Many of us can link a certain album to pivotal moments in our lives. Whether it’s the first record you bought with your own money, the chord you first learnt to play on guitar, the song that soundtracked your first kiss, the album that got you those awkward and painful pubescent years or the one that set off light bulbs in your brain and inspired you to take a big leap of faith into the unknown – music is often the catalyst for change in our lives and can even help shape who we become.
In this series, Music Feeds asks artists to reflect on their relationship with music and share with us stories about the effect music has had on their lives.
Ryan Edmond – Live! By Bob Marley (1975)
Dear Bob Marley Live!,
I’m currently sitting on the train back to Gothenburg from Stockholm. To avoid the noise coming from the screaming kids sitting next to me, I chucked on my headphones and put on Bob Marley Live! You really can feel the energy and vibe of the show through this album and all I can say is damn I would have done anything to be there!!
I was lucky to go on a tour playing cornet with Eva McGowan and her band around 2010. Eva is an amazing blues/ jazz singer-songwriter from Melbourne, Australia. We drove from Melbourne all the way to Queensland, Australia to play at the Woodford Folk Festival. We only had 3 albums the whole drive — The Police Greatest Hits, Thin Lizzy and Bob Marley Live! We must have listened to the album over 100 times!!
This album/live show brings reggae from your native land mixed in with rock, blues and soul! And it is so damn fresh!! One thing I really love is how there is a lot happening although, it feels like there is so much space and room for the music to breathe!
From the first song ‘Trenchtown Rock’ The band wraps itself around the groove of the bass line and then the organic backing vocals come in behind the lead vocals. Everyone gets a taste of what they’re in for the rest of the album/night!
The next song ‘Burnin’ And Lootin’ is one of my favourite songs of all time. Especially this live version. There is so much feeling backing up these lyrics voicing anger towards political struggles and society being much like a prison. The one-drop drums, melodic bass line and backing vocals hit you deep in your soul!!
The rest of this album continues with massive anthems such as ‘Get Up Stand Up’ and of course ‘No Woman No Cry’. It has to be one of the best versions of ‘No Woman No Cry’. Everything just turned out perfect, there’s even feedback on the mic at one point and it just seems to add to the song!! The crowd is singing along like they were hired to sing for the recording! I feel like we are all so lucky that this live show was recorded. As it has to be one of the best albums musically, lyrically and spirituality of all time!
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Australian-born Sweden-based indie-roots artist Ryan Edmond has just released his compelling debut single ‘From The Start’ – produced by Craig Harnath (Motor Ace, Jet, Bodyjar) and Jez Giddings (Paul Dempsey, The Living End, Ash Grunwald) at Hot House Studios, Melbourne.
Mesmerising and infectious reggae-infused indie-pop, ‘From The Start’ is a rainy day jam warmer and sweeter than a Swedish hot chocolate. Listen below!
