Ziggy Marley's life story is filled with changes and transitions. In fact, change has been the one constant in his life. From his earliest days, raised in Trench Town, Jamaica, to the present, he has been guided by his keen awareness and driving compassion. These qualities are the earmarks of his work and his journey.
The eldest Marley son is not one to let any moss grow under his feet. His 2006 release, Love is My Religion (Tuff Gong Worldwide), garnered a Grammy for Best Reggae Album at the 49th Annual Grammy Awards, giving him a total of four Grammys as an artist. It was his second solo album, and the first to be released independently on the Tuff Gong Worldwide label.
The album's follow-up, an extended version including three live tracks, will hit the streets on December 4, 2007. A live DVD, filmed during the Love is My Religion world tour, is scheduled for release in early 2008. A bold move launched an independent distribution deal between Tuff Gong Worldwide and Ryko Distribution, allowing Marley to eschew the traditional record industry formula and big name labels.
"This album is from my heart," Ziggy says of the album, originally released in July 2006. Love showcases Ziggy's keenly honed talents as a composer, producer, and musician. With all tracks written and produced by Ziggy, and shared production on three tracks with Grammy-winning producer Ross Hogarth, Marley also played a majority of the instruments on the album.
Written "all over the world," with some songs penned during his youth, Love Is My Religion expands upon the personal, social and political themes explored in Ziggy's debut CD, Dragonfly. Its musical center is clearly reggae, peppered by African percussion and other flavors. Opening with the subversively danceable "Into the Groove," Ziggy delves into an upbeat meditation on finding one's self. On the title track, "Love is My Religion," his message is one that "people need to hear," a unifying devotion to love that "needs to be preached in churches and mosque and synagogues." The notion of overcoming stereotypes and superstition informs the slinky "Black Cat," while the romantic "Make Some Music" finds a partner in the mid-tempo "A Lifetime."
Friendship is one of the album's recurring themes, whether as the core of monogamous and universal love or the connective tissue of global brotherhood. "Friend" and "On the Beach in Hawaii" each offer an ode to love and friendship. In "Keep on Dreamin'," Ziggy extends the idea into the spiritual world, reconnecting with his father through dreams. The album's most political song, "Be Free," empowers the listener to reject the manipulating power of fear. Slavery and its continuing effects are explored on "Still the Storms," which laments the crises in nations like Sudan, Rwanda and Sierra Leone by analogizing the path of hurricanes with the path of slave ships. The album closes with the simple and the complex: an acoustic guitar version of "Love Is My Religion" and a bass-heavy, dub mix of "Be Free."
| Song Title | Buy |
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Into The Groove + (4:16)
Into The Groove
Into the groove, where we lose ourselves just to find who we are
Take the plunge, soak it up like a sponge
Into the groove, where love grows to new heights
Catch the wave, free the slave, emancipate your mind
Light it up
Into the groove, where we lose ourselves just to find who we are
Yeah, come for the ride
drums - maka b : bass - paul fakhourie : guitar - marc moreau : keyboards, guitar - ziggy
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Love Is My Religion ^ ~ (3:47)
Love Is My Religion
Love is my religion, Love is my religion, Love is my religion
All my days I've been searching, to find out what this life is worth
Love is my religion, Love is my religion, Love is my religion
I don't want to fight, hey let's go fly a kite
( Chorus )
Well I'm done searching now, I found out what this life is worth
( Chorus )
drums - maka b : bass, piano, guitar - ziggy : percussion - luis conte, ken chastain, ross hogarth
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Make Some Music + (4:18)
Make Some Music
Love is a melody playing through eternity, making sweet songs all night long
Come on baby lets make some music, this is the groove and that's how I do it
Thinking of lyrics I could sing, but I know they must come from within
( Chorus )
It's a beautiful thing the way you hit the way we swing
( Chorus )
drums - maka b : bass, keyboards, guitar - ziggy : guitar - takeshi akimoto
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Friend # (2:53)
Friend
I wanna thank you for the things you've done
Been through thick and thin together
( Chorus )
Before I met you, I was real low, now everyone know
( Chorus )
Just as long, just as long as you're my friend
drums, percussion - maka b : bass, organ, guitar - ziggy : guitar - marc
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Black Cat * (2:41)
Black Cat
Black cat come visit me, I don't care what people say
Black cat one day things will change, I'm gonna wipe away your bad name
Black cat you're beautiful, why does everybody run away
Black cat come visit me, I don't care what people say
drums - maka b : bass, guitar, percussion, keyboards - ziggy
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Beach In Hawaii + (3:44)
Beach In HawaiiOn the beach in Hawaii
I wish you were here with me, walking on the beach in Hawaii
Since you've been gone away, I think about you everyday
A little pakalolo, and I say mahalo
drums - maka b : bass, guitar - ziggy : percussion - luis conte : acoustic guitar - dan warner
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A Lifetime + ~ (4:46)
A Lifetime
Oh a lifetime isn't enough to love you
I may be different than you, criticized for what I do
( Chorus )
Been around so many people, without you I'm always alone
( Chorus )
Am I so different than you, criticized for what I do
( Chorus )
Hey a lifetime isn't enough to love you
drums, percussion - maka b : bass, guitar, keyboards - ziggy
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Be Free + (3:19)
Be Free
The system's got too much control, and they don't wanna let it go
Be free, be free
Little by little, I'm losing control
( Chorus )
The government's got too much control,
( Chorus )
The system's got too much control,
drums, percussion - maka b : bass, guitar, keyboards - ziggy
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Keep On Dreaming + (4:20)
Keep on Dreaming
When you left me, I didn't cry, but my heart was heavy
So I keep on dreaming to communicate
I see you in my visions, and it seems you're right here
( Chorus )
I knew it wasn't over, it was only the start
( Chorus )
drums, percussion - maka b : bass, guitar, keyboards - ziggy
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Still The Storms ^ ~ (5:32)
Still The Storms
With the world so loud, who's gonna hear, when I cry
Still the storms come, from the coast of West Africa ( repeat )
There heroes, are my enemies for one man's profit is another man's loss
( Chorus )
Eternity is not enough for me to forget, and my children's children, you will regret
( Chorus ) |
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| Love Is My Religion (Acoustic) * (3:57) |
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| Be Free (DUB) * (4:04) |
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| Dragonfly (live) | |
| Jammin' (live) | |
| Look Who's Dancin' (live) |
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