Night Beat Post 169 - Bob Marley Part IV: A Force to Contend With

THE WAILERS’ CATCH A FIRE WAS A LANDMARK: It was the first wholly formed, cohesive reggae album, and it immediately cast Marley into the artistic big leagues for many critics. The record, however, sold marginally. Though Blackwell had added some rock & roll-style flourishes to the album (lead guitar and soulful keyboards), reggae’s off-kilter pulse and Marley’s heavily accented vocals were still too foreign to be palatable to either a rock or Black music audience. It wasn’t until Eric Clapton’s massive 1975 hit version of “I Shot the Sheriff” that a larger audience would begin to notice and seek out Bob Marley and his music.

The rock world’s gradual acceptance of Marley, however, really did nothing to enable his artistry; by 1973 he was already a fully-formed, astonishing songwriter and bandleader in his own right. Even so, this new acceptance nicely coincided with the Wailers’ most satisfying recording period. Catch a Fire, 1973’s Burnin’ (the last album to feature original Wailers Pe…