REVIEW: Ziggy Marley & Melody Makers, Fallen Is Babylon (Elektra)

- Reto Koradi

Reggae has not been in the focus of attention in recent years, apart from Inner Circle storming the charts a few years ago, and a wave of poppified reggae with acts like Ace Of Base, Dr. Alban and Shaggy. More traditional reggae never fully recovered from the much to timely death of Bob Marley and Peter Tosh, even though Jimmy Cliff and a few others always held the flag up.

Ziggy Marley has been continuing the family tradition with eight albums over 10 years, but avoided just walking in his fathers oversized footsteps by mixing in influenced from various music styles on his earlier albums. Fallen Is Babylon finds Ziggy more at peace with the roots, one sign being a cover of the Curtis Mayfield classic "People Get Ready", which was also performed by his dad. Even though the song has been covered so many times, this version gives it an interesting new twist. It starts out close to the original form, but is then more and more decomposed into pieces, which are reassembled to something almost completely different.

While he definitely inherited the voice, Ziggy will probably have to live with the fact that he will never quite reach the song writing genius of his father, just like all the others who never got there. Measuring him with equal forces, songs like "Born To Be Lively" are about as good as reggae gets, catchy enough to stick in your head after a few listens, and guaranteed to at least get your toes wiggling. Most of the lyrics show the positive attitude and optimism that makes reggae such an enjoyable music style. This carefully arranged and perfectly recorded album is warmly recommended to anybody with interest in reggae that goes beyond owning a Bob Marley compilation.