe even finally happy (other than getting the material things) to know the child was the son of her childhood sweetheart. It was another eurocentric case of killing the black man's legacy. The ending as is, will lead to a great book club discussion. It is my humble opinion and remains a travesty that some Africans/Jamaicans/Americans desire to uplift and emulate European culture, at all cost, fact or fiction. The author, while giving homage to her paternal grandmother, (Queenie aka or symbolically England, the other Small Island) sadly, loses the memory of the child's paternal Jamaican roots. Over all it is a story well told and acted out by all involved.

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