Catch A Fire (50th Anniversary)
ISLAND
9/10
THE staff at Island Records thought their boss had gone troppo. The label’s founder, Chris Blackwell, had just given an audience to the Wailers, a famed Jamaican vocal trio, albeit one with a reputation as troublemakers, who had shown up at Island’s Notting Hill HQ with a demand for royalties. Island had licensed several of the group’s singles in the past, though as Blackwell pointed out, he had already sent their producer, Coxsone Dodd, hefty sums that had simply not been passed on.
Bob Marley, Bunny Wailer and Peter Tosh were in a fix, stranded penniless in London after an ill-judged, the film destined to make Cliff a star, was endlessly delayed in JA ‘soon come’ mode. Now here were the Wailers, especially lead singer and songwriter, the charismatic Bob Marley, who might just do the job. He handed the group L4,000 to make an album back home – a low-risk bet, but one many thought he would lose.
