Human Feelings & Universal Truths: The Timelessness Of Bob Marley’s Exodus

My introduction to reggae came on a sultry summer evening in 1973 when the soundtrack from The Harder They Come by reggae pioneer Jimmy Cliff was played through the house system at the Keystone Berkeley, a music club in Berkeley, California, between the sets of a Jerry Garcia Band show.


I had cut my teeth on Motown in my early teens and adored soul and R&B, but this was something else. I was knocked over by the swinging backbeat, Cliff’s mellifluous vocal stylings and the hypnotic minor chords that ran through most every song. The next day I bought my first two reggae LPs — The Harder They Come and, on the recommendation of the record store clerk, Catch a Fire, which happened to be debut American album of Marley and The Wailers.

By the time Exodus was released in 1977, reggae had moved beyond its cool ska and rocksteady roots.

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