Catch A Fire is the fifth studio album by Bob Marley and the Wailers and the first to be released by Island Records UK. The original limited release under the name ‘The Wailers’ depicted a Zippo lighter in a sleeve designed by graphic artists Rod Dyer and Bob Weiner. Future releases would have the classic portrait of Marley smoking a spliff and crediting the band as Bob Marley and the Wailers with the image taken by Esther Anderson. A tour taking place in the UK and US generated international interest in the band.
Critical acclaim has included the album being listed at number 126 on Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. It is regarded as one of the top reggae albums of all time.
The Wailers sought out freelance promoter Brent Clarke to see if he could help the band catch a fire while still in London. Clarke introduced the band to Island Records chief Chris Blackwell who agreed to front the band a meager sum to go back to Jamaica and record an album. After Clarke took his cut, the group boarded a plane to Jamaica with just £8,000 to record a full-length studio album. Sessions for the album started in early 1972, with recording taking place at three studios in Kingston, all members recording inside one room: Dynamic Sound, Harry J’s and Randy’s. Engineer Sylvan Morris recorded the sessions on an eight-track tape, which has the drum mixes on one track and piano and guitar together. In the winter of 1972, Marley flew back to London to present the master tapes. Blackwell, along with Marley and engineers Stu Barrett and Tony Platt, entered Island’s Basing Street Studios to do overdubs for the album.
LP1/CD1 features the full final studio recording, LP2/ CD2 is the 10-song live album, “Live From The Paris Theatre London”, while LP3/CD3, entitled Sessions, features alternative, extended and instrumental Jamaican versions of the original album tracks. The additional 12”, available with the vinyl offering, and also included on CD3, features 3 classic tracks, “Slave Driver,” “Get Up, Stand Up” and “Stop That Train,” recorded live at the Wailer’s legendary performance at the Sundown Theatre in the village of Edmonton, North London. These historic recordings have only previously been available as a bootleg. The reverse side of the 12” has an etched image of the iconic Zippo lighter illustration.