A few weeks ago we got word that Bob Marley’s iconic 1984 album, Legend, is getting a makeover. The new album, Legend Remixed, is slated for release on June 25th via Island/Tuff Gong/UME. Featuring 16 tracks remixed by the likes of, Pretty Lights, Thievery Corporation, Jason Bentley, Z-Trip with Lee “Scratch” Perry, Photek, My Morning Jacket’s Jim James, Roni Size, RAC, Beats Antique, Nickodemus & Zeb, and brothers Stephen and Ziggy Marley, the entire compilation will honor one history’s greatest music legends.
Legend is the world’s best-selling reggae album with global sales exceeding 40 million copies, including more than 14 million in the U.S. alone. With these kinds of numbers, a true Marley fan might believe that “if it’s not broke, don’t fix it.” However, UMe President and CEO Bruce Resnikoff remarks, “We are truly honored to continue Bob’s legacy with the support and participation of his family and the Tuff Gong organization. We feel the release of this album will offer key opportunities to the Marley family to expand their brand, and its message, outside of traditional music venues.”
Today we have the first release from Jim James of My Morning Jacket. His remix of “Waiting in Vain” gives the original track a new and fresh groove. James says, "I wanted to give the listener a sense of the same awe I felt when I first pulled up the multi-track masters and soloed out the vocals only… It was so unbelievable for me to finally be able to hear the voice I had loved for so long all by itself. So I built the opening around the vocal with minimal bass synth and percussion as well as adding some harmonies in myself." Going on he says, "I also added in some elements from the original take that people didn’t get to hear on the final mix: little vocal asides here and there, and the funny ending riffs that a few of the guys played as they all stopped one by one… I wanted the song to build and groove in a different way so I re-recorded new drums as well as other sound effects."
You can pre-order the album over on Amazon and in the meantime check out the latest release.
[soundcloud url="https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/95454821" params="" width=" 100%" height="166" iframe="true" /]
