Stephen Marley's Long-awaited Album Out

Marley's Other Son Steps Up

March 21

By Bill Carbone
Staff Writer
Newhavenadvocate.com

March 15 2007



Among Bob Marley’s offspring there are several household names. Stephen Marley is not one of them.

Stephen is a sort of Dick Cheney to the Marley administration; his brothers Ziggy and Damian bask in the limelight of the world stage; their success, however, is built upon on their seldom-seen sibling’s songwriting and production skills.

Stephen was born to Bob and Rita Marley in Kingston in 1972, the same year his dad’s seminal Catch a Fire caught fire in the non-Caribbean world and made him an international sensation. Stephen’s production style naturally exudes his father’s famous Tuff Gong sound. But Stephen also came of age in the more comfortable years of the Marley family, years in which Miami was a second home. This mobility is reflected in his internationally minded productions, which lack the xenophobic tendencies of current dancehall music.

For instance, complete albums are a rarity in the single-centric dancehall scene, and riddims on which only one singer performs are even more infrequent. Yet for Damian Marley’s Grammy winning 2005 release Welcome to Jamrock , Stephen composed an entire album of music exclusively for the DJ.

It was a brilliant move. Damian is a good DJ, but tossed on to a riddim mix with the likes of Capelton, Elephant Man, Sizzla, and Beenie Man—the usual treatment for up-and-comers—he could have easily slipped through the cracks. Atop Stephen’s exclusive, handcrafted, genre-bending riddims, Damian Marley came across like the next big thing.

Throughout his career Stephen Marley has sung and played instruments on his brothers’ albums, as well as on those of other artists such as Buju Banton, Erykah Badu and even Eric Clapton. Finally, with the March 20 release of Mind Control on Tuff Gong Records, Stephen Marley will step forward.

To hear Stephen Marley sing is to hear the ghost of Bob Marley. No other child of the man sounds so much like he did. However, on two of the three tracks from Mind Control available prior to the CD’s release party Wednesday night at Toad’s, the similarities end there. The title track juxtaposes Stephen with a rather vapid neo-soul palette of looped Fender Rhodes, bass and drums. The hip-hop ballad “Hey Baby,” which features Mos Def, is even less exciting. But “Traffic Jam,” an old school DJ combination with guests Damian Marley and Ragamuffin performed over a very new school beat box and toy synth rendering of the “Answer” riddim, is fantastically fresh and will undoubtedly turn the dancehall ’pon its head.

Stephen Marley March 21, 9 p.m. at Toad’s Place, 300 York St., New Haven. $25. (203) 624-TOAD, toadsplace.com.

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