Blog
Catch a Fire and the Country Man…
Written by Jimmy
As I always do, watched a video of ‘Classic Albums’, this time on Catch a Fire, by the Wailers (read Bob Marley and Peter Tosh). This was meant to be and was their breakout album in the US and UK and is rated 123 on Roling Stones Top 500 Greatest Albums and considered by many to be the best reggae album of all time (I take Babylon by Bus, but that’s a greatest hits album). What I didn’t know (heck I was 11), was that in order to ‘breakthrough’ the producers worked hard to make it somewhat mainstream, trying to add instruments the pop-oriented boys and girls would like…
The two stand out examples for me:
Concrete Jungle:
First listen to how great the tune is….
Second, listen again to the beginning, – the guitar you hear is Wayne Perkins from Alabama. And the clavicle on the song is John ‘Rabbit’ Bundrick, from Texas (and played with Johnny Nash on I Can See Clearly Now).
Baby, We Have Got a Date:
First, listen to the original…(you can hear where Buffalo Soldier will come from…)
Finally, listen to Wayne Perkins describing his involvement in both songs….:
Now there are two things fascinating about this. First, is that anyone thought the Wailers needed to add anything to their music to find an audience. Second, that it ended up being guys from Texas and Alabama. In the interviews, they are equally amazed.
And finally, here’s a nice little cover of Concrete Jungle:
