Jimmy Cliff - The Harder They Come

I bought the record when it first came out almost 35 years ago. I had long since sold off the album. I ordered the CD recently and it arrived on my birthday. At my party, I played the album, and it was the most popular of the evening collectively by young and old alike. This is really a reggae classic.

If you like reggae, I dare say this is the essential album, except for perhaps To Catch a Fire.

I had this LP years ago, and loved it. Now without a turntable, I was so happy to find it re-released as a disc. It is very different, and a lot of fun to listen to. Real toe-tappers. A good one to play while cleaning the house....full of energy.

This was reggae before Bob Marley. Jimmy Cliff was its king and the major exporter of the music, primarily to England. This recording is timeless. A lot of gems from a variety of artists featured.

If you like reggae, you should have this CD. If you could only own 5 reggae CDs of all that is out there, this deserves to be one of those 5. I never tire of listening to these tracks after all these years. The other reviewers have ably described this music. I heartily agree. 5 more stars for The Harder They Come.
Favorite tracks (but I like them all)
1. Many Rivers To Cross
2. Rivers of Babylon
3. Pressure Drop
4. You Can Get It If You Really Want It
5. Sitting In Limbo

didn't think it could be done. this is great. this does jimmy cliff proud.

Still the best classic reggae collection, although as one other reviewer noted, some tracks do sound "Americanized." No surprise. "Many Rivers to Cross" and "Sitting in Limbo" were recorded with the legendary Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section in Alabama. This wasn't documented at the time (I learned it when I interviewed the MSRS in 1979) because apparently Cliff did not have the proper immigration papers to "work" in the USA when Chris Blackwell decided to bring him up for the quick sessions.

this album holds its own against the very greatest albums of any genre. even if you are not a fan of reggae, i can't imagine you not loving this cd. there is so much joy, energy, passion and soul bursting from this music that it uplifts me each time i hear it, still fresh sounding to the ears 22 years after first finding it. jimmy cliff's vocals, in particular, are amazing. the songs which he performs on this album, "you can get it if you really want," "many rivers to cross," "the harder they come," and "sitting in limbo," are amongst the finest in the whole canon of reggae. each tune included here is a gem. don't let life go by without having this music in it.

I am a bit disappointed in the CD. It doesn't seem to be REAL reggae as I think of it. It seems more like Americanized reggae. Maybe I just need to get a Marley CD. 'You Can Get It If You Really Want' sounds like a song from Sesame Street.

My order came in a timely fashion, however, the cd case was shattered when I received it. Could have been caused by the postal service, not sure. However, the actual cd was fine.

Harder They Come' director succumbs to cancer published:
Friday | December 1, 2006
Howard Campbell, Gleaner Writer

PERRY HENZELL, whose low-budget urban film The Harder They Come became an international blockbuster in 1972, died yesterday after a long battle with cancer. The writer/director died at his son's home in Round Hill, St. Elizabeth. He was 70 years old. Jason, Mr. Henzell's son, said his father passed away peacefully, with his wife Sally at his side. "My father fought cancer for the past seven years and it went into remission five times but it came back in an aggressive way," Jason Henzell told The Gleaner. "We are happy he left in a peaceful way and suffered no more pain." Mr. Henzell died one day before his film, No Place Like Home, was to be shown at the Flashpoint Film Festival which opens today in Negril, Westmoreland. Although he wrote several other screenplays, Perry Henzell is synonymous with The Harder They Come, the sensational drama that made a superstar out of reggae singer Jimmy Cliff, who played the lead role of Ivan. Perry, a former advertising executive, based the film on the exploits of Ivanhoe 'Rhygin' Martin, a Linstead drifter who terrorised sections of west Kingston during the 1940s. With the emerging reggae beat as a backdrop, The Harder They Come helped introduce reggae and Jamaican pop culture to an international audience. It made a major impact overseas where it played to small theatres in North America and Europe, and won Best New Cinema at the 1973 Venice Film Festival. Reacting to news of Henzell's death, Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller said he "made a sterling contribution to the development of the arts in Jamaica." Void in creative industry "Jamaica has lost a very talented son and his death has created a void throughout the creative industries in Jamaica," the Prime Minister said in a statement. Opposition Leader Bruce Golding said: "His life of service and dedication to country, is one that we must seek to embrace and emulate. He has left for all of us, a rich legacy through his life and work." Lennie Little-White, principal at Mediamix Limited, said Mr. Henzell's work as a filmmaker transcended The Harder They Come. "Perry was to Jamaican film what Rex Nettleford is to dance and Miss Lou was to poetry," Mr. Little-White told The Gleaner. "The Harder They Come was just one of his milestones. When he formed Vista Films, that became the training ground for people who became pantheons in Jamaican film," Mr. Little-White added. Mr. Henzell was born in Jamaica to an Antiguan father and Trinidadian mother. His father was overseer at the Caymanas Estates in St. Catherine for several years. He is also survived by two daughters, Justine and Toni-Ann, and four grandchildren. A thanksgiving service for the life of Perry Henzell will be held December 8 at the family's home in Runaway Bay.

Long Live The Harder They Come.

Big Respect, Perry.





[............]

The Harder They Come is as close as a 35-minute album with two reprises can come to perfection. 'Pressure Drop', 'Johnny Too Bad', 'Bridges of Babylon', and the title track all are true classics.

While the soundtrack is undoubtedly one of the ten best reggae albums of all time, the movie is slightly less necessary, and becomes incoherent by the end. (Why exactly, does he decide to dress up like a cowboy?)

For a similar but darker and more modern movie, watch Third World Cop. It is unapologetic in its absurdity, yet manages to build tension towards an unexpectedly nuanced finish. It also overtook 'The harder they come' to become the highest grossing movie in Jamaica history.

The book version of The Harder They Come was written 15 years after the movie, but creates a much more realistic, compelling portrait of 1970s Jamaica as well as more believable motivations for the characters.

While reading the book listen to Tougher Than Tough: The Story Of Jamaican Music. I try and avoid anthologies as they tend to cherry pick the best songs off good albums, but this one is almost perfect, loaded with many superlative tracks. Almost too many classics to list; 'War ina Bablyon', 'Country Boy', 'Cherry o baby', 'Better Must Come', 'Bangarang', 'Al Capone', 'Guns of Navarone', 'Tougher than Tough' and 'The Isrealites' are all necessary reggae tracks.

As you get towards the end of the book, put on the Harder They Come soundtrack and listen to it on repeat. The music and book complement each other excellently.

The emersion into a story told through film, music and literature tells a complete picture of 1970's Jamaica.

Nose candy. You need no more reggae... but you will probably need more after this great album.

I agree with those who prefers Jimmy Cliff (his early music) to Bob Marley. Jimmy's reggae is more soulful with a strong Afro-gospel influence. There is an almost religious ecstasy that--well I think--beats Bob by a nose hair. But let's get down to it.

This is reggae 101 for those who do not indulge and a Masters degree for those fans who are not entirely familiar with the last two decades--the classics. I hate saying classic rock and I hate writing classic reggae because even though I was born after, what is deemed classic just beats anything I've heard--and I'm listeneing--produced today. Oh, yeah, it does not feature Beyonce nor Wyclef. Stop here? Please no... Let me add some details about the songs which you can hear by clicking the buttons next to the songs above or going to Barnes and Noble and asking your friendly music seller (me) how to work the listening machine.

The song Pressure Drop, for example, by the Toots and the Maytals, should be required listening. The energy generated from that song may wake the dead. The song Johnny Too Bad will stay in your in head long after you wear out the CD. And then there's Jimmy. It is Jimmy Cliff's movie (see the DVD section). Jimmy is blessed with an amazing voice and recognition that reggae can fit any category of music. [Willie Nelson made a reggae album- no comment]. But there is a soul/gospel/funk influence that I think many will find appealing whatever age (ok, not above 80 or below 10 years old).

There are many of us who do not by OSTs or sountracks. I'm one of them . But if you've seen the movie (SEE IT!!) then you are doubly amazed at how perfectly each song fits the story. If you have not seen the move (SEE IT!!), the arrangement still tells a story. We travel from the optimistic naive beginnings of a singer (Jimmy Cliff- main actor, main singer, reggae star) to the exhaustive Many Rivers (a gospel song highlighting his desperation and for that matter amazing vocals) to the aggressive Johnny Too Bad (foreshadowing the rebellious Jimmy who has had it with the rules) and finally the bittersweet classic, The Harder They Come. I'll leave that pleasure for those of you who are taking me seriously.

Proof positive of this musical journey, at least in my mind, is that I first heard this soundtrack when I was 10 years old or so. Despite having no notion of what a soundtrack was, I loved the way the story flowed with the music or vice-versa. There was no rewinding or fast-forwading on that tape! I saw the movie years later.

If you take my advice and check this out then proceed immediately to Jimmy Cliff in concert. The guy sings a Cat Stevens song that you could swear was written by a rasta.

I love all forms of reggae, but this cd is excellent. one of the best soundtracks ever made.

This compilation to the movie did more than anything to put reggae across to the world..Jimmy Cliff, the struggling man is the existential hero looking for that number one hit which he found..despite the obstacles.
Now with vastly better sound,showcasing great great Jamaican staple songs, all here is worthy of inclusion into a rock and roll hall of fame..Cliff's own numbers are autobiographical, the other tracks either from Desmond Dekker,Toots,Scotty etc.remain classics till this day showcasing the rock steady calypso backdrop of early reggae prior to the Roots, Dub styles now common.
Your ticket into this great music and naturally you need to see the movie.

Am I including Bob Marley in my title statement? Yes. As much as I love Marley's work, I prefer this album to anything he has done. Marley is good, but is just the surface of all the great Jamacian music out there. Jimmy Cliff, Desmond Dekker, Justin Hines, Lee "Scratch" Perry, Toots & the Maytals, and many others are just as talented as Marley was. In other words, there is so much more to rocksteady and reggae than just "Legend". That album is the perfect gateway drug to reggae, but this is really the first non-Marley reggae album you should pick up to get initiated into the genre (the film is a cult classic also). There isn't a single weak track on this album, which can not be said really of any of Marley's studio LPs. There is so much variety on this album, and it shows that Reggae can be some of the most soulful music ever. There is little production, and it is raw and unpolished. It paints a perfect portrait of the country, as the songs give you a feel of the atmosphere. I can honestly say that as much as I love Bob Marley (and I do very much so), I take out this album for a listen more often.

One of the first and still one the best. A great way to introduce someone to the different styles of reggae.

This is one of the great Soundtrack albums of all time. Ballads like "Many Rivers to Cross" are among the finest songs ever recorded. A classic.