This article originally appeared in Reggae Report

JIMMY CLIFF ON RECORD Lee O'Neill

	Jimmy Cliff is so firmly identified with The Harder They Come
	that his other work gets overlooked and undervalued.  He has
	been in the forefront of reggae since 1963 and continues to be
	a major star all over the world.   Although he, has appeared in
	four movies, has received a Grammy (and was nominated four
	other times) and has had dozens of hit records he is still
	struggling to obtain the respect and success of artists with
	far less impressive histories.

	Cliff, born James Chambers, moved to Kingston as a teenager and
	cut several obscure songs with minor producers.   In 1963, he
	impressed producer Leslie Kong enough to get a couple of songs
	on Kong's Beverly's label and both "Dearest Beverly" and
	"Hurricane Hattie" became hits.  That began a relationship that
	lasted until Kong's death in 1971 and marked the real beginning
	of Cliff's career.  Almost none of his ska material is
	available these days, although "Miss Jamaica" has appeared on
	several Trojan anthologies.

	Cliff was selected to accompany Millie Small (remember "My Boy
	Lollipop"?) and Byron Lee and the Dragonaires to the New York
	World's Fair in 1965.  This trip was designed to introduce ska
	to the world and while we all know it just didn't happen, the
	trip resulted in a film called This Is Ska, featuring a young
	and enthusiastic Jimmy Cliff along with several other stars of
	the time.  It also brought Cliff to the attention of Island
	Records' Chris Blackwell.

	Cliff moved to England and Blackwell began grooming him for
	international success.  Early releases such as Hard Road to
	Travel (Island, 1967), Can't Get Enough of It (Veep, 1968) and
	Jimmy Cliff (Trojan, 1969) often sounded more like pop-rock
	than reggae.  It wasn't until Wonderful World Beautiful People
	(A&M, 1969) that Cliff began to reach back to reggae for
	inspiration and it showed.  Cliff's voice is very pretty,
	gospel influenced tenor and the Leslie Kong produced Wonderful
	World provided him a bright, contemporary sound lightened by
	just a few pop touches.  The material included reworkings of
	earlier hits like "Hard Road to Travel" along with new classics
	like the title track and "Vietnam."  Another Cycle (Island,
	1971) was another rockish effort highlighted by the haunting
	"Sitting in Limbo."

	It was at this time that The Harder They Come was released.
	Cliff's acting was extraordinary and his portrayal of the
	archetypal artist/outlaw has achieved mythic status.  The film
	became a huge cult film in the 1970s and owning the video is
	simply obligatory for every reggae fan.  The soundtrack was a
	near perfect introduction to reggae for novices, featuring the
	Maytals, Melodians Slickers, Desmond Dekker, Scotty and Cliff.
	His new songs included his own version of "You Can Get It If
	You Really Want," a song originally written for Dekker, the
	title track and another beautiful ballad, "Many Rivers to
	Cross."

	On the verge of international success as a result of his role
	in Harder They Come, he released a series of increasingly
	insipid records that repeated the same mistakes he and
	Blackwell made in the early 60s.  Unlimited (Trojan, 1973),
	House of Exile (EMI, 1974), Music Maker (Reprise, 1974),
	Struggling Man (Island, 1974), Brave Warrior (EMI, 1975) and
	Follow My Mind (Reprise, 1976) all had desultory mixtures of
	soul, pop, rock and reggae and none managed to grow from the
	artistic foundation of Wonderful World/Harder They Come.  Oh
	Jamaica (EMI, 1976) is a collection of the better tracks from
	that label.  Reggae Greats (Mango, 1985) assembles his best
	Island material in once place and is a worthwhile starting
	point.

	Only in 1976, when the legendary Joe Higgs organized a superb
	band of reggae legends supporting Cliff on tour was he able to
	rekindle the flame.  A live album from that tour, In Concert
	(Reprise, 1976) serves as a defacto Greatest Hits for the early
	years and features some of his best singing and one of his best
	bands.  It also seemed to reenergize Cliff and over the next
	several years he made some of the most eloquent and exciting
	music of his career.

	Give Thankx (Warner, 1978) returns to a reggae foundation but
	adds some interesting world music accents in places.   The
	uptempo songs are energetic and the ballads inspiring.  As good
	as it was, however, it's sales were dismal and it was the last
	record Cliff made for the Warner/Reprise label.  His next two
	albums, I Am the Living (MCA, 1980) and Give the People What
	They Want (MCA, 1981) were also strong efforts with solid songs
	and fine, contemporary reggae.  Again, however, their
	commercial reception disappointed and yielded another label
	change.

	Cliff's third film was Bongo Man, a documentary/concert film.
	A bit overlong, it had several sparkling performances and
	insightful interviews along with plenty of chances to get some
	popcorn.  To date, it has not been released on video.

	Reggae itself had changed substantially over the years and
	while his last three studio albums were among the "purest"
	reggae albums of his career, Cliff's reggae was not necessarily
	the reggae being played in Jamaica.  Special (Columbia, 1982)
	changed that.  The title track and "Rub a Dub Partner" were
	significant hits in Jamaica and the album was the first to
	crack the US charts since Follow My Mind.  To many, it remains
	his best album.

	Again, however, Cliff and his label failed to capitalize on a
	successful album.  Power and the Glory (Columbia, 1983), Cliff
	Hanger (Columbia, 1985) and Hanging Fire (Columbia, 1987) all
	attracted Grammy attention (Cliff Hanger won in 1985) while
	being featureless attempts at creating a universal dance music
	out of R&B, Soul and a producer's idea of generic Reggae and
	African music.  The only bright spot (after Special) in the
	1980s was Club Paradise, a movie starring Cliff, Robin
	Williams, Peter O'Toole and several Saturday Night Live and
	Second City TV veterans.   It's a bright comedy and the
	soundtrack contains some top-ranking tunes from Cliff,
	including "The Lion Awakes," "Third World People" and
	"Brightest Star."

	Cliff returned to Reggae for inspiration one more time and
	Images (Vision, 1989) was his best album in years.  It is also
	on a small label and received very limited distribution.
	Breakout (JRS, 1992) and Samba Reggae (Lagoon, 1993) also
	received little US recognition but were both very strong sets
	from this reggae legend.  His South American popularity led to
	some wonderful touches of samba with reggae but this time the
	fusion approach worked well.  Live 93 (Lagoon, 1993) is another
	good concert recording, showing Cliff's uplifting songs to
	their best advantage.  It's also the last we've heard from him,
	apart from his cover of Bob Marley's "Stir It Up" from the Cool
	Runnings soundtrack, his cover of Jackie Wilson's "Higher and
	Higher" from the Air Up There soundtrack and "Hakuna Matata"
	from Disney's "Lion King" soundtrack.

	Those songs and his other 90s work indicate that while Jimmy
	Cliff may not be as productive as he once was, or as well
	promoted as he once was he is still every bit as talented.
	That beautiful voice still touches hearts on its way to the
	clouds.  ??