Catch A Fire - Bob Marley & The Wailers (1973)

Ideated from: an excerpt from the autobiography of Island Records founder Chris Blackwell, which is a little hagiographic and self-congratulatory, but then again what do you expect? He is a record executive

The article I mentioned has a bit of a white savior narrative to it that could easily bug you. “How I made Bob Marley a star by making him sound whiter.” But there’s probably something to that underneath the cringe. The Wailers were very good in a very small scene that nobody was very interested in, and they needed to mix up their approach to create something the wider world wanted to listen to.

What they built was unmistakably reggae, powerful and serious, but also fun and danceable and optimistic.

I don’t think I’d heard Baby We’ve Got A Date until this listen, and it strikes me that it’s basically I Fought The Law with a skank rhythm. That’s kind of the brilliance of the whole thing: signature Marley and the Wailers sound, but filtered through instantly recognizable pop structures.

Tracks I Liked

Concrete Jungle - a great opener

Stir It Up - one of my favorite Marley songs

Slave Driver - a good example of something that’s nasty and angry while still being upbeat