Jimmy Cliff The Harder

If a story of a music as expansive as Jamaica's can be told over four CDs, then TOUGHER THAN TOUGH is as close as you'll ever likely get. Bookended by the unrefined charm of the Folkes Brothers' 1960 "Oh Carolina" and Shaggy's 1993 dancehall adaptation of the same tune, this collection attempts to chart the music's diversity and development through ska, rock-steady, reggae, and dub, to dancehall and ragga.

Across four discs and 87 songs, The Reggae Box tells the tale of Jamaica's modern social and political history through a well-rounded survey of the island nation's popular music.

Jimmy Cliff has always occupied an odd position in reggae music, first of all because he predates it significantly, but also because for much of his career he merged his musical interests with international pop considerations to the extent that he managed to record frequently for such major labels as Warner, EMI, Universal, and Sony. Although his commercial success was spotty, it was recurrent; he first hit the charts internationally in 1969 and was still scoring occasionally in the mid-'90s. His label hopping had made it practically impossible to assemble a thorough compilation of his work until the release of Anthology. Universal's Hip-O reissue subsidiary specializes in putting together anthologies that span record labels, and the compilers had quite a task on their hands when it came to Cliff.

Reflecting the label's roots in Jamaica in the late 1950s, this 31-song collection celebrating Island's 25th anniversary includes the definitive reggae anthems "The Harder They Come" by Jimmy Cliff from the classic movie soundtrack of the same name and "No Woman No Cry" by Bob Marley. Capturing the playful side of Jamaica, there's the first hit for label founder Chris Blackwell, the infectious 1963 smash "My Boy Lollipop" by little Millie Small; "Israelites" by Desmond Dekker and the Aces, "Montego Bay" by Amazulu, "Sinsemilla" by Black Uhuru, and a rousing "Funky Kingston" courtesy of Toots and the Maytals. Illustrating how Island grew far beyond the confines of the Caribbean, the album also includes white rockers U2, Traffic, Free, Robert Palmer and Julian Cope. Throw in several ballads such as "Up Where We Belong" by Jennifer Warnes and Bill Medley.

Time Life collections are usually rock-solid groupings of classic songs presented carefully and lovingly, and the FM Rock series is no exception. The theme seems to be songs you might find on a free-form FM station, because each volume contains songs that no commercial program director would come close to allowing on the air. Mixed in with these selections are some classic FM tunes as well, making for a wild and unpredictable listen. For example, Vol. 2 has hit tracks by the Doobie Brothers ("Rockin' Down the Highway"), Rod Stewart ("Every Picture Tells a Story"), and Little Feat ("Willin'"), but also obscurities like Crazy Horse's "Gone Dead Train" and Fleetwood Mac's "Jewel Eyed Judy," as well as oddball choices like Moby Grape's "Gypsy Wedding" and Jimmy Cliff's "The Harder They Come." Beyond being entertaining listening, all the entries in the series could turn listeners on to bands they missed the first time around, and are fine additions to the collection of someone who wants to delve deeper into the music of the '70s.

Sounds of the Seventies was a 40-volume series issued by Time-Life during the late 1980s and early-to-mid 1990s, spotlighting pop music of the 1970s. Much like Time-Life's other series chronicling popular music, volumes in the "Sounds of the Seventies" series covered a specific time period, including individual years in some volumes, and different parts of the decade (for instance, the early 1970s) in others; in addition, some volumes covered specific trends, such as music popular on album-oriented rock stations on the FM band.

This is an excellent reggae sampler. It should be obvious that everyone's first introduction to reggae should be Bob Marley's great LEGEND which is the reggae desert island disc of all time. That is the place to start for any introduction to reggae. This sampler is a good next step and includes classics from Jimmy Cliff, Burning Spear, Black Uhuru, Toots and the Maytals, and many others. The rhythm section for many of these tracks is the famous Sly and Robbie duo…

Rolling Stone Magazine released a list of "500 Greatest Songs of All Time" in November 2004. It represents an eclectic mix of music spanning the past 50 years, and contains a wide variety of artists sharing the spotlight. The Rolling Stone 500 was compiled by 172 voters comprised of rock artists and well-known rock music experts, who submitted ranked lists of their favorite 50 Rock & Roll/Pop music songs. The songs were then tallied to create the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.