Jimmy Cliff's "The Harder They Come" Finally Gets The Props It Deserves

(x-posted at A Pen Warmed In Hell and Crooks & Liars. Will add pics and video later, for now just follow the bouncing links below...)       

   

Jimmy Cliff’s THE HARDER THEY COME movie soundtrack, see cover here, has been named by Vanity Fair as being the NUMBER THREE best film soundtrack of all time.

Damn.

That’s so awesome.

Especially since it beat out the Pulp Fiction soundtrack, which is as it should be, since culturally speaking The Harder They Come had a much bigger impact than the Pulp Fiction soundtrack did.

And never mind my feelings about the Editorial Board over at Vanity Fair, I'm willing to set those aside, because they got this one totally right.

Now for those of you out there in the Howdy Doodyland Peanut Gallery that are scratching your heads in disbelief and wondering what in high holy hell this album is doing so high on this list, please consider that without this soundtrack, and its influence, (and you can just forget about it popularizing reggae in the USA), Punk Rock, (to name just one genre, or Electronica, to name another genre), as we know it, in all likelihood, would probably not exist without the Dance Hall Sounds of Jamaica.

That’s because in the early 1970s you could not turn on the BBC Radio in England without hearing at least one song a day from it, if not more, since it was on the kind of heavy musical rotation that would make an MTV marketing VP, from the late 1980s, blush bright beet red and wet their pants.

That Clash song that you hear in that car ad these days?

It’s a cover of the Toots & Maytals’s Pressure Drop, which is track 9 on The Harder They Come soundtrack.

Now for all you LA Surf Thrash Punks out there who believe that Sublime’s Bradley Nowell was a bigger talent than Kurt Cobain because he had greater musical range? Well, we could debate that one for a month of Sundays, all day long, until the cows come home, but one thing is true of both Nirvana and Sublime, besides them being Power Pop Trio bands, and that is they kicked ass when it came to covers. This unplugged, live, Nirvana album being Prima Facie evidence of that.

In Sublime’s case, from their seminal 40 Oz’s To Freedom, there’s Rivers of Babylon, which is, that’s right a cover from the original Melodians version of it that’s the third song on The Harder They Come soundtrack.

If you’re lucky enough to have this bad boy on vinyl, like I do, I suggest busting it out and giving it another listen to and feel the warm glow of it finally getting the recognition of the place in musical history that it so richly deserves.

Many rivers to cross, indeed, but it does go to show that you can get it if you really want.

Even if it requires the patience of Job, and stuff.

If not there’s alway the YouTubes, and the opening, title song itself isn’t a bad place to start, but for myself, this has always been my favorite tune.

Those that know me well know why.

Now, all that being said, I haven’t seen this complete Vanity Fair list of 50 film soundtracks past their Top Ten Picks, but I do know this, if I don’t see The Repo Man Soundtrack on there, as it should rightfully be, I’m gonna scream bloody murder at the top of my motherfaluckling lungs.

But for now, I’ll be more than happy to settle for this.

~nwa

Comments

[Slugbug]

Boy if this doesn't make my day - up at 6 AM - 22 email messages half of which are Spam, this is the first one I open and I start singing "The Harder They Come" and I'm gonna be singing it all day now, now matter what!!

or "Stop That Train"

The whole soundtrack to my moving out here from the upper midwest was that album.

& then all those "reggae nights" at T.U.G.S. here!

& the Saturday morning reggae show at KEXP has been running for as long as I can remember!!

[not my president]

What about Robert Palmer and "Pressure Drop" - gave a shot in the arm to blue-eyed soul but it came from this album didn't it?

I have it in vinyl too. I have the whole thing memorized - maybe I'll put it on as I wash my hair.
Wonder if I have a CD copy too because if I do it's going to work with me.

You rock for putting this up & great observations too!

Neither jungle nor two-step would exist without the Jamaican influence nor even Lily Allen or any of
the ska bands or even that Florida/southern rap stuff.

Add Dancehall & most of today's R&B gets part of it's sound! When I think of that I think of being
off the coast of Belize in a motorboat!

[DiAnne]

I had to look at this again - pls add pics here too!

[A Pen Warmed In Hell]

During the last year of my enlistment in the Marine Corps, when I was stationed in the hell-hole known as Barstow, the only thing that helped me maintain my sanity was Neil Young's "Freedom", Lou Reed's "New York", Big Audio Dynamite's "The Globe", (which is where I first learned of the birth of the miracle that is "Rave" from my British cousins, 10K clicks away, across the continent and pond), and "The Harder They Come", played on a continuous, non-stop, loop.

As far as the Robert Palmer thing goes, not to brag, much, but in the late 1990s, at the very heighth of the dot.com.dot.bomb boom in Silicon Valley, as I was crossing University Avenue in Palo Alto, (about a block away from Google's very first start-up office, which I never dropped my resume off at, doh!), on my way to Starbucks, a woman asked me for a cigarette, and over coffee one thing led to another and 20 minutes later we were back at my place, and get this, it was *her* idea...

As it turns out she was one of the statuesque, high cheek-boned, glassy eyed, vacuous looking, mini-skirted, back up musicians from Palmer's "Addicted To Love" video.

Y'know one of the ones that when that video came out, every straight male in the USA, between the ages of 16 and 66, had a thing for.

For a variety of reasons that I'm not going to get into here, things didn't work out long-term between us, (which ultimately was a good thing), and while it doesn't even approach missing getting my hands on a single digit Google worker ID badge, at least I got something of value out of that period of my life that all the stock options and money in the world just can't buy.

[kayakbiker]

I know exactly what that woman looked like because all of those dancers in that video looked like sisters.

I'll check out that Cliff album. I have a few of his cuts on some Reggae mix albums. This brings back memories of when I was dancing with Dianne at TUGS on a few occasions as well as some other places that sometimes looked like the basement of a School or Church. Vinyl was on its way out and Nina Hagen's popularity was peaking.

[not my president]

I made it to lunch and am now singing "You Can Get It If YOu Really Want."

Ah yes, T.U.G.S., where one night after Nina Hagen played the Showbox, she actually SHOWED UP AT T.U.G.S.!

I remember many nights there! You are absolutely right about those times, Kayakbiker, and it was after I moved to Seattle from MN in the late 70s that Comrade Prall one night brought to a party of ours The Pretenders, Blondie, Talking Heads, and The Cars!

I remember alot of cassette tape making with David H every Saturday (the KEXP broadcast) and then reggae night each Monday, which led to wimmin's night on Thursdays, just as cookies lead to cocaine.

We played alot of reggae and ska. It was an obsession! Remember the punk club The Bird? Remember the Homewreckers and my short-lvied career with them?!

The obsession I developed was for Underworld, after the Trainspotting soundtrack. Finally saw them in Belgium! They came to San Francisco but skipped us - twice! This is such a rock town that we need to push a little to get good club & electro & stuff.

[slugbug]

Go here because you can hear samples from all these great albums!

http://www.amazon.com/Roots-Reggae-Albums-All-Time/lm/437LM7XN0D5X

What is the one with Scotty "Breakfast in Bed"? U-Roy vs I-Roy? I have so much good vinyl at home to get out!

[slugbug]

I am loving the DJ Vadim album - the whole thing
rap and reggae and so on

[slugbug]

http://www.myspace.com/djvadim