119) The Harder They Come

 Listen Now
Download the cd!
Buy the album at Rhino.com

The movie was a spicy Jamaican stew of Robin Hood, High Sierra and Easy Rider -- reggae singer turns outlaw hero, goes on the run with guns blazing -? with patois dialogue so thick that U.S. audiences needed subtitles. But the magic in the soundtrack needed no translation. The four tracks by the film's star, Jimmy Cliff, are paragons of Jamaican sunshine soul -? his spiritual ballad "Many Rivers to Cross" is one of the finest songs to come from the island ?- while the rest of the LP introduced Babylon to the deep roots and mighty voices of the Melodians, the Slickers and the unstoppable Toots and the Maytals.

Total album sales: Under 500,000

Peak chart position: 140

Next: Run-DMC

Back to RS 500 Albums!
Back to RS 500 Songs!