On this day in music history: July 7, 1972

[Blackstar*]

“The Harder They Come - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack” is released. Produced by Jimmy Cliff, Derrick Harriot, Leslie Kong, Byron Lee, Guilly Bright, and Bunny Lee, it is recorded in Various Studios from 1967 - 1972. The album serves as the soundtrack to the cult classic film starring reggae singer Jimmy Cliff. The film co-written and directed by Perry Henzell is about a Jamaican man turned reggae singer who turns to a life of crime after being taken advantage of by an unscrupulous record label owner. The soundtrack features original songs by Cliff as well as previously released singles by prominent reggae artists such as Desmond Dekker, Toots & The Maytals, DJ Scotty, and The Melodians. The film will become an underground classic and the album (originally issued on Island Records’ Mango imprint in the US) will help popularize and broaden the audience for reggae music in the US and around the world. In 2003, Universal Music Group will release a 2 CD Deluxe Edition of the album with one disc containing a remastered version of the original soundtrack, with the second disc consisting of numerous classic reggae singles recorded during the same era. “The Harder They Come” will peak at number one hundred forty on the Billboard Top 200.

[Reggae plus]

Excellent movie. Even better soundtrack. One of the best soundtrack cds ever...any genre. Still popular...especially in Merry Olde.

The Yard's TV inspired fixation with 'westerns' was a real grass roots, bass-line inspiration for this [at the time] modern Jamaican 'shoot 'em up' conflict which turns a 'good seed' into a very bad one.

The old greedy cattle/land barons are replaced by record/recording execs. The old anxious to please young cow-poke by Mr. Chambers.

Kind of an up to the minute [1972 style] combo of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid rolled into one Ivanhoe Martin who goes down in an onslaughted hail of bullets at the hands of the Babylon System. [and the men in the shadows]

Both the movie and soundtrack are must-owns for anyone interested in aspects of Jamaican culture and history. Not saying that the story is such...but the mind-set isn't far removed from certain realities. The music is pure, spot-on joy.