Bob Marley & the Wailers: Catch a Fire [BACK TO BLACK/ISLAND/TUFF GONG]

Why you'll love it

This Back to Black edition is remastered on 180g vinyl, pressed in the Netherlands and comes with a download voucher. Catch a Fire was the record that carried the Wailers from Kingston to the world, and it sits on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.

This edition

• Remastered
• 180g vinyl
• Pressed in the Netherlands
• Download card included

About the album

In 1972 the Wailers were stuck in London after a tour with Johnny Nash, so their road manager knocked on Chris Blackwell's door at Island. Blackwell advanced them the money for an album, they flew home to Jamaica to record it, and Marley came back with the tapes. Island's first Wailers album was built from those sessions.

Blackwell polished the tracks at Island Studios in London, adding guitar from Muscle Shoals player Wayne Perkins, and the result mixes Kingston grooves with a rock-friendly sheen. "Concrete Jungle" is a stone-cold classic, "Stir It Up" floats on that famous lilt, and Peter Tosh brings "400 Years" and "Stop That Train." Bunny Wailer's harmonies bind it all together.

The first pressing came in a sleeve shaped like a Zippo lighter that actually flipped open. This one has a regular sleeve, which is kinder to the shelf.

Also at Kops: more Bob Marley & the Wailers on vinyl · browse Reggae & Caribbean

Tracklist

Listen

On Island / Tuff Gong, a reissue of the 1973 album.