The artist formerly known as James Chambers was born in St.
\nJames, Jamaica. Now known as Jimmy Cliff, he is considered one of
\nthe premiere reggae long-distance runners. His first hit came to
\nhim in 1963, after he was discovered in an ice cream parlor. (You
\njust never know who is listening.) His attentive fan base continues
\nto grow even now, and justifiably so. Beginning with
\nHard Road To Travel<\/i>, his debut album in 1967\/1968, and
\nculminating with present-day
\nBlack Magic<\/i>, Jimmy continues to prove that reggae is true
\n“world music.”<\/p>\n
Jimmy quickly outgrew the boundaries of Jamaica; he saw the
\npotential in exposing the world to Reggae, and he has fulfilled
\nthat challenge. His music was one of the first to arouse an
\ninterest in ska.<\/p>\n
With
\nBlack Magic<\/i>, Jimmy does not downplay the realities of
\npoverty and politics and has used his patient nature to allow his
\nmusic to speak the truth. “People” is an excellent example of his
\ndesire to improve the world. This song features Sting and Tony
\nRebel, although I actually forgot they played a role, as Jimmy’s
\nvocals are strong enough to handle it on his own. This is easily my
\nfavorite pick of the album: “There comes a time to gather around
\nagain…. People let’s get together and show our power all over the
\nworld.”<\/p>\n
He fosters a positive nature — “you’re not just a victim” —
\nand he makes you feel that if we all were just humble enough to put
\naside our differences, everything would turn out alright. “No
\nProblems, only Solutions”, is another forceful song and that’s
\npractical to our daily lives. I like the bit of funk, and again,
\nthe lyrics commend those that seek a constructive way to solve
\nproblems.<\/p>\n
I was a bit disappointed with “Terror,” honoring those lost on
\nSeptember 11 (as Jimmy describes it, “hell in heaven”). I found the
\nmusic a bit too chipper for such a solemn topic, but that doesn’t
\ndetract from the lyrics as they are clear and concise and remind us
\nof the loss suffered that day.<\/p>\n
This man’s album is based on providing encouragement to seek
\ncreative responses to everyday issues. Life isn’t easy, but we can
\nstill allow our integrity and love of human kind to guide us. I
\nthink he would agree with the author Loretta Laroche who stated,
\n“life is short, wear your party pants.”<\/p>\n
This album provides upbeat music and as long as the album plays,
\nyou can forget your troubles, and think about the good things in
\nlife. Jimmy leaves nothing out; as a whole, you leave the table
\nfeeling full and satisfied.<\/p>\n
\nBlack Magic<\/i> also displays Jimmy’s ability to share the
\nlimelight with other artists such as Annie Lennox, Joe Strummer
\n(The Clash), Sting, Jools Holland (Squeeze), Kool and the Gang, and
\nWyclef Jean. Although unnecessary, the extracurricular vocalists
\nand musicians provide a multi-dimensional background for Jimmy’s
\nexpressive lyrics and fat vocals.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":46,"featured_media":26902,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[7099],"rating":[5615],"class_list":["post-38202","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-jimmy-cliff","rating-rating-b"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/38202","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/46"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38202"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/38202\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26902"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38202"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38202"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=38202"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=38202"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}