Jimmy Cliff - The Harder They Come: The Definitive Collection - Remastered - 2CD (2005)

It's one of the music industry's great ironies that today, outside
of reggae circles, Jimmy Cliff is perhaps better known for his film
appearances than his music. Even after a string of hits, the singer
never quite managed to break into the mainstream, although he seemed
poised for international stardom during the late '60s/early '70s.

The singer was born in St. James, Jamaica, on April 1, 1948, with
the less prosaic name James Chambers. His talent was evident from
childhood, and he began his career appearing at local shows and
parish fairs. Feeling ready for the big time at the age of 14, he
moved to Kingston and took the surname Cliff to express the heights
he intended on reaching. Cliff recorded two unsuccessful singles
before he was spotted by Derrick Morgan, who brought him to Leslie
Kong.

His first single for the budding producer, "Hurricane Hattie," was
an instant hit. Unusually, Cliff remained with Kong until the
producer's death; most Jamaican artists flit from studio to studio.
The singer's loyalty was rewarded, however, by a string of follow-up
hits. In the early years, the pair helped set the ska scene alight,
both in Jamaica and in Britain, where the singer's singles were
picked up by Island Records. "Miss Jamaica," "King of Kings," "One
Eyed Jacks," and "Pride and Passion" have since become classics of
the original ska era.

An enlightening if somewhat disappointing set that neither lives up
to its title nor to this normally excellent series' reputation.
Still, "The Harder They Come: The Definitive Collection" breaks new
ground in the Jimmy Cliff stakes, finally putting the artist's early
work in perspective. Few of the artist's best-of sets bother with
Cliff's recordings prior to his breakthrough in the late '60s.
Earlier in the decade, though, the singer unleashed a stream of
Jamaican hit singles that also rocked the British reggae scene.

This remastered two-CD set dedicates the first half of disc one
exclusively to a roundup of Cliff's ska 45s, presented
chronologically. Leapfrogging to 1968's "Waterfall," a Brazilian
number one, the set shifts into the early reggae age. The first half
of disc two follows Cliff to world renown, with the release of the
movie The Harder They Come in the U.K. and a clutch of international
hits. Then, in August, 1971, his mentor/producer, Leslie Kong, died,
and with the Island label turning its attention to Bob Marley, Cliff
was left to struggle on his own.

Although the chart hits dried up, the singer continued releasing
strong albums, some of which were nominated or won Grammys. But
Cliff's post-Kong career is dispensed with in half a disc,
suggesting his golden years were gone, a far from accurate
assessment. For devoting so much space to the ska years, this
compilation rights many past wrongs, but by so abbreviating Cliff's
past 30-plus years, it commits new ones. Perhaps there's just no
winning with a canon so long and varied, but in the end this set is
far from definitive.