cliff hanger (1985) - jimmy cliff: columbia records, FC-40002

Back in the early 70’s the explosion of Bob Marley resulted in the American music industry “discovering” reggae, and like a hunter stumbling across a rare albino tiger, they wanted to kill it. The mere idea of an untapped vein of profit made their mouths water and their avarice grow. So, they decided that reggae was the Next Big Thing and they tried to go all-in to capitalize on it and squeeze every last cent from the buyers.

Unfortunately, most of the American record company execs don’t really “get” reggae, and so throughout the 70’s and early 80’s they engaged in clumsy promotion and ineffective exposure. They treated reggae the way they treated all other music, as just another product to mass-produce, advertise and sell, no different than breakfast cereal or foot powder. It never dawned on them that reggae might have a unique appeal to a select group of music lovers, and when faced with something that didn’t fit their preconceived assumptions it’s no surprise that they fucked it all up.

They packaged reggae the same way they did soul or funk – as an ethnic niche only of interest to Black America. The result? Failure. In the US reggae never Caught A Fire (get it?) beyond Bob Marley, and when he died in 1981 the labels were left with the task of trying to actually raise interest in other reggae musicians.

So, the record companies, as they will do, concluded that the problem was with the music rather than their inept handling, and decided that they needed to “fix” reggae.

The result is the album Cliff Hanger.

Side 1: Hitting with Music American Sweet Arrival Brown Eyes Reggae Street
Side 2: Hotshot Sunrise Dead And Awake Now And Forever Nuclear War

This album is just awful. All of the songs sound like they were lifted from a soundtrack to shitty 80’s cop movie. Not only do they sound dated, they are also painful as well. It’s clear that the intent was to try to reinvent Cliff as some sort of island-born Michael Jackson, so they made an "accessible" reggae album where the actual reggae was almost completely erased leaving songs that felt like something a bad Off The Wall or Thriller cover band would play. In fact, this album was so bad, I almost wasn’t able to listen to the whole thing.

And the sad thing is that, by all rights, Cliff ought to have had more success in the United States. His resume certainly would lead one to believe so: great voice, engaging personality, and reggae bona fides. But Cliff just never resonated with audiences here the way Marley did.

Maybe that was because nobody could ever really connect the way Marley did. In any case, Cliff was a different sort of reggae singer than Marley. Marley was Roots, while Cliff was more pop. Marley brought the spiritual side of rastafari and the struggle to leave Babylon for Zion, while Cliff was more about the here and now. Marley sang about Jah, while Cliff sang about Joe (if that makes sense).

And maybe that’s why Cliff Hanger sucks so much. Because Cliff, being more a pop guy, may likely have been open to changing his music in order to make it more appealing to American audiences. Which, paradoxically, made it incredibly un-appealing.


As a punchline to all this, in what can only be called the irony of just how out-of-touch the Grammy awards are, Cliff Hanger ended up winning the 1986 Best Reggae Album award - despite the fact that there really is no reggae on the record at all. I mean, the Police and the Clash were doing more legit reggae than Cliff did on this thing..

Up next: Prog, soprano style.