Jimmy Cliff: I Am the Living

Jimmy Cliff: I Am the Living

1980

MCA Records

Format I Own it on: Vinyl

Track Listing: 1. I Am the Living  2. Another Summer  3. All The Strength We Got  4.
It's The Beginning Of An End  5. Gone Clear  6. Love Again  7. Satan's Kingdom  8. Morning Train


With the sheer volume of Jimmy Cliff albums and the willy nilly manner in which I bought/listened to them, it's somewhat hard to get a handle on Mr. Cliff's artistic trajectory, but I think I got it...You're free to disagree with me:

He initially finds worldwide fame with a series of essentially flawless reggae releases. Innovative in their omnivorousness and pleasing to the ear due to Jimmy's sweet vocal tone and earthy instrumentation. Then he goes into a downcast series of slower, soulful albums that aren't widely acknowledged classics but the diehards go crazy for. Then he goes through a somewhat fascinating stage where his albums are grab-bags of  brilliant reggae, paranoid musings and desperate bids for hits. Then comes "Give Thankx" where he seems to find some peace of mind with gentle African  rhythms and mellow reggae and this is where "I Am the Living" picks up...

First off, I love the cover..

The black & white photo with the red text reminds of Jimmy Cliff's version of "The Slider."  

 

After the excellent title track, which is such a prime example of the kind of straight-up, life-affirming  reggae anthem that Jimmy does best, we quickly settle into an album that emits a soothing easiness. Songs like "It's the Beginning of the End" and "Another Summer" feature shimmery electric pianos and gospel vocals. In the soft category I tend to prefer the more roots-based "Love Again" and "All The Strength We Got" which are lilting but still have a bit of that reggae fire igniting certain moments.

There are some awesome exceptions though, "Gone Clear" is one of Jimmy's toughest funkiest moments. It almost reminds me of a Jamaican James Brown(!) at times. And I had to flinch a bit when I saw the title "Satan's Kingdom" because I suddenly had flashbacks to the paranoid/persecuted Jimmy Cliff of the mid-to-late 70s'...But it's actually a pretty killer example of righteous reggae and possibly one of the best song on here... 

The album ends with "Morning Train" which is so singular, I can't really think of another song like it...Chugging reggae with an ominous soft-rock feel...The song says "morning" in the title, but I get a darker "just before dawn"  feel from it...You can clearly picture the last of the stars fading as the rickety morning train choogles down the tracks...Damn, I  love this song. It's become one of new favorite Jimmy Cliff tracks...

Again, Jimmy is difficult to pin down...Reggae, soul, rock, he can do it all and blend it together until the individual ingredients become almost indistinguishable...I often hear the complaint that reggae all sounds the same, but I doubt those people have seriously listened to a Jimmy Cliff record. This isn't his best album or anything, but it's pretty solid and comes at an interesting period in his career. Shortly after this, he 80's-ized his sound and became very squarely an 80's pop artist...What I'm trying to say is "just buy it"...It's an interesting album and it's hard to find the entire album anywhere online but it's probably waiting in a used record bin near you for about 3 or 4 bucks...

Here's "Morning Train" by Jimmy Cliff...Enjoy it...