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#1 2010-07-17 17:20:46
- Rip Rig & Panic
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Ions of Cool: Jimmy Cliff
Which year did I first see that movie? 1976? I think I was the only white guy in the cinema, and they actually hissed each time a rastaman appeared on screen. I hadn't heard any heavy reggae at this time, only bluebeat and ska, Ken Boothe etc. Guys like Prince Far-I were yet to come.
#3 2010-07-18 03:04:25
- 4F Hepcat
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Re: Ions of Cool: Jimmy Cliff
Jimmy Cliff was a top cool icon in my sixth-form, well at least between me and a couple of muccas. I rememver we tried to get hold of 'The Harder They Come' on video, couldn't get a copy anywhere. Nor 'Quadrophenia', both the record and film. The only thing I really wanted and managed to get hold of was TSC's 'Jerusalem'.
I remember there was a rumour that Cliff had done a Country record like Elvis Costello's 'Almost Blue'.
Vibe-Rations in Spectra-Sonic-Sound
#5 2010-07-18 06:18:15
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Re: Ions of Cool: Jimmy Cliff
Country: can be beautiful or ghastly. Much misunderstood. Sandy Rogers is excellent.
#6 2010-07-18 06:32:27
- Kingstonian
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Re: Ions of Cool: Jimmy Cliff
^ I used to like Roy Rogers when I was a kid. Great time for cowboy films. He had his own My Little Pony and fancy clothes too.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkg2C_EIea0&feature=related
#7 2010-07-18 06:37:15
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Re: Ions of Cool: Jimmy Cliff
Kip-i-ay-eh? I can never remember quite how Bruce Willis phrases it.
#8 2010-07-18 06:46:42
- michael-j
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Re: Ions of Cool: Jimmy Cliff
Nashville style country like Jim Reeves was very popular across the Caribbean.
Jimmy Cliff was never much of a reggae artist, always seemed to prefer the slower stuff, country, etc, and despite the Star of David teeshirt in The Harder They Come, don't think he ever was a Rasta. he later converted to Islam (Prince Buster did as well, back in 64). The Harder They Come is mostly excellent, but the soundtrack is a bit of a disappointment - several tracks are repeated, and Jamaica really isn't a place lacking in appropriate material to use - extras on the DVD include an interview with Perry Hazell, and i got the impression that he's not particularly interested in music...
Rockers and Countryman are also worth a watch (all star cast in Rockers too, loads of big names in reggae in it).
Babylon is good too, for the UK side, starring a young Brinsley Forde, back when Aswad were rastas (and good). saw it on a dodgy n-th generation VHS copy, but finally seems to have got a proper rerelease...
#9 2010-07-18 06:50:32
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Re: Ions of Cool: Jimmy Cliff
I'll check that out. The movie didn't seem quite so good when I saw it thirty years on.
#10 2010-07-18 14:41:12
- Beatnik's ghost
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Re: Ions of Cool: Jimmy Cliff
Nice to see the forum opening it's mind to different stuff. Nice one...
#11 2010-07-18 17:47:54
- ParsonOban
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Re: Ions of Cool: Jimmy Cliff
On the subject of C&W's influence on reggae and similar Jamaican music, was it Willie Nelson that once said (when making his own reggae album) how Jamaicans were listening to radio stations from Florida but the reception was so bad most of what they heard was the bassline? It sounds a little far-fetched but one should never discount unexpected strains of musical influence ... all over the world, basically.
#12 2010-07-21 08:36:22
- fxh
- Big Down Under.
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Re: Ions of Cool: Jimmy Cliff
Great version of the John Denver song "Take me Home Country Roads" by Toots and The Maytals
#13 2010-07-21 17:21:26
- Hard Bop Hank
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Re: Ions of Cool: Jimmy Cliff
Really dug The Harder... too, and would watch it again... a reference to a Western of the Spaghetti kind (Django?) with a cinema scene and at the end of the movie, too... so maybe there's the Reggae C&W connection circle back to the beginning of the thread...
a bit like the metafilm aspect in A Bout de Souffle maybe... not making any further connections....
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#14 2010-07-21 17:48:35
- ParsonOban
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Re: Ions of Cool: Jimmy Cliff
Shining some light on the matter: http://books.google.si/books?id=felkD8CI97sC&pg=PA182&lpg=PA182&dq=country+and+western+influence+on+reggae&source=bl&ots=gNiedEVa2X&sig=arzuFN8sgRA4AhkrupQiXOaULZo&hl=en&ei=0IZHTKrKHdq5jAfUrvj0Bg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=9&ved=0CDoQ6AEwCA#v=onepage&q=country%20and%20western%20influence%20on%20reggae&f=false
#16 2010-08-13 13:58:25
- 4F Hepcat
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Re: Ions of Cool: Jimmy Cliff
That reminds me to go and post some Cypress Hill.....
Vibe-Rations in Spectra-Sonic-Sound
#17 2010-08-13 14:08:36
- Get Smart
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Re: Ions of Cool: Jimmy Cliff
Cliff is playing at the Del Mar racetrack in San Diego county tomorrow