Newly unearthed footage of reggae legend Bob Marley is coming to The Coda Collection. The music-focused streaming service has announced that Bob Marley & The Wailers: The Capitol Session ‘73 will debut exclusively on their service — available via Amazon Video Channels — featuring a never-before-seen studio session recorded live at Capitol Studios in Hollywood. Available on September 3, Tuff Gong and Mercury Studios will also release a recording of the session on the same day, available digitally and on vinyl, CD, and DVD.
Originally mixed live and shot on four cameras, the secretive studio session featured in The Capitol Session came on the heels of The Wailers’ set of successful concerts in San Francisco in 1973, as well as their release of two acclaimed albums on Island Records, Catch a Fire and Burnin’. The performance features the classic Wailers lineup of Peter Tosh, Joe Higgs, Aston Barrett, Carlton Barrett, and Earl “Wya” Lindo, all produced by Denny Cordell — who produced their first U.S single — on October 24, 1973.
“What makes the 'Capitol Session '73' stand out is that Bob Marley and the Wailers can really relax,” says director Martin Disney. “They've got great sound. They've got the equipment that they know if anything goes wrong, it's fine. It's going to be fixed. They've got a really lovely, appreciative, little audience. All the ingredients for just a great afternoon doing what they loved. And it shows. I mean, it isn't like anything else."
The Capitol Session features twelve tracks, including tracks from Catch a Fire like “Slave Driver” and “No More Trouble”, and the iconic “Get Up Stand Up”. The session showcases The Wailers on the brink of global stardom, just before their rise to fame with iconic songs like “No Woman No Cry” and “Redemption Song”. The session predates Marley’s immature death from melanoma by less than ten years, making the newly rediscovered footage — unearthed in a twenty-year search of archives across the globe — practically priceless.
Bob Marley & The Wailers: The Capitol Session ‘73 is directed by Martin Disney, and produced by Denny Cordell’s son, Barney Cordell. The film will be available to stream on The Coda Collection via Amazon Video Channels on September 3, as well as on the service’s website. Eager fans can preorder a physical copy of the recording via Mercury Studios, and watch a cut of the session, featuring “Slave Driver”, on YouTube. Check out the film’s trailer below: