![]() ![]() ![]() As the film tells Martin's story, he is a young man without funds. In 1972, Cliff starred as Ivanhoe "Ivan" Martin in the classic reggae film, The Harder They Come, directed by Perry Henzell. The Harder They Come (1972) and subsequent career Bob Dylan called "Vietnam" the best protest song he had ever heard. Also during this period, Cliff released a cover of Cat Stevens' " Wild World" as a single, but it was not included on his Wonderful World, Beautiful People album. "Waterfall" was followed in 1969 by "Wonderful World, Beautiful People" and "Vietnam" in 1970, both popular throughout most of the world. It received excellent reviews and included "Waterfall" (composed by Nirvana's Alex Spyropoulos and Patrick Campbell-Lyons), which became a hit in Brazil and won the International Song Festival. In 1964, Cliff was chosen as one of Jamaica's representatives at the World's Fair and he soon signed to Island Records and moved to the UK. Island Records initially (and unsuccessfully) tried to sell Cliff to the rock audience, but his career took off in the late 1960s. His international debut album was Hard Road to Travel. "One night I was walking past a record store and restaurant as they were closing, pushed myself in and convinced one of them, Leslie Kong, to go into the recording business, starting with me," he writes in his own website biography. After two singles that failed to make much impression, his career took off when his "Hurricane Hattie" became a hit, while he was aged 14. It was produced by Kong, with whom Cliff remained until Kong's death from a heart attack in 1971.Ĭliff's later local hit singles included "King of Kings", "Dearest Beverley", "Miss Jamaica", and "Pride and Passion". In 1962 his father took him to Kingston to go to Kingston Technical school, where he ended up sharing his cousin's one rented room in East Kingston.Ĭliff sought out many producers while still going to school, trying to get his songs recorded without success. James, listening to a neighbour's sound system. James, Jamaica. He began writing songs while still at primary school in St. Jimmy Cliff was born in Somerton District, St. 2 The Harder They Come (1972) and subsequent career.The EP stands as a triumphant return for the reggae legend. While Sacred Fire is no substitute for a full length album, it does leave the listener’s mouth watering for next year’s Existence. The only original track on the five song EP is “Ship is Sailing.” The track is a fine reggae tune with Cliff’s vocals shining on the higher notes. The arrangement stands out with the guitar and drums accenting the off-beat while an organ keeps the melody with Cliff’s vocals. He sucks all the punk out of the original and instead turns it into a straight rocksteady track. The EP begins with Cliff’s unsurprisingly amazing cover of The Clash’ classic, “Guns of Brixton.” Cliff keeps the reggae feel of the original but adds in a horn section to help embellish the tune and make it his own.Ĭliff’s version of Rancid’s “Ruby Soho” takes even more liberty with the original tune. Cliff is known for his covers of artists like Cat Stevens and Johnny Nash but on Sacred Fire, he branches out even more covering The Clash and Rancid. ![]() Armstrong is known for mixing reggae, ska, and punk but it seems his main influence on the EP is the song selection. Questions like “what will Tim Armstrong influence be?” are answered. To preview the album he has released Sacred Fire EP.Īlthough it is only five songs, the EP gives the listener a good idea of what to expect from Existence. Next year, Cliff will release a full length album, Existence his first new album in 8 years and his first working with Rancid‘s Tim Armstrong. While Marley maybe the best known reggae artist internationally, Jimmy Cliff is the genre’s living ambassador and at age 63, he is still making music. There are plenty of legendary reggae artists in music history but only two have been inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame: Bob Marley and Jimmy Cliff.
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