I read lots of memoirs by musical artists and music business movers and shakers. Many are pretty good, some not so; then there’s a number that are quite good, and a select few that are excellent, informative, fascinating and insightful. Count “The Islander: My Life in Music and Beyond” by Chris Blackwell with Paul Morley as one of those sparkling gems atop the pile.
Blackwell’s major score in the popular music game is signing global superstars U2 to his Island Records, though he admits to being unimpressed with the band at the beginning. But unlike most record company heads, he ran Island in an egalitarian fashion, and heeded his staff’s desire to sign up the band. His initial reluctance about the band’s potential proved him happily wrong as they went on to sell an estimated 150 million-plus albums worldwide.
More music maven than mogul, he was pivotal in bringing reggae music from his native Jamaica to the world in the early 1970s by producing and releasing the album “Catch a Fire” by Bob Marley and the Wailers on Island, assisting in the production of the film “The Harder They Come” and also putting out its soundtrack album. His recollections of Marley, and working with him, as well as Marley’s sadly untimely death at age 36, add fascinating details to the legend of the man whose music made him a global icon of not just music, but politics and, yes, a popularizer of smoking marijuana. Island followed its promotion of Marley to become the preeminent reggae label with such influential acts as Black Uhuru, Burning Spear, Steel Pulse, Sly & Robbie, Third World, Lee "Scratch" Perry and others.
Blackwell’s memories of growing up in Jamaica are peopled by such famed personalities, island residents and family friends as Errol Flynn, James Bond author Ian Fleming – both of whom were smitten with his mother – and Noel Coward. His youthful exploits include working on the debut James Bond film “Dr. No” as a location scout and production assistant, and getting swept by the sea, while boating to a remote wild stretch of coast and being rescued by a friendly Rastafarian – the dreadlocked, herb-smoking adherents of the religion that was latter a unifying thread of the music made by Marley and other reggae stars. Rastas were initially feared by the white Jamaican establishment. Blackwell’s encounter positively informed his later creative and business dealings with Rasta musicians.
His stature as the White Jamaican bridge into Black Jamaican musical culture began when he became a jukebox entrepreneur who installed his jukes into stores and such in the small villages throughout the island’s highlands, as radios were scarce there. Hence, he learned where the rubber meets the road – or maybe better said, vinyl meets the phonographic needle (or vice versa) – in the business of music, learning what was popular with the people. (I had similar epiphanies when I programmed the jukebox at the pub-style bar and eatery owned by my friends.)
His credits, including the band Traffic, Cat Stevens (now Yusuf Islam) and Jamaican singer/model actress Grace Jones, are just a few of the acts he nurtured, and Blackwell’s memories of working with them and many others are intriguing and colorful. His honesty and lack of the usual music biz honcho inflated ego make “The Islander” a read that is as warm and inviting as the waters of the Caribbean lapping up onto a Jamaican beach. Of special interest to me was his role in cultivating such splendid British folk innovators as Richard and Linda Thompson, Nick Drake and John Martyn (via a production deal with fellow music maven Joe Boyd).
Blackwell’s love of his Jamaican home permeates the book, and Blackwell has channeled that into a thriving luxury hospitality business on the island that includes (available for rental) Fleming’s charming seaside home where the Bond author wrote his 007 books. He also brought music to other Caribbean islands when he opened the Compass Point recording studio in the Bahamas and put together a crew of resident players in the tradition of Stax/Volt in Memphis and the studios in Muscle Shoals, Ala.
Blackwell’s life is one both well and justly lived, rich with interesting tales of fascinating personalities. His modesty and egalitarianism are rare charms among successful music businessmen that help make reading “The Islander” so satisfying. In an industry so tainted by crass commercialism and self-serving cynicism, Chris Blackwell is a rare gem whose story can not just entertain but enlighten.
Book: “Why Patti Smith Matters” by Caryn Rose – Those of us who witnessed Smith’s rise from the mid-’70s New York City punk/new wave scene know well why she matters. Author Rose came to the shamanistic musical artist and National Book Award winner somewhat later, yet her answer to the stated thesis from both personal and critical perspectives hits all the right notes.
TV Series: “Only Murders in the Building” – Deliciously funny and engaging, this mystery that swirls around the death of a tenant in an old-school Manhattan Upper West Side apartment building, and a podcast to solve the whodunit features smart, adept and rich character performances by veteran actors Steve Martin, Martin Short and Amy Ryan while young actress singer Selena Gomez matches them in such qualities while providing a multigenerational counterpoint.
Rob Patterson is a music and entertainment writer in Austin, Texas. Email robpatterson054@gmail.com.
From The Progressive Populist, November 1, 2022
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