From the cradle to beyond the grave

Sunday, February 11, 2007
The Fiji Times

ERIC Clapton has gone back to roots. The man who fired I Shot the Sheriff to international acclaim has revisited reggae.

Clapton helped reggae prophet Bob Marley break into the US mainstream music by covering I shot the sheriff, written and released by Marley on the Burnin' album in 1973.

The English guitar god whose first full blues album was From the Cradle, was happy to oblige Marley's sons Ziggy and Stephen when they sought his help.

He happily went into the studio at the request of Marley's sons to lay down a new guitar piece.

Overdubbing an acoustic demo is a method used successfully by Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr in the late 1990s to transform John Lennon's demos of Free As A Bird and Real Love into complete Beatles songs.

Slogans is a bright and mighty anthem reminiscent of classic Marley. It is a song of freedom and righteousness that transcends generations.

It is believed Marley recorded the bright and mighty anthem in a Miami bedroom in 1979.

Released last year, Slogans comes with a video that is full of classic Marley footage, explosive live concert visuals and images from the 1960s and 1970s.

Slogans in the first new Marley song in a decade and features on the Africa Unite album, a compilation of all the singles the prophet released.

The video provides a backdrop to Marley's timeless and powerful lyrics that speak to the world today as they did in 1979.

Slogans is one of eight songs found on a tape of Bob working in his room with a drum machine.

Bobmarley.com reports they're really sketches of songs that the family is completing.