Dancehall

Bob Marley’s “Catch A Fire” Celebrates 40 Years, Chris Blackwell Weighs In

This month marks 40 years since the release of Bob Marley and the Wailers classic album “Catch A Fire.”

“Catch A Fire” was released on April 13, 1973 and was the fifth studio album released by Bob Marley and the Wailers.

See also: 10 Bob Marley Songs That’s A Must Have On Your Playlist

The album peaked at number 171 on Billboard 200 Chart and 51 on Black Albums charts.

Bob Marley wrote 7 of the songs on the 9-track album and Peter Tosh wrote 2. The album sold 14,000 copies in its first week of release and went on to achieve critical acclaim.

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Rolling Stone ranked the album 126 on its list of 500 Greatest albums of all time.

The album’s producer, Chris Blackwell of Island Records, spoke with Rolling Stone about the album 40 years after.

“I think Catch a Fire is fantastic,” Blackwell said. “I think it’s really stood up well. When it was finished and coming out, I was really excited. I felt it would be a really important album. I thought very early that it would sell a million copies. But it took a good few years to sell a million. The first six or eight months, it was very disappointing because you have none of the things going for you like singles. They didn’t get radio play. And they weren’t really touring at first, either. So, the album was really based on the merits of its own content until it started to build a following.”

See also: The 55th Grammys Pays Tribute To Bob Marley [VIDEO]

Blackwell also shared his thoughts on the state of Jamaican music now compared to the days of Bob Marley and the Wailers.

“It’s changed a lot musically,” the music producer said. “It’s been through a process. It went from reggae in the Seventies to dance hall, and that became really huge. Then dubstep came, and that had some Jamaican elements to it. Now, there’s a whole new wave of artists, songwriters, actors, musicians. There’s a really creative new wave emerging in Jamaica right now.”

9 Comments

  1. How do you feel about the Reincarnated album?

  2. Bob Marley music is just timeless. Long live the king.

  3. the message bob gave the world, I wonder how many listen.this was a good man.

    the message bob gave the world, I wonder how many listen. he was a good man.

  4. JAMAICAN REGGAE SINGERS GO ON TOUR IN AFRICAN. HOW MAN AMERICAN FAMOUS SINGER GO ON TOUR IN AFRICA? NOT MUCH IT APPEARS BECAUSE THE USA SINGER NOT MAKING MILLIONS OF DOLLARS IN AFRICA. MAY THE CREATOR BLESS THE FREE CHOICE AND WEALTH THAT THE CREATOR GAVE HUMAN TO SUPPORT THE EARTH. ALSO PART OF THE EARTH IS VERY POOR, CHILDREN DYING FOR FOOD, MEDICINE, WATER, ONLY THE OXYGEN IS FREE TO BREATHE, AND PART EARTH RICH DUE TO BABYLON. BLESSING

  5. GOD BLESS THE RASTA THAT FIGHTING FOR THE RESPECT OF CREATOR CREATION.PURPOSE AND FUNCTION. BLESSING THE CREATOR WILL TAKE BACK THE SOUL AND FREE CHOICE. THE WORMS WILL EAT SATAN FLESH. THREE TICKETS MOTHER WOMB-EART- DEATH. GOD BLESS REGGAE. PEACE, LOVE, POSITIVE ENGERY FOR THE PEOPLE. HAVE A NICE DAY.

  6. REGGAE IS FOR THE PEOPLE OF THE WORLD. REGGAE LET THE WORLD KNOW WHAT WAS GOING ON IN AFRICA AND AROUND THE WORLD., SLAVERY. HOW AFTER THE CREATOR FREE THE BLACK PEOPLE IN SOUTH AFRICA. THE SOUTH AFRICAN BIG BOSS LEGALIZE MAN TO MAN TO GET MARRIED, CHANGING THE CREATION OF GOD. EVERY CREATION HAS PURPOSE AND FUNCTION. SPERM MADE TO ATTACH TO OUR MOTHER EGG IN THE WOMB TO BRING SOUL IN THE EARTH. ANUS AND RECTUM MADE TO REMOVE GAS AND WASTE MATTER FOR WE CAN EAT MORE AND ENJOY OUR FOOD. AFTER SLAVERY LOOK WHAT BABYLON DOING TRYING TO CHANGE GOD CREATION AND WEAKEN THE BLACK NATION IN POOR PART OF THE EARTH. TO HAVE DESIRE FOR SATAN FLESH AND GO AGAINST GOD CREATION. THE CREATOR RUN THE WORLD ON TIME. BLESSING

  7. chris blackwell was pushing reggae in the usa, then motown in usa took chris blackwell TO WORK FOR MOTOWN IN THE USA. IT APPEAR. then reggae went to the bottom and hip hop to the top. JAMAICAN MUST UNDERSTAND WHAT BABYLON DID TO REGGAE. MUST JAMAICAN MUST FORGIVE BUT NEVER FORGET.

  8. chris blackwell was pushing reggae in the usa, then motown in usa took chris blackwell TO WORK FOR MOTOWN IN THE USA. IT APPEAR. then reggae went to the bottom and hip hop to the top. JAMAICAN MUST UNDERSTAND WHAT BABYLON DID TO REGGAE. MUST JAMAICAN MUST FORGIVE BUT NEVER FORGET.

  9. chris blackwell was pushing reggae in the usa, then motown in usa took chris blackwell TO WORK FOR MOTOWN IN THE USA. IT APPEAR. then reggae went to the bottom and hip hop to the top. JAMAICAN MUST UNDERSTAND WHAT BABYLON DID TO REGGAE. MUST JAMAICAN MUST FORGIVE BUT NEVER FORGET.