Ziggy Marley
Love is My Religion
Tuff Gong International
Ziggy Marley’s wildly uneven second solo album takes a long time-maybe too long-to hit stride, but when it does you’ll be happy you didn’t eject it prematurely. Songs like “Friend,” “Make Some Music,” “Keep on Dreaming” and the title track are so dumbed-down you may wonder if this is truly Bob Marley’s first son you’re listening to. Considering the recent breakout success of his younger sibling, Damian, Ziggy can’t cruise along assuming people will blindly accept any music from a Marley.
The best tracks-the African-tinged “Into the Groove,” the ska-ish “Blackcat” and the string-laden “A Lifetime”-prove Ziggy’s still relevant many years after his best work with The Melody Makers. And the album’s potent finale, “Still the Storms,” an homage to his father’s “War” (“from the coast of West Africa, still the storms come”), extends ominously with thick bass, chinking guitars and polyrhythmic drums. Ziggy may not be the most topical Marley these days, but he’s still Bob’s No. 1 son. Steve Bloom
Other albums reviewed in the August issue…
Four Tet DJ Kicks (!K7)
Pete Droge Under the Waves (Puzzle Tree)
The Album Leaf Into the Blue Again (Sub Pop)
Ali Farka Toure Savane (World Circuit/Nonesuch)
Dirty Dozen Brass Band What’s Going On (Shout! Factory)
The Black Keys Magic Potion (Nonesuch)
Mouse on Mars Varcharz (Ipecac)
Johnny Cash American V: A Hundred Highways (American)
Ollabelle Riverside Battle Songs (Verve)
Bruce Cockburn Life Short Call Now (Rounder)
Maria Muldaur Heart of Mine: Love Songs of Bob Dylan (Telarc)
Califone Roots & Crowns (Thrill Jockey)
Paul Motian Trio 2000 + One On Broadway Vol.4 (Winter & Winter)
Various Artists Rogue’s Gallery: Pirate Ballads, Sea Songs and Chanteys (Anti-)
The New Deal Live: Late Night (Sound Light)
Ornette Coleman Sound Grammar (Sound Grammar)
Brazilian Girls Talk to La Bomb (Verve Forecast)
Jason Moran Artist in Residence (Blue Note)
Ozric Tentacles The Floor’s Too Far Away (Magna Carta)
Edie Brickell & The New Bohemians Stranger Things (Concord)
Love Trio featuring U-Roy In Dub (Nublu)
Papa Grows Funk Live at the Leaf (Funky Krewe)
Steven Bernstein’s Millennial Territory MTO, Volume 1 (Sunnyside)
Sex Mob Sexotica (Thirsty Ear)
Baby Loves Jazz Go Baby Go! (Verve)
Say Hi To Your Mom Impeccable Blah (Rebel Group)
Rodrigo y Gabriela Rodrigo y Gabriela (ATO)
Tapes ‘N Tapes The Loon (XL)
PLUS…
Plundering the Vaults
Big Bill Broonzy Amsterdam Live Concerts 1953 (Munich)
Thelonious Monk with John Coltrane The Complete 1957 Riverside Recordings (Riverside)
Memphis Slim with Canned Heat and the Memphis Horns Memphis Heat (Maison de Blues/Sunnyside)
Professor Longhair Rock ‘n’ Roll Gumbo (Sunnyside)
DVDs
Michael Franti I Know I’m Not Alone: A Musician’s Search for the Human Cost of War (Stay Human Films)
Pink Floyd Pulse (Sony)
Dreadheads: A Portrait of a Subculture (Mutant Girl Films)
BOOKS
South of the Pumphouse by Les Claypool (Akashic Books)
Blue Monday: Fats Domino and the Lost Dawn of Rock ‘n’ Roll by Rick Coleman (Da Capo)
Empire of Dirt: The Aesthetics and Rituals of British Indie Rock by Wendy Fonarow (Wesleyan University Press)
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