Review of Bob Marley: Spiritual Journey

Introduction

As a huge Bob Marley fan I could hardly contain my excitement breaking open the case on this `Special Collectors Edition` DVD / CD / Booklet Pack. And the blurb on the back of the pack raised my expectations further. How foolish I felt when it became clear that `featuring his music` brag would mean 55 minutes of the same half dozen pre-1973 Island tracks repeated ad-infinitum. That `film footage shown for the first time` should really have read ` film footage NOT featuring Bob Marley shown for the very first time`. And that `Exclusive interviews` should have continued ` …with a couple of people who`s only connection with Marley was the fact that they`d been to one of his gigs…`.

The disappointments continued. Extra Features on the DVD were described as `Audio Interview with Bob Marley` (actually Not on the DVD at all but on the CD) and `Photo Gallery`, which turned out to be yet another opportunity to look at the same dozen pictures repeated endlessly throughout the programme - and indeed, the self same pictures featured in the glossy 32 page booklet.

It sure ain`t easy producing a 55 minute documentary on a budget. And make no mistake - this was made on a very tight one of those! The programme is basically a mix of licenced footage, mainly from the BBC and not nearly enough to fill the 55 minutes needed to sell it for an hours worth of broadcast. So it`s glued together with some very ponderous rostrum moves across photos that start to look pretty familiar by the end of the show, half a dozen licenced music tracks from the early seventies (before Marley hit the mainstream with Island), some licenced interviews from the archives - and some newly shot interviews with some peripherally connected interviewees who become increasingly tiresome as they fill the gaps between the real deal. We see and hear very little of Marley himself and most telling of all is a sequence when we see the man himself walking down a street and into a hall. The original shot probably lasted little more than 20 seconds but with 55 minutes to fill, we see a `stretched by slo-mo` sequence that seems interminable.

OK - the programme isn`t without it`s delights. The 16mm footage we see of Kingston`s Trenchtown at the front of the programme looked great. And then there`s an interview with Marley by an uptight Canadian lady Newscaster that`s a joy to watch. And I suppose, to be reluctantly fair, the footage covering Marley`s funeral was of interest too and really captured the surreal hijacking by a nation of their dead hero.

But one particularly frustrating (and telling) aspect was that the entire 6 years of the Wailers recording career prior to signing to Chris Blackwell`s Island Records is glossed over in a sentence. And yet the only music offered up by the DVD and the CD is from this classic Lee Scratch Perry produced period before the addition of `rock production` made the Marley sound palatable for the industrialised West. And that leads me to a final rant. During the late `60`s and early `70`s, Copyright enforcement wasn`t what it is today. Lee Perry sold his masters again and again to a wide variety of entrepreneurs who have been exploiting those purchases endlessly leading to a glut of sub-standard Marley compilations. It`s not the music that`s sub-standard - some of the tracks contained on the CD included here are pure magic - but the standard of re-production that`s so variable. Sadly, the tracks included here are from a source that could well have been 7th or 8th generation dubs and consequently sound woolly and muddy. (To hear these tracks as nature intended, and many more, seek out the excellent 6 CD set from Trojan Records : BOB MARLEY & THE WAILERS: The Complete Upsetter Collection (TBOXCD013) ).

So what about the booklet? Nicely produced in glossy form - but really offering up the same fayre as the documentary in book form, which actually seems to work a little better. At least the scant resources are less noticeable…

And what about that promised audio interview? Well, it turns up unannounced at the tail end of the CD and seems to feature Marley in full flow circa `78 - `79. The recording is what you`d expect from a Press interview - but compelling nonetheless.

All in all it`s difficult to imagine who would get the most from this pack. Most fans would reel with disappointment. Obsessives may like the addition of the 20 mins. + audio interview. And I guess as an introduction to Marley it does cover some modest ground. But for the kind of person most likely to be intrigued by it`s arrival on the racks (ie people like me) - it`s likely to disappoint. And it did.

Video

This is a standard 4 by 3 television broadcast documentary. The transfer to DVD seems acceptable, though picture and sound quality varies dependent upon the original source.

Audio

Whilst not the right DVD to test out the capabilities of your sound system, it`s reasonably well mastered and mixed considering the varied sources.
The audio CD contains less than sparkling reproductions of some classic early Marley moments which can be found elsewhere in much better shape.

Features

The pack contains a 32 page colour booklet and an accompanying audio CD featuring early tracks and an audio interview circa 1978-79. The DVD itself boasts a picture gallery - but these turn out to be the same dozen photos used throughout the programme and in the booklet. Subtitles are available but I didn`t check them out, so eager was I to see if the real gold lay in the CD or the booklet! There`s a simple chapter access menu which functions perfectly well.

Conclusion

I think this DVD may represent a brave attempt to create a reasonable documentary on a shoe-string budget - compensating for lack of real quality in any aspect of it`s offer by really spreading it across a variety of media. It had it`s moments and wasn`t too hard to watch. But for a DVD pack retailing at round about £17.99, and with so much other material available, I think it`s not unreasonable to expect a little more.