One of many biggest reggae compilations ever launched, the soundtrack to The Tougher They Come was one of many albums that took the reggae various-artists LP from low-cost and generic to valued and very important. Filled with dynamic, vibrant, and uplifting songs, together with Jimmy Cliff’s title monitor, the curious factor concerning the album was, it was a memorial to a passing period even because it was launched, on July 7, 1972.
The Tougher They Come was the primary all-Jamaican function movie. It starred Jimmy Cliff, who was virtually a prototype for Bob Marley within the early 70s: a reggae star who wrote his personal songs and was marketed as a severe expertise at a time when Jamaican music was seen as merely teenage dance gasoline by UK critics and most DJs. The film additionally featured The Maytals (additionally current on this soundtrack) and, in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo, producer Leslie Kong, who supervised the vast majority of the document. Kong was the business hotshot of late 60s/early 70s reggae, with a list of hits to his identify from the likes of The Pioneers, The Maytals, The Melodians, and extra. He’d first put Jimmy Cliff on disc to launch his document label, and this album was the consolidation of years of labor for each males: look, that is how far they’d come.
Cliff delivers “You Can Get It If You Really Want,” the gritty title monitor, the mellow “Sitting In Limbo” and the music extensively thought to be his masterpiece, “Many Rivers To Cross” – nonetheless a transferring ballad all these years later. The Maytals supply “Sweet And Dandy,” a story of wedding ceremony celebrations, and “Pressure Drop,” one other articled traditional. Desmond Dekker, Kong’s greatest worldwide star, has only one monitor, the ebullient “007,” already 5 years previous when the album was launched, however its rude-boy commentary suited the film, as did The Slickers’ “Johnny Too Bad,” one of many few The Tougher They Come soundtrack tunes not produced by Kong, however utilizing the identical studio and band. The album’s different light and reflective music is The Melodians’ “Rivers Of Babylon”; poor souls who solely know the Boney M model will likely be stunned by its honest and soulful piety. A touch of reggae’s future got here courtesy of Scotty’s “Draw Your Brakes,” a DJ tune produced by Derrick Harriott.
It wasn’t lengthy earlier than the roots increase made this music look retro – in Jamaica no less than. The film represented Jimmy Cliff’s celeb peak, whereas Kong, alas, was by no means capable of take his sound into reggae’s skanky period, which was dominated by roots, DJ music, and Rastafarianism: he had a deadly coronary heart assault earlier than the film was launched.
Its soundtrack, nonetheless, stands as a testomony to his craft and expertise, in addition to the reggae period that was already passing by the point The Tougher They Come hit the screens. However this music was irrepressible: the document lifts you up and will get you in your dancing toes; its hard-edged, warm-hearted model of reggae won’t ever fall.
The Tougher They Come may be purchased right here.
