Jimmy Cliff - Better Days Are Coming: The A&M Years 1969-1971
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Music CD Cover
Author: Jimmy CliffEdition: Music CD
Format: Box set, Original recording remastered
Published: 2005
Music Label: Hip-O Select
Free Music Notes for Jimmy Cliff - Better Days Are Coming: The A&M Years 1969-1971
Free Music Review: "Don't You Get Downhearted...Don't You Cry...Better Days Are Coming..."
Hit: 5 Stars
Reggae superstar Jimmy Cliff was released on A&M in the USA and Island Records in the UK, so this 2005 4CD hardback book set by HIP-O SELECT of the USA crosses over releases in both countries and requires some detailed explanation. Here's the breakdown:
Disc 1 (36:47 minutes):
Tracks 1 to 11 are the album "Wonderful World, Beautiful People" released in January 1970 on A&M SP-4251 in the USA
Track 12 is "Waterfall", the non-album b-side of the 7" single "Wonderful World, Beautiful People" released in November 1969 on A&M AM 1146 in the USA
Disc 2 (36:48 minutes):
Tracks 1 to 12 are an unreleased and untitled USA-only album compiled in Island's London studios by Bob Porter - it was slated for release in September 1970 and even allocated a USA A&M Records LP catalogue number - SP-4286
Disc 3 (40:30 minutes):
Tracks 1 to 10 are the album "Another Cycle" released in 1971 on Island ILPS 9159 in the UK only
Disc 4 (47:27 minutes):
Tracks 1 to 8 are an unreleased and untitled USA-only album compiled in Island's London studios by John Burns - it was slated for release in December 1971 in the USA and was allocated an A&M LP catalogue number - SP-4334
Tracks 9 to 12 are 4 songs from the "Struggling Man" album released in June 1974 on Island SW-9343 in the USA
His UK albums on Island Records either entirely or partially covered by this set are:
"Hard Road To Travel" (1968 on Island ILP 962, Mono)
Tracks: Reward, Let's Dance, Can't Get Enough Of It, I've Got A Feeling (And I Can't Stop), All I Know About You, Give And Take, Pride And Passion, Searchin' For My Baby, Hard Road To Travel, A Whiter Shade Of Pale, Call On Me, Aim And Ambition
(Unfortunately tracks 1, 2, 3 and 5, 8, 10 are not on this set, but you can sequence the remaining 6 using tracks 12, 10 and 8 on Disc 2, 5 on Disc 1 and 3 on Disc 2)
"Another Cycle" (1971 on Island ILPS 9159) (as per Disc 3 on this set)
"The Harder They Come O.S.T." (1972 on Island ILPS 9202 - track list is identical to the USA version - available separately as a 2CD DELUXE EDITION)
"Struggling Man" (1973 on Island ILPS 9235 - identical track list to the USA version)
Tracks: Struggling Man, When You Are Young, Better Days Are Coming, Sooner Or later, Those Good Good Old Days, Can't Stop Worrying, Can't Stop Loving You, Let's Seize The Time, Come On People, I Can't Live Without You, Going Back West
(Sequence is tracks 4 and 3 from disc 4, 4 from disc 3 - and 2, 1, 11, 5, 12, 8 and 9 from disc 4)
The packaging is exceptional - a long hardback book with embossed sleeve in what feels like recycled card and paper, pictured and themed CDs, superb US and UK discographies, detailed liner notes - it's beautiful to hold and look at. But the real goods as ever lie in the sound...
The original master tapes have been remastered by GAVIN LURSSEN at the Mastering Lab and the sound is GORGEOUS. One of the complaints about reggae CD reissues is that they always sound muffled and compressed compared to the whack of their original vinyl counterparts - and as a lover of old records - that's actually true. One of the reasons for this is that some small independent reggae labels had to reuse tapes for economy, so the originals don't exist - and their reissues use a copy of a copy. But this is A&M/Island Records - so the tapes are still in tact and as evidenced here - in tip-top shape. Lurssen has restored life into these songs and brought out the lovely musicianship on them, excessive hiss levels are kept to a minimum without loss of feel and track after track is a joy to listen to. The clarity of the bass, piano, drums and backing vocals on "Please Tell Me Why" is just one of many examples - an absolute REVELATION.
The downside is of course is the ludicrously short playing times of each disc - and the omissions. Hip-O could easily have been doubled up on each CD and the tally of 46 tracks increased to include all of the "Goodbye Yesterday - The Legendary Lost Album" CD of only 9 tracks which you have to buy separately - and included the 6 missing tracks from the "Hard Road To Travel" UK LP. And then there's the 2CD Hip-O Select DELUXE EDITION of "The Harder They Come" which you also need to get a complete picture of Jimmy Cliff at that time (another CD gem too). A musical upside worth noting however is that there are many tracks on this set that cross over into Sixties and Seventies soul - "I've Got A Feeling (And I Can't Stop)" could easily pass as a 1968 Motown dancer - punchy and brill - while "Can't Stop Worrying, Can't Stop Loving You" could easily have been an Al Green hit in 1972. Cool!
To sum up - sure it's expensive and it could have been sequenced to feature more of what we want - but "Better Days Are Coming" is still a peach - a thing of beauty to behold and more importantly to listen too. Frankly - cross as many rivers as you can to get this set into your life.
Jimmy Cliff - Better Days Are Coming: The A&M Years 1969-1971 Poster
In 1969, looking to expand the label's musical horizons, A&M co-founder Jerry Moss met with Chris Blackwell, whose Island Records roster included a plethora of cutting-edge acts including Traffic, Fairport Convention, Cat Stevens and Jimmy Cliff, amongst others. Through a licensing agreement with Island, A&M obtained Cliff. In 1970, Jimmy Cliff delivered reggae to America. It was the first time that a major label would test the airwaves and retail with an unproven foreign musical genre. Despite a top 25 single (the title track), the album's reception stateside was fairly cool, and Wonderful World, Beautiful People would be Cliff's only A&M release. These recordings were made between 1967 and 1971 for Island Records in the UK, the label to which Jimmy Cliff was signed. Our motivation is to illuminate how Jimmy Cliff -and by extension, reggae- was presented in the U.S. prior to the breakthrough of The Harder They Come by the one album A&M Records released and the three they chose not to. Ironically, if Jimmy Cliff had never written and recorded "Many Rivers to Cross," which was on the Wonderful World, Beautiful People album, Cliff would never have come to star in The Harder They Come, which heralded reggae's breakthrough in America. And without Harder, Bob Marley might never have transformed from a regional star into an international artist, thus precluding Eric Clapton's "I Shot the Sheriff" and the reggae-influenced rock of The Police (a staple of the A&M catalogue). Exquisitely packaged in an embossed book loaded with rare photos and extensive notes, the 46 recordings gathered here show an artist on the verge of conquering the world.International Music CDs
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