Music Moments

One Record with Chris Blackwell, Founder of Island Records

Light bounces off the walls of the bright Wrensilva Listening Studio in West Hollywood, and sparkles through glasses of golden Blackwell Rum punch. With rum punches in hand, friends and fans of Wrensilva admire the eclectic record collection lining the showroom.

A rare, first pressing of The Wailers’ ‘Catch A Fire,’ with its sleeve crafted in the form of a hinged ‘Zippo’ lighter.

But Marley was eager and persevering. On Marley’s disposition, Blackwell reminisced, “He wasn’t difficult at all, he was quite the opposite—he was always the first person sitting on the bus with the band.” To get over the hurdles of popular radio listenership, their collaboration would require an angle from which they could familiarize the sounds of reggae music.When asked about his intention to bring reggae to the ears of a rock audience with The Wailers, Blackwell reflected, “Bob was somebody whose lyrics and what he sang about had a lot of meaning, and I thought that that could touch people.” To further catch listeners’ attention, Marley and Blackwell amplified the use of guitar to pepper the album’s production, givingCatch a Firethe extra edge needed for its delivery to mainstream rock listeners.

“He [Marley] wasn’t difficult at all, he was quite the opposite—he was always the first person sitting on the bus with the band.”

Chris Blackwell stands before a curated record collection at the Wrensilva Listening Studio.

As the needle hits the wax, a rootsy, sultry guitar emerges through the faint crackle of the early pressing. Opening the album is “Concrete Jungle,” a track written by Marley after moving to the United States from Jamaica. The laidback coos of Marley and The Wailers sail out of the M1’s 2-way bass reflex speakers, enveloping the room in the track’s warmth like steam floating off hot pavement in a summertime city. Once the guitar solo resurfaces, it soars through the listening space with lucidity. From under the needle, it is crystal clear why the sounds ofCatch a Fireremain classic throughout the reggae rock canon and beyond.

The library includes U2’sThe Joshua Tree, Jimmy Cliff’sThe Harder They Come, Nick Drake’sPink Moon, Amy Winehouse’sBack to Black, Grace Jones’Nightclubbing, and Tom Waits’Rain Dogs, to name only a few. Although the shelves hold records of broadly differing flavors, the common ingredient tying them all together is their place in the production catalog of recording luminary, Chris Blackwell, founder ofIsland Records.

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