Bob Marley and the Wailers released their first major-label album in 1973, when Catch a Fire was distributed by Island Records. Marley would release every subsequent album in his career through the Island label.
Catch a Fire was recorded in Jamaica, after Marley received an advance from producer Chris Blackwell to help him and the band — flat broke — travel back home after a tour of Great Britain. Marley, Peter Tosh and Bunny Waller recorded seven new tunes penned by Marley, plus rerecorded two Tosh songs previously released on other albums (‘400 Years,’ ‘Stop That Train’).
The tapes were shipped to the U.S., where Blackwell enlisted Muscle Shoals musicians to record overdubs, including extensive use of electric guitar. The result is the most polished sounding Wailers album yet, and a seminal release in the history of reggae music.
Catch a Fire includes Marley staples ‘Concrete Jungle’ and ‘Stir It Up,’ which neatly epitomize the album’s thematic split between songs about social justice and make-out songs. Today’s track, the album’s first single, was one of the latter.
The sound and feel of this album will be instantly familiar to anybody who’s heard Bob Marley while lounging at the pool or beach. It’s the birth of not just Marley’s signature sound but reggae as a commercial player on the international stage. In that sense, it’s both a fun listen and an important one.
But it also suffers a bit in comparison to some of its less-polished predecessors, sacrificing authenticity for gloss.
Oh, baby, baby don’t you be late! Oh, baby!
I’ll meet you at your house at a quarter to eight
Oh, darlin’, baby, baby, just you have some faith!
I promise you we’re gonna
Rock it baby, rock it baby, tonight
Rock it baby, rock it baby, tonight
Gonna rock it baby, rock it baby, tonight
Baby rock it baby, rock it baby, tonight!
Oh, we walk through the pale moonlight
With our love that is right
Oh, my, my, my yeah!
Oh, so happy we will be
Sharing the love that is free!
Got to get together, babe, tonight
Say we got to get together baby, tonight
Say we got to get together baby, tonight
Got to get together, babe, tonight!
Baby, we’ve got a date
Baby, baby, don’t you be late!
I’ll meet you at your house at a quarter to eight
Oh, baby!
Baby, baby, just you have some faith! Wo, now!
Say we gonna
Rock it baby, rock it baby, tonight
Say we rock it baby, rock it baby, tonight
We gonna rock it baby, rock it baby, tonight
Say we got to get together babe, tonight!
We got to get together, babe, tonight
We gonna rock it baby, rock it baby, tonight
Say we rock it baby, rock it baby, tonight
Say we got to get together babe, tonight!
Say we got to get together, babe, tonight
Say we got to get together babe, tonight, Are you sure…?
Say we got to get together, babe, tonight!
Rock it baby, rock it baby, tonight
Rock it baby, rock it baby, tonight
Gonna rock it baby, rock it baby, tonight
Rock it baby, rock it baby, tonight
Got to get together, babe, tonight
Got to get together, babe, tonight
Say we got to get together, babe, tonight
Got to get together babe, tonight!
Meet Me In Montauk 
Now THIS is the Marley sound with which I am familiar.
Me too!