In honor of Jimmy Cliff’s 80th birthday and in the wake of the Jamaican Independence Day, Walshy Fire of Major Lazer has remixed a selection of songs from The Harder They Come soundtrack. James Chambers, better know as Jimmy Cliff, was born in St. James, Jamaica and at the age of 14 moved with his father to Kingston where within a few years caught the eye of Leslie Kong and had his first hit, “Hurricane Hattie.” And he never stopped from there. He became a reggae legend and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2009. In 1972 Cliff starred in and created the soundtrack for the classic reggae film, The Harder They Come. The soundtrack and movie were a huge success, bringing reggae to an international audience for the first time.  When the album was released, it charted on the Billboard 200 in North America. The Library of Congress, in 2021, selected it for preservation in the National Registry and deemed it “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.”

Walshy Fire does a really nice job remixing these classics, not doing too much to change them, but just enough to give it a little more modern feel to them. We start off with “You Can Get It If You Really Want It (Remix)” with a little more upbeat feel to it, while the original version is an upbeat song, the flow and beat are brought up a notch.  I always loved this song, and this remix is just as good! Next up is “Many Rivers To Cross (Remix),” a song I never really got into.  It is, no doubt, a great song and has been remade by so many other artists, I just wasn’t into this ballad.  The remix starts off as the original did, but then Walshy brings in an upbeat groove that works so well.  I think this is the best remix on the album, I’m really grooving to this song now, it has been playing through my head since the first time hearing it. “The Harder They Come (Remix)” is up next. This has always been a song on so many reggae play lists for many years and I think the remix can ride right along with it!  Once again, not a huge change up with this remix, but just enough bringing up the beat and energy, just a nice fresh take on this classic. We finish off with “Sitting In Limbo” a song that I always felt could have been huge in the US, it has that American late 60’s early 70’s vibe that other artists were putting out at the time.  This is another really great remix, with that upbeat groove and beat, gives it a more modern and fresher vibe. 

My first thought after listening to this, why only four songs? I think Walshy Fire did a really fantastic job remixing these classics, that is not always an easy task because you don’t want to change them up too much, change them so it looses what made it a hit and a classic.  You want to make it fresher and a little newer sounding, and Walshy hit on this. Like I said, why only four songs, after going through it a few times I was wanting even more.  It made me pull out my original The Harder They Come vinyl and just sat back and enjoyed.

One Love – Todd Judd