Today April 13, 2023 marks 50 years since the release of “Catch A Fire,” the first Island Records album by the Wailers Trio, Bob Marley & The Wailers. Since 1991, the album has sold 584K units in the U.S. according to data provided to WMV by Luminate.
The album which features Marley classics such as Concrete Jungle, Stir It Up and Kinky Reggae is now eligible for Gold certification by the Recording Industry Association (RIAA).The album which was made with a £4,000 investment by Chris Blackwell re-entered at No. 6 on last week’s U.S. Billboard Reggae Chart 50 years after its release after peaking at No. 171 on the Billboard 200 and No. 51 on Billboard’s Black Albums Chart.
Blackwell, who claimed he believed in the image of the trio Bob Bunny and Peter from the start said Catch a Fire didn’t resonate widely in the major music markets like the U.S. in its first year of release.
The music business impresario took great care to overdub the songs at his U.K. Island Studios to give them a “rock feel” and It initually sold 14000 copies at the time and about 6000 units in the first week of its global release. A small profit considering he had sold 7 million units of Millie Small’s “My Boy Lollipop.”
In his memoir “The Islander: My Life In Music And Beyond,” Blackwell said he didn’t mark the low sales as a failure, instead he insisted that the label put the necessary support behind the album. Now, Catch A Fire is one piece of the Bob Marley and The Wailers catalogue of albums that sells forever.
Most of the recording for the album was done in Kingston, Jamaica at Dynamic Sound studios, Harry J’s, and Randy’s (Now VP Records).
In an excerpt from the book, the 84 year old hotelier recalls his experience in making the band’s first Island records album saying he wanted to “take the music out of Jamaica without taking Jamaica out of it.”
“They were immediately something else, these three — strong characters. They did not walk in like losers, like they were defeated by being flat broke. To the contrary, they exuded power and self-possession. Bob especially had a certain something; he was small and slight but exceptionally good-looking and charismatic. Bunny and Pete had a cool, laid-back nonchalance,” the book stated.
Bob, Bunny Wailer and Peter Tosh were from the same neighborhood in Trench Town Kingston. The were closely tied by more than music. Bob Marley’s mother and Bunny Wailer’s father had a relationship. Their fate in Chris Blackwell’s story came at a time when Blackwell himself needed another Jamaica star to replace Jimmy Cliff who had just exited relations with Island records.
Chris Blackwell, The Islander
“As I took the measure of them, I thought, Fuck, this is the real thing. And their timing was good. Jimmy Cliff had just walked out on me a week earlier. Maybe it was kismet, I thought — just when Jimmy stormed out, Bob, Pete, and Bunny strolled in,” he said.
Blackwell’s belief in the group came with contrary remarks because like most Jamaicans even to this day, they wanted their music to be played on the black America radio stations. However Blackwell, who had a keen understanding of rock music said, ‘get them on the rock music scene.’
