Poll: The Harder They Come Soundtrack

many rivers to cross

My version of the disc repeats You Can Get It If You Really Want and The Harder They Come at the end of the disc, but I left those off the poll options.

I'd guess that Pressure Drop will win this, but it's a hard poll question (for me, at least). At the moment, I'd say The Slickers, who seem mysterious (I think they totally disappeared after Johnny Too Bad).

Yeah, Many Rivers To Cross is amazing, too.

Surprised this hasn't been polled before, but I didn't find it in the Search archives.

my first reggae album that i bought ~1982 and is still one of me faves (i.e. excellent poll ideal).
voting Scotty, but i could not live happily sans this ablum

pretty impossible for me, between 007 & many rivers & sitting in limbo & pressure drop & johnny too bad (though far i's "johnny get worse" pwns it forever & ever) - seriously I have no idea how to pick

yeah, total tossup. voted "007" just out of <3 for desmond dekker.

Pressure Drop.

"Many Rivers To Cross" over "007" and "Rivers of Babylon" and yes I'm a genre tourist but this album is thoroughly awesome.

I may be the only "Sweet and Dandy" voter, but I hope not. It's such a galvanizing performance.

This is from last year, but he's still got the pipes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGeCeK85sUg

"Pressure Drop" 4 ever and ever

had to vote "Johnny Too Bad"

those of you who haven't heard the Far I voiceover version, here is one of my favorite jams ever:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6NnpNsEBVWc

'Pressure Drop' without any hesitation at all.

I like that Price Far I version, but I wouldn't say it pwns the original. The best thing about PFI is how distinctive a voice he had among "toasters." I guess I'm just not as partial to the I-Roy/U-Roy delivery style. And if I'm wrong -- if there are toasters with voices similar to PFI -- I want to know who they are, so I can check 'em out.

Prince Jazzbo is sort of similar.

Anyway yeah "Pressure Drop" is my vote, despite having heard it like a billion times.

Price Jazzbo made my earlier point: "I Roy, you a bwoy/Imitate the great U Roy."

(not sure what "bwoy" means, tho).

Boy.

Linton Kwesi Johnson is also similar, although not really a DJ.

Deejay rather.

"Many Rivers to Cross" always stuck out for me, seeing as it's the only non-reggae track on a disc famous for breaking reggae big. It's his "Change is Gonna Come" (meets "A Whiter Shade of Pale").

That said, as great as nearly all of these songs are, I've always felt a big affinity for "Rivers of Babylon." So laid back, and it sounds like it can go on forever.

i've always loved how strange and damn near otherworldly the Scotty track sounded. so that. don't think i've ever heard anything else by him, tho.

Scotty seconded. "You cyant play bass":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=weH5EaBFjOY

I'd vote for all of the above, but "Pressure Drop" by a sliver.

(not sure what "bwoy" means, tho).

― Daniel, Esq., Sunday, September 6, 2009 7:47 AM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Boy.

― Alex in SF, Sunday, September 6, 2009 7:54 AM (2 hours ago) Bookmark

LOLLLL

what a hard poll. so so difficult. i guess rivers of babylon? just love it, love the lyrical interpretation...

This entire record is all-time classic status, but I had to vote Johnny Too Bad, for that badass gangster vibe maintained despite its utter laidbackness. And that organ! J0hn I really don't understand how that dude chatting all over the original record "pwns forever and ever" the original record.

This album is the perfect document of the transition from rocksteady to reggae. It's hard to choose, but the amount of space in the original Derek Harriott production of "Stop That Train" is uncanny, and Scotty's toast is utter melancholy.

this is like when you don't vote in an election because you don't really care either way--only completely backwards. voting would hurt 9 other songs' feelings and mine

It's Johnny Too Bad just over 007 for me. Not a fan of Toots when he starts wailing like an old coot, as he does in Pressure.

The Slickers, who seem mysterious (I think they totally disappeared after Johnny Too Bad).

The Slickers' album Break Through is pretty good. Has an "updated" version of Johnny Too Bad, but of course it's inferior to the original.

The Slickers' album Break Through is pretty good. Has an "updated" version of Johnny Too Bad, but of course it's inferior to the original.

omg! Break Through is on eMusic. No idea how I missed this before.

Rocksteady-era harmony groups over that style of 70s production is my favorite thing ever. This is really cool, too: http://www.emusic.com/album/The-Paragons-Heaven-And-Earth-MP3-Download/10961168.html

Yeah. The Paragons recorded the original version of The Tide Is High (later made famous by Blondie). The original is great.

Indeed. John Holt isn't on 'Heaven and Earth', but it hardly matters. Which is saying a lot considering what a talent he is. And of course if you don't already have On The Beach with The Paragons, you gotta pick it up. One of the best albums ever made.

Actually this is the version to get.

That version is also on eMusic.

Wow I totally glossed over that. Haha love how emusic has the wrong photo and bio info for them.

"Pressure Drop" easily. The Jimmy Cliff material is the weakest stuff on the album, although still very good.

title track

(although, pressure drop really, really close!)

Rivers of Babylon for me, with Johnny Too Bad as a close second.

very surprised to see no love yet for "sweet and dandy"!!

Cant possibly top "Many Rivers To Cross"

i cant stand the title song or many rivers to cross. but i love the maytals songs on it. sweet and dandy esp cos of the guitar on it but also pressure drop. got to be sweet and dandy though.

actually i cant stand any of the jimmy cliff songs on this :(

Have to say I'm not big on them either. And for such a celebrated song, does no-one else find that 'white cliffs of Dover' line in 'Many Rivers' really awkward and off-putting?

I've always assumed it's somewhat autobiographical, and he was bumming around the south coast at some point. But yeah, it does stick out a bit.

does no-one else find that 'white cliffs of Dover' line in 'Many Rivers' really awkward and off-putting?

I love the lyrics of this song, actually. They seem so poignant and honest, e.g., "There have been times I find myself/Thinking of committing some dreadful crime."

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

http://bestofdrawsomething.com/drawings/of/brakes

hadn't heard that early Prince Far-I track JD posted. was reading this thread the other day, and saw this:

And that organ! J0hn I really don't understand how that dude chatting all over the original record "pwns forever and ever" the original record.

i mean, i agree with JD but understand WotM and it got me wondering just why so many of my favourite versions are interfered with/toasted versions. another one directly relating to THTC is Cool Breeze, which I like very much and possibly prefer to the Scotty version:

https://youtu.be/P_qLUItrBwI

i mean, obviously, there's the monumentally righteous towering voices, delivering political or moral lessoning over the heart's melodies, but i think there's something also of the fragments of melodiousness=fragmented longing, making it more poignant. probably the most extreme example for me is Miss Lou Ring-a-Ding by Big Youth again, (toasting over John Holt's Strange Things). Now, in any sane world, I know there's no way this version should take precedence over the haunting original, and yet, the wonders of the original version seem to me more vivid in Miss Lou Ring-a-Ding because interrupted and fleeting.

http://youtu.be/EaOLRW4rFGc

also i *like* interfered with music that gesture towards the edges of the sonic world they inhabit - remember thinking about something similar to do with Nervous Norvus' Transfusion in the '50s poll. Having multiple mental rhythms, or translucent upper layers through which influence and background seep through, overcome and recede is always immensely appealing (something I thought PJ Harvey did brilliantly on Let England Shake and obv persistent favourites the Fall have habitually produced.