Jimmy Cliff is reggae’s second-most-famous singer, tied with about 20 other people who aren’t Bob Marley, but his stature is mostly based on music he made 40 years ago. Tim Armstrong, who mixed punk and reggae in Rancid, attempts to relaunch Cliff by connecting legacies and influences. So Cliff covers “Ruby Soho,” a Rancid song, and The Clash’s “Guns of Brixton,” which refers to Cliff’s role in The Harder They Come. Cliff ’s ghostly tenor – less robust but still cheerful and defiant – gets tangled in the verses of “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall,” chosen because Dylan and Cliff share a mutual admiration. Sacred Fire succeeds more as a history lesson than as music.

Listen To "Guns of Brixton":

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• Videos: Jimmy Cliff at Rolling Stone Live
• Reggae King Jimmy Cliff Takes Back His Crown

“Ambling Alp”

The "Ambling Alp" was the nickname of the six-and-a-half-foot-tall Primo Carnera. Though the song is named after the Italian-born 1930s heavyweight champion, Yeasayer are actually paying tribute to boxing legend Joe Louis with this first-person psychedelic dance-rock tune. “I was always interested in writing a song that had boxing mythology in it,” Yeasayer’s Chris Keating said. “It’s pretty fascinating: There were so many amazing characters, and it was so closely entwined with 20th century history.” Yeaseyer also invokes German champ Max Schmeling and hints at the historical significance placed on the historic bouts between the Nazi-era boxer and the African-American Louis.