On the heels of its 50th anniversary, Catch A Fire, the first release by Bob Marley & The Wailer‘s for Island Records re-enters at No. 6 on this weeks U.S. Billboard Reggae Chart. The genre defining project was recorded in Kingston, Jamaica at Dynamic Sound studios, Harry J’s, and Randy’s (Now VP Records) using a £4,000 investment by Chris Blackwell. Catch A Fire peaked at No. 171 on the Billboard 200 and No. 51 on Billboard’s now discontinued Black Albums Chart.
Blackwell said Catch a Fire didn’t resonate widely in the major music markets like the U.S. in its first year of release although he took great care to overdub the songs at his U.K. Island Studios to give them a “rock feel.” It sold 14000 copies at the time and about 6000 units in the first week of its global release.
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.
In an excerpt from the book, the 84 year old music impresario 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 has sold 7 million records with Millie Smalls’ “My Boy Lollipop earlier in the 60 had other plans for the group; ‘get them on the rock music scene.’
In addition to Bob, Catch A Fire, was recorded with vocals and musical continuations from all three members of the original Wailer band: Peter Tosh, Bunny Wailer, with Marcia Griffiths and Rita Marley on backing vocals,Aston and Carlton Barret were on Base and Drums respectivley. The classic Jamaican recording has spent and total of 24 nonconsecutive weeks on the Billboard Reggae albums chart.
