LOCK DOWN THEATER NIGHT 29

Jimmy Cliff, The Harder They Come

It's a little early for Lock Down Theater re-runs, but there's a good reason. Yesterday I ran into an online report that Toots Hibbert is in intensive care in a Jamaican hospital. Possible covid. Yikes. Though reports today say he's improving, at 77 years old, he's no spring chicken. Thoughts and prayers and all that jazz.

Hibbert was the lead singer of the Maytals, one of the earliest reggae bands. In fact, their song "Do the Reggay" [sic] was the first song title using the word. Hibberts voice is somewhat gruff and when he does the call and response thing sounds almost like gospel backed by a reggae band. In doing searches about his health I also just read that he and the reformed Maytals (consisting of what other singers I'm not sure) just released a new LP in the last week.

I wanted to find the clip of them from The Harder They Come, only to find out that the movie link I'd posted back in April was kaput. The good news is that there's some other stuff. So here's The Harder They Come, the documentary on Toots and the Maytals and assorted Maytals songs, including a streaming version of one off the new LP. Thoughts and,,,well, prayers for some of you. Thoughts anyway.

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~ 

Listen:
The Maytals - Do the Reggay Drop mp3 at Dinosaur Gardens 1968
The Maytals - Pressure Drop mp3 at Dinosaur Gardens 1969
The Maytals - Monkey Man mp3 at Space Pack 1969
The Maytals - Gold and Silver mp3 at The Fader (?) 1971
Toots and the Maytals - Pomp and Pride mp3 at Renan (?) 1972
Toots and the Maytals - Time Tough mp3 at Tumblr 1974
Toots and the Maytals - Got to Be Tough (streaming) at YouTube 2020
Video:
Toots and the Maytals - Sweet and Dandy at YouTube From The Harder They Come
Toots and the Maytals - Documentary at YouTube
The Maytals - Treat Me Bad at YouTube From This Is Ska 1964
 

YOU ALWAYS REMEMBER YOUR FIRST

If you are at all into reggae and haven't seen The Harder They Come, you have missed an entire semester and you will be put back. Go get the soundtrack. Watch the film. It'll not only school you on the varied strains of early seventies reggae, but with the film you'll get an idea of what 1970s Kingston was like. And those of you who are familiar with both, you can stand around looking like a big shot, or you can try a nifty exercise. Listen to the songs below and reflect on when you first heard them, or saw the film, and how it's shaped your views on reggae ever since.

Production on a sequel, The Harder They Come Pt 2 is scheduled to start later this year, with Jimmy Cliff reviving his role, despite the fact that he was shot up and presumed dead in the original. You can read about it here. In the meantime check these. If you're still not convinced, poke around for other clips from the original. They're all over the place.

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~

Listen:
Jimmy Cliff - The Harder They Come mp3 at Cause Equals Time
Toots and the Maytals - Sweet and Dandy mp3 at Atumblr (?)
Scotty - Draw your Brakes mp3 at Le Blog de la Grand Chose
The Melodians - Rivers of Babylon mp3 at Brendan McGetrick (?)
The Slickers - Johnny Too Bad mp3 at DJ No DJ
Desmond Dekker - 007 (Shanty Town) mp3 at Midwestern Housewives
Visit:
Jimmy Cliff to reprise role in 'Harder They Come Pt 2' at The Gleaner
The Harder They Come at Wikipedia

MAYTALS' "SWEET AND DANDY" (I CAN DO THAT!)

Where to start with this clip? It's the Maytals, in a studio scene from "The Harder They Come," one of the reasons I first fell in love with early reggae vocal groups. It was right before the big push to make Toots Hibbert the central focus of the group, which was probably justified because his throaty rasp became one of the most recognizable and enduring reggae voices in the ensuing decades. The clip's also a particulary good example of the gospel and soul influences that often found their way into early reggae vocal groups.
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For me though, the real draw of this clip is a punk rock-esque moment, one that gives me goosebumps everytime I see it. It comes at about 1:52 in the clip where Jimmy Cliff , as the central character Ivan (in the yellow hat), has that "aha!" moment. The epiphany that launched hundreds of reggae (and early punk) careers, the DIY baptism, where the light bulb goes off. The "I can do that!" moment, without which, we'd all still be listening to Perry Como. (To see that captured on film was worth breaking my "no YouTube" policy.)

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And, yes Virgina, there are mp3s. Download "Pressure Drop" if you want the soundtrack to what this oaf calls dancing (it does happen).

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Toots & the Maytals - Pressure Drop mp3 at My Old Kentucky Blog
The Maytals - Gola Silver mp3 and Pee Pee Cluck Cluck mp3 at 33/45