# Exodus (Bob Marley and the Wailers album)
**Exodus** is the ninth studio album by [Bob Marley](https://www.edgepedia.org/bob-marley) and the Wailers, released by [Island Records](https://www.edgepedia.org/island-records) on 3 June 1977.[1](https://los40.com/2025/06/03/exodus-la-obra-maestra-que-ayudo-a-bob-marley-a-salir-de-la-depresion-tras-el-intento-de-asesinato/) Recorded in London after the December 1976 assassination attempt on Marley in Jamaica, it contains some of his most widely known songs, including "Jamming," "Three Little Birds," "One Love/People Get Ready," and the title track, and in 1999 *TIME* magazine named it the best album of the 20th century.[2](https://time.com/6695054/bob-marley-one-love-true-story/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Released | 3 June 1977, Island Records[3](https://www.whereitwas.com/worlds/bob-marley-exodus) |
| Recorded | Early 1977, principally at Island's Basing Street Studios, Notting Hill, London[3](https://www.whereitwas.com/worlds/bob-marley-exodus) • [4](https://www.albumclassics.com/stories/bob-marley-exodus-exile) |
| Tracklist (10 songs) | Natural Mystic; So Much Things To Say; Guiltiness; The Heathen; Exodus; Jamming; Waiting In Vain; Turn Your Lights Down Low; Three Little Birds; One Love/People Get Ready[5](https://www.bobmarley.com/release/exodus-40-the-movement-continues-2017/) |
| UK chart run | On the UK charts for 56 consecutive weeks, according to Bob Marley's official history; *Music Week* reported 57 straight weeks[6](https://www.bobmarley.com/history/) • [7](https://www.worldradiohistory.com/UK/Music-Week/1978/Music-Week-1978-12-09.pdf) |
| Hit singles | "Exodus," "Waiting In Vain," and "Jamming" were major hit singles; "Jamming" was a British top 10 hit[7](https://www.worldradiohistory.com/UK/Music-Week/1978/Music-Week-1978-12-09.pdf) • [6](https://www.bobmarley.com/history/) |
| Honor | *TIME* named it Best Album of the Century in 1999[2](https://time.com/6695054/bob-marley-one-love-true-story/) • [6](https://www.bobmarley.com/history/) |
| Rolling Stone ranking | #169 on the 2003 *Rolling Stone* 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list[8](https://www.acclaimedmusic.net/061024/A407.htm) |
## Background: the assassination attempt and exile
Jamaica in the mid-1970s was marked by violent rivalry between the two main parties, the [People's National Party](https://www.edgepedia.org/peoples-national-party) under prime minister [Michael Manley](https://www.edgepedia.org/michael-manley) and the [Jamaica Labour Party](https://www.edgepedia.org/jamaica-labour-party) under Edward Seaga, with affiliated gangs killing each other in triple-digit numbers in the years before the album was recorded.[2](https://time.com/6695054/bob-marley-one-love-true-story/) • [9](https://music.apple.com/us/album/exodus-deluxe-edition/1629115571) Marley, whose free concert was perceived as a political statement, had scheduled the Smile Jamaica Concert shortly before the December 1976 elections.[10](https://www.randomhouse.com/crown/index_images/pdf/summer06/TRPSu06Catalog.pdf) • [9](https://music.apple.com/us/album/exodus-deluxe-edition/1629115571)
**The shooting.** Two days before that concert, Marley was shot during a home invasion at his home; he played the show anyway.[9](https://music.apple.com/us/album/exodus-deluxe-edition/1629115571) He then left Jamaica, and after a short stay in the Bahamas flew to London, where he would live for the next 14 months; *TIME* describes the exile as lasting 18 months.[6](https://www.bobmarley.com/history/) • [2](https://time.com/6695054/bob-marley-one-love-true-story/) The family base during this London period was 42 Oakley Street in Chelsea, which [English Heritage](https://www.edgepedia.org/english-heritage) marks with a blue plaque as the temporary residence where Marley and the Wailers lived while finishing songs for the album.[3](https://www.whereitwas.com/worlds/bob-marley-exodus)
## Recording in London
Marley and the Wailers regrouped in London in February 1977 and recorded the album mostly at Island's Basing Street Studios in west London's Notting Hill.[4](https://www.albumclassics.com/stories/bob-marley-exodus-exile) MusicBrainz dates the sessions from January to April 1977.[11](https://musicbrainz.org/release/3a0651e3-f26c-3e5e-8a59-2beb15ecb6f3) It was during this London time that lead guitarist Junior Marvin, who had worked with [Stevie Wonder](https://www.edgepedia.org/stevie-wonder), joined the band.[6](https://www.bobmarley.com/history/) The I-Threes, the vocal trio of [Rita Marley](https://www.edgepedia.org/rita-marley), Marcia Griffiths, and Judy Mowatt, provided backing harmonies.[11](https://musicbrainz.org/release/3a0651e3-f26c-3e5e-8a59-2beb15ecb6f3)
The sessions were productive beyond the album itself: while working on *Exodus*, Marley and the Wailers also recorded songs that appeared on the follow-up album *Kaya* (1978).[12](https://www.nonviolence.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/2.6.pdf) The official history notes that most of *Kaya* was recorded in the same London period, with some work finished in Miami.[6](https://www.bobmarley.com/history/)
## Songs and character
The album's ten songs mix the socio-political, the spiritual, and the emotional.[13](https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/doublej-classic-albums/bob-marley-and-the-wailers-exodus/10274024) It opens with the warning of "Natural Mystic" ("Many more will have to suffer/Many more will have to die"), builds through the tense "Guiltiness" and "The Heathen," and reaches the slow-building title track, a call for change, "the movement of JAH people," blending reggae, rock, and soul-funk.[9](https://music.apple.com/us/album/exodus-deluxe-edition/1629115571) • [6](https://www.bobmarley.com/history/)
The second half turns inward and warmer. "Waiting in Vain" and "Turn Your Lights Down Low" are tenderly romantic, while "Three Little Birds" and "One Love/People Get Ready" became defining songs of Marley's catalog.[9](https://music.apple.com/us/album/exodus-deluxe-edition/1629115571) Apple Music's editorial notes describe the record as the tension between hope and worry, victory through détente, private peace set against public rancor.[9](https://music.apple.com/us/album/exodus-deluxe-edition/1629115571)
## Commercial performance and the One Love Peace Concert
**A breakthrough in Britain.** The album stayed on the UK charts for 56 consecutive weeks according to Bob Marley's official history, bringing the band a level of commercial success that had previously eluded it; the trade paper *Music Week* reported the run as 57 straight weeks.[6](https://www.bobmarley.com/history/) • [7](https://www.worldradiohistory.com/UK/Music-Week/1978/Music-Week-1978-12-09.pdf) Three of its tracks, "Exodus," "Waiting In Vain," and "Jamming," were also major hit singles, and "Jamming" reached the British top 10.[7](https://www.worldradiohistory.com/UK/Music-Week/1978/Music-Week-1978-12-09.pdf) • [6](https://www.bobmarley.com/history/)
Marley returned to Jamaica for the One Love Peace Concert on April 22, 1978, where, during "Jamming," he brought the rival leaders Michael Manley and [Edward Seaga](https://www.edgepedia.org/edward-seaga) on stage to join hands, a moment described as almost a temporary ceasefire in the political violence of the time.[13](https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/doublej-classic-albums/bob-marley-and-the-wailers-exodus/10274024) • [2](https://time.com/6695054/bob-marley-one-love-true-story/) To promote the album the band also played a four-night engagement at London's Rainbow Theatre beginning June 3, 1977.[14](https://magazine.waxpoetics.com/connections/the-island/article/junior-marvin-joins-bob-marley-and-the-wailers-and-exodus/)
## Critical standing and reissues