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Although Bob Marley was already well loved in Jamaica when the Wailers cut Catch A Fire in the fall of 72, Island boss Chris Blackwell planned to use the album to launch Marley as an international superstar. To do that, Blackwell felt the record needed some sweetening, so extra guitar, bass, drums and clavinet parts were dubbed on by London session dudes. The Deluxe Edition reissue of Catch A Fire presents the previously unreleased original version of the album along with the now-familiar tweaked model on separate discs for comparative analysis. The less cluttered Wailers mix sounds crisper, with a tougher percussion presence, and the two solid tracks, All Day All Night and High Tide Or Low Tide, that Blackwell foolishly deemed extraneous give it the edge. Check the surviving Wailers at the Opera House Tuesday (April 24).
