Review of One Love: The Bob Marley All Star Tribute

Introduction

Held in the beautiful surroundings of Oracabessa Bay, Jamaica in December 1999, the `One Love: The Bob Marley All-Star Tribute` concert is a line-up of reggae and soul luminaries coming out to pay their own unique respects to one of the best-loved, and sorely missed reggae stars of recent years - Bob Marley.

Marley died tragically from cancer in 1981, aged just 36 - some say at the peak of his career. During his short career he was responsible for penning many classic tracks including `One Love`, `Jamming`, `I Shot the Sheriff` and `Turn the Lights Down Low`. It may well come as a surprise to learn that Marley himself failed to make it into the US Top 40, but many bands who have used his music as their inspiration have done so with success and regularity.

The atmosphere at this concert must have been highly charged and I had high hopes that this DVD had managed to capture at least a small part of it...

Video

There are no problems at all with the transfer-to-DVD of this title. The picture is sharp and colours are well defined with good contrast and the 1.33 anamorphic transfer is, for live concert footage, top notch.

Audio

The soundtrack is superb with DD5.1 showing how effective it can be for music titles as well as speech and effects. The soundstage is extremely well defined and accurate and conveys nicely the spirit of the music on offer here. Thankfully, no problems to report.

Features

The included extras are well chosen and, for once, actually enhance the main feature. First up is an hour-long collection of additional material not included in the original TNT-network television broadcast. Unfortunately this is only presented in DD2.0, but is very good nonetheless. Also included is a view behind the scenes, including interviews with some of the performers. It is very interesting to hear from them first-hand how Marley helped shape their musical careers. There is also a Marley discography and a collection of photographs taken by Adrian Boot.

For the final song (`One Love`) there is a multi-angle feature that provides a choice of 5 different camera-angles that can be switched at will via your remote. For once, this DVD-unique feature is used intelligently and adds a great deal to the moving, colourful final song of the concert. If you have ever wondered what that button was for on your remote, then this is the disk for you!

Conclusion

The untimely death of Bob Marley has done nothing to dent the passion that people have for his music, as is apparent from the sheer scale and popularity of this concert. This slickly produced presentation will turn some fans to tears, such is the emotion that some of the stars produce on stage. The likes of Lauryn Hill, Queen Latifah, Ziggy Marley, Erykha Badu and Busta Rhymes do Marley proud and it is obvious from their performances that they thoroughly enjoyed their time spent on-stage.

For fans of the man and his music, this is an essential purchase.