Catch a Fire: (Bob Marley) The Wailers

Welcome to Vinyl Club, where we pair two wines (Side A, B) with an influential record, taste, listen, and enjoy each other’s company at our neighborhood S&G. This month we celebrate #10, and we’re doing so with a nod to a familiar theme here in the club. How does regional music become an international phenomenon? What is the alchemy involved? We saw this in Buena Vista Social Club (Cuba) and Graceland (South Africa). Now we’re off to Jamaica, back in time to 1973 to meet the Wailers, a band that had been struggling for success and a breakthrough for a decade and found themselves broke and stuck in London. A chance meeting with a white Jamaican label owner leads them to a Faustian choice: He’ll change their sound and introduce them to an international rock audience, but the cost will be their friendship, their band, and more. This record is sexy, revolutionary, danceable, and full of love. It launched Bob Marley into the stratosphere, and it marked a crossroads for reggae in both sound and spirit. Come join this growing community of listeners. PS: If you don’t drink, let us know, and we’ll find a way to accommodate you ☺

See you at the bar for whatever takes your fancy at 7pm. We will begin pouring paired wines and toasting to the needle around 7.30pm.