They were like artists commissioned to create a mural who begin to realize their magnificent work has been painted on a stage prop for a fly-by-night carnival.
“Rass-clat,” he said next to me. Tosh’s long legs and plaid pants looked ridiculous sprouting out of a beanbag. I’m sure I looked equally far-fetched. I sported an impressive collection of narrow-shouldered suits with bellbottom pants. Some were seersucker.
When the album finished, we moved back to the round table in the other room. I let the album play again, in the background at a lower volume. I had a small antique toy, a four-inch figure of a man made of stamped tin with four propeller blades dangling from his bowler hat, that I kept on the table. A friend gave it to me. I think the friend thought it suited me. When you spun the rod that emerged from his bowler hat, the propellers rose to horizontal and rotated furiously, shaking the little man’s body. The toy was too heavy to fly. No matter how fast the rod spun, he never left the tabletop. His optimism, however, was irresistible. He was like a three-legged dog, getting nowhere fast, but trembling at the chance.
Tosh took off his dark glasses in the dimly lit room, but as far as I could detect, there was little eye contact anywhere among us. When Side One ended, I turned the record over and we listened to Side Two. No words were spoken. The light danced around the 7-Up bottle.
WHAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN THE NEXT STEP, A TOUR TO SUPPORT A MAJOR
ALBUM RELEASE, BARELY
The situation was altogether inadequate. The Wailers had performed together for a decade. Marley and Tosh were stars in Jamaica, intending to make a similar impact in America. And here they were, sitting in beanbags in a miniature office that wasn’t even a proper record company office. DK and I were the closest thing Island Records had to a New York office, but we were responsible for Ackee Music, Inc., a music publishing company that administered US rights for Island Music’s songwriters. We didn’t have publishing rights to the Wailer’s songs. Bob had signed those rights elsewhere.
HAPPENED AT ALL.
XXXXXX Despite Capitol’s ambivalence, Catch A Fire was released to considerable fanfare. The first pressing was shipped in sleeves that replicated a Zippo lighter. When the lid was lifted on its grommet hinge, a cutout flame emerged in front of the album. Capitol Records declined to press the records using red vinyl, but the jacket looked great anyway.
On top of that, Island Records in the US was distributed by Capitol Records, and that arrangement was not in good shape. Chris had signed the deal when Artie Mogull ran Capitol, but Artie had been replaced and the new administration displayed the typical ambivalence toward projects whose success would reflect well on their predecessor.
What should have been the next step, a tour to support a major album release, barely happened at all. No agency was willing to book the Wailers. Their conspicuous affinity for marijuana could have been a problem. Of course, every other band touring America at the time participated in that habit, but other bands didn’t elevate
In their place, I think I would have felt an ache of betrayal. Perhaps several betrayals.
119
BUCKMAN JOURNAL
