Legend (Amaray Case) (DVD), Island, Music & Performance

The 2003 DVD reissue of the 1991 Legend VHS home video more than doubles the length of that 52-minute collection by adding the 85-minute 1992 Bob Marley documentary Time Will Tell. The original Legend video was a compilation of clips meant to complement the 1984 Marley best-of LP of the same name, which did much to increase his posthumous renown. Actually, that set was not the best possible Marley compilation, since it basically presented the reggae king's U.K. singles hits of 1975-1984, thus under-representing his early Island recordings, especially with the original Wailers. This is also true of the video compilation, drawn from music videos made to promote those singles, though there is one appearance of the original Wailers doing "Stir It Up" on British TV in 1973. Still, there are some remarkable performances, many of them drawn from a 1977 show at London's Rainbow Theatre. Time Will Tell is a music-heavy film that lets Marley tell his story in his own words. (The heavy Jamaican patois he employs can be understood by choosing the English subtitles. There are also subtitles in Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese.) That story is told in only its broadest outlines, so that anyone unfamiliar with his life will be only slightly enlightened by the end. But there are a dozen and a half musical performances included, and many are impressive. The DVD allows the viewer to excerpt ten of them to be played separate from the film. Logging onto the Internet makes it possible to access an additional clip, a nine-minute performance of "Crazy Bald Heads" from the Rainbow show. The overall result is a big chunk of Marley music with visuals that will please his aficionados and perhaps even win him more fans. ~ William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide