BBC News | MUSIC | Early Marley music reissued

Original versions of albums by reggae star Bob Marley are being released on CD for the first time to attract a younger audience to his early work.

A new two-CD set of Catch A Fire, recorded in 1971, was released in the US and Europe on Monday and will be followed by 11 more over the next 18 months.

One CD of the Catch A Fire set features the album as Marley and his band originally recorded it, which has never been released on CD.

The other is the album as it was later released, with changes made by Island Records boss Chris Blackwell.

Reggae singer Bob Marley
12 albums will be reissued in the next 18 months
Marley died in 1981 and, with his band The Wailers, took Jamaican reggae music to a worldwide audience.

Maxine Stowe, head of Tuff Gong International, the company Marley started more than 30 years ago, said the reissues are intended to make Marley's music appeal to youngsters.

Compilations of his early work have been released over the years - but this is the first time the original versions of the albums will be available on CD.

Catch A Fire features songs including Stir It Up, and has been credited with introducing the world to reggae.

Marley died at the age of 36 from a melanoma that spread to his lungs and his brain.

He signed to Island Records in the early 1970s after dominating Jamaican charts for more than a decade.


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