My 50 Favorite Albums (continued)

There are a bunch of great reggae musicians, but there are only two who I can listen to anytime.  They are the master and all time greatest Bob Marley and the man of joy and optimism, Jimmy Cliff.

The truth is that Jimmy's music is easier to listen to than Bob's.  The Gotham Gal loves Jimmy Cliff and we used to listen to his record Special, which came out in the early 80s, all the time when we first lived together in NYC.

There are two Jimmy Cliff records that are Top 50 candidates and they have one overlapping song on them.

The first is the Soundtrack to The Harder They Come.

This is a gritty Jamaican movie featuring Jimmy Cliff as a Robin Hood type. 

I can't honestly recommend the movie, but the soundtrack is another story.  It's some of the best reggae music ever recorded and features four fantastic songs by Jimmy Cliff as well as songs by Toots and the Maytalls and several other great reggae musicians.

If you like reggae music and don't have this record, you should get it.

But the Jimmy Cliff record that we always come back to and must have played a thousand times is called Wonderful World Beautiful People.  The title alone speaks to Jimmy's sunny disposition.

Jimmy's masterpiece, Many Rivers To Cross, is on both Wonderful World and Harder They Come.  But the rest of this record is different.

I am particularly fond of Use What I Got, Hello Sunshine, and the protest song, Vietnam.  But the whole record is fantastic and I am thrilled to add it to my Top 50 today.

Comments

[jackson]

I read on the Keith Richards web site (Wingless Angels - his reggea project) that they are making a sequel to 'The Harder They Come', and it will star Jimmy Cliff. Apparenly 29 bullets can't keep Rudie down.

[Bill A]

The lineup for this September's Austin City Limits Music festival was announced yesterday, and I was thrilled to see Jimmy Cliff on the list (along with Coldplay, Built To Spill, Wilco, Oasis, Bob Mould, John Prine and about 80 more). I've never seen Cliff, so I'm really looking forward to this chance.

The ACL music festival is a 3-day outdoor event that has become one of the most successful music festivals in the country in just 3 years. So successful that they've reduced the number of available tickets by 10,000 this year because the venue became too crowded. More info is at www.austincitylimits.com

[Charles]

If you've not heard the Toots and the Maytals albums Reggae Got Soul, Funky Kingston, and In the Dark I strongly recommend checking them out. Funky Kingston/In the Dark is available as a single CD, which is one of the great music bargains.