Product Description

Follow the Sacred Journey to Create One of the Lasting Musical Masterpieces of Our Time


Bob Marley is one of our most important and influential artists. Recorded in London after an assassination attempt on his life sent Marley into exile from Jamaica, Exodus is the most lasting testament to his social conscience. Named by Time magazine as “Album of the Century,” Exodus is reggae superstar Bob Marley’s masterpiece of spiritual exploration.

Vivien Goldman was the first journalist to introduce mass white audiences to the Rasta sounds of Bob Marley. Throughout the late 1970s, Goldman was a fly on the wall as she watched reggae grow and evolve, and charted the careers of many of its superstars, especially Bob Marley. So close was Vivien to Bob and the Wailers that she was a guest at his Kingston home just days before gunmen came in a rush to kill “The Skip.” Now, in The Book of Exodus, Goldman chronicles the making of this album, from its conception in Jamaica to the raucous but intense all-night studio sessions in London.

But The Book of Exodus is so much more than a making-of-a-record story. This remarkable book takes us through the history of Jamaican music, Marley’s own personal journey from the Trench Town ghetto to his status as global superstar, as well as Marley’s deep spiritual practice of Rastafari and the roots of this religion. Goldman also traces the biblical themes of the Exodus story, and its practical relevance to us today, through various other art forms, leading up to and culminating with Exodus.

Never before has there been such an intimate, first-hand portrait of Marley’s spirituality, his political involvement, and his life in exile in London, leading up to histriumphant return to the stage in Jamaica at the Peace Concert of 1978.

Here is an unforgettable portrait of Bob Marley and an acutely perceptive appreciation of his musical and spiritual legacy.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #411665 in Books
• Published on: 2006-04-25
• Released on: 2006-04-25
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 325 pages

From Publishers Weekly
In this dense but well-written work, veteran journalist Goldman examines the cultural, political and violent roots of Bob Marley's classic record Exodus. Goldman is undeniably as intrepid and insightful as music journalists come—and this effort clearly required every ounce of her talent. In setting the stage for what would become Marley's masterpiece, she reached beyond the Exodus sessions themselves into the early history of Marley and the Wailers, into the hornet's nest of Jamaican politics and the island's international history and African history, as well as the mystical, often contradictory, tenets of Rastafarianism. It is all necessary background for what made Marley both the searing performer he was and the iconic figure he would become—a fame that would nearly kill him. Just days before a planned free concert in 1976, Marley, his wife, Rita, and Don Taylor were wounded by gunmen, forcing Marley to flee to London, where Exodus was recorded. This is no pop music hagiography but a brimming, tightly constructed examination not just of Marley's life and music but of human nature itself and the struggle for freedom. The more casual fans of Marley may not follow; those who do will see deeper into the man and his music than ever before. (May)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
Goldman thoroughly examines what Time proclaimed album of the twentieth century, Bob Marley's Exodus, undertaken at a time when Marley had relocated to London, where he wrote and recorded Exodus, after becoming a gunshot victim during an invasion of his Kingston, Jamaica, home. Goldman navigates the myriad political, social, and religious complications in Marley's life then, all of which he dealt with in "The Heathen," "So Much Things to Say," and the album's title song, whose naming was no throwaway gesture. Marley felt especially spiritually attached to the second book of the Old Testament, and Goldman cites his frequent quotation of scripture within the context of him giving form to his most political album. Since Goldman accepts at face value Marley's belief in dream communication and prophecy, his fans will be rewarded by a satisfying heavy dose of the "Natural Mystic" philosophy of Rastafarianism, too. Excellent insight into the genesis of a transporting piece of music; as fellow reggae immortal Lee "Scratch" Perry would say, "Righteous oily." Mike Tribby
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review
“Vivien Goldman is a soldier who understood where we were coming from with our music and spread the message with her writing. She is on the Zion Train.” —Aston “Family Man” Barrett, cofounder and bass player of the Wailers

“Finely reported, vividly written, and politically astute, Vivien Goldman travels with Bob Marley on the intimate journey that led him to become the voice of the Exodus. A fundamental human conflict, Exodus expresses the eternal quest for land, identity, and in Marley’s case, a quest for harmony.” —Mariane Pearl, author of A Mighty Heart: The Brave Life and Death of My Husband, Danny Pearl


From the Trade Paperback edition.

Customer Reviews

A MUST HAVE!
Simply put, this is a book full of indispensable knowledge. Vivien Goldman again (Soul Rebel-Natural Mystic)has put out a truly remarkable book about the great Bob Marley. This era in Bob's life has not been written about too much and Vivian recounts it with such fine details and first hand accounts that the reader can't help but to be extrememly thankful that she finally put it all on paper. The cover price alone is well worth it for the rare rare RARE picture of Bob with Claudie Massop, Tony Welch and Earl Wadley as they talked to Bob about the One Love Peace Concert.

Of all the books out there about Bob (and I have read just about every single one of them) this is without a doubt a true must have. Of the 50+ books written about Bob there are 7 must haves and this is one of them.

Music Writing At Its Best
It is convincingly argued that the pop album has become an effectively arcane form. But even in a digital age, certain albums continue to both define and transcend their creators. Sgt. Pepper, What's Going On, Astral Weeks, Blood On the Tracks... the list invites nerdish debate. But one title can never be excluded; Bob Marley and The Wailers' Exodus was the product of a specific time and place and remains the most extraordinary single work of the Third World's most extraordinary musical voice.

Vivien Goldman was one of the key writers during the Golden Age of British music journalism when the punk explosion inspired the intense gut-intellectual talents of the first post-sixties generation. Unlike many of her colleagues her love and understanding of black music has continually defined her work and The Book Of Exodus is perhaps the best thing she has done.

This is at once memoir, critical analysis and history. Vivien Goldman takes the reader into the studio as Exodus was created. A palpable sense of the immediacy of that process, the atmosphere (well fumigated with the herbsman's wares) and personalities involved come vividly to life through the eyes of the young fan-reporter. Most movingly, Goldman's own ability to connect her life as the North London-raised daughter of German-Jewish refugees from the Holocaust with the Trench Town experience that formed Bob Marley is at the heart of the book. This is no falsely crafted analogy. It is above all a spiritual link, the "Flash Of The Spirit" which has made the core African musical experience one of the world's most unifying cultural forces.

For anyone who wants to understand something of Marley's greatness and gentle charisma, Vivien Goldman shares her privileged experience of hanging with the man and his colleagues in both Jamaica and London. This was an artist whose words and music have inspired more people worldwide than maybe any other pop musician and yet the man who emerges here is a very real person living in a very real time. Goldman gives us a vivid sense of both.

Everyone with more than a passing interest in Marley and The Wailers should read this book. It will send you back to the music, reggae's shining hour, with renewed love and understanding.

Exodus: The Making & Meaning of Bob Marley & the Wailers' Album of the Century
I just finished reading this book and I thought the coverage of Marley's musical life and progression was excellent. Vivien Goldman's passion/love for Bob Marley & the Wailers and their music shone like a star. Heartfelt and moving, this was one of the best books I've read about this prophetic man and his life. So well done, thanks for writing it. To songs of freedom...