Jon Dennis 

Ziggy Marley: Fly Rasta review – watery pop-reggae

Bob Marley's son's attempts to prove himself a worthy successor are more in Julian Lennon league, writes Jon Dennis
  
  


Bob Marley is justly celebrated for bringing Jamaican music to a worldwide audience, and son Ziggy has done his best to keep his dad's flame alive, garnering Grammy awards along the way. It begins – over-optimistically, as it turns out – with the sound of a countdown to take-off. Opening track I Don't Wanna Live On Mars sets Fly Rasta's grisly tone – watery pop-reggae with a One Love, save-the-planet message. "Holding up the fire," sings Marley Jr on Lighthouse, his ersatz Wailers echoing the line. The only risk Marley takes is on You're My Yoko, where he attempts to woo a lucky lady by likening her to the avant-garde artist, while casting himself as John Lennon (Dakota Lennon, rock royalty domesticated into creative torpor). Julian Lennon would have been nearer the mark.

 

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