★★★★★
The rebirth of the title arguably began last year with Sacred Fire, an EP produced by Rancid's Tim Armstrong that effortlessly swept Cliff back in time to the taut, economical reggae of his late 60s/early 70s purple patch. Armstrong is at the helm again for these 13 tracks, which must rank as among the most assured and apposite of the 64-year-old singer's career...
- recordcollectormag.com
2013-04-02
★★★★★
Genre: Reggae Year: 2004 Country: USA Official Site: Jimmy Cliff Details: Tracks & Audio Label: Universal During these troubled times, revisiting one of reggae's prodigal sons is apropos given the parallel that is sometimes drawn between Viet Nam and Iraq. Jimmy Cliff introduced Americans to reggae music, and it's partly thanks to him that even today a good percentage of college dorms features a poster of Bob Marley...
- www.plume-noire.com
2013-04-01
★★★★★
Record Review If the world were fair, Jimmy Cliff would be more popular than Bob Marley. But I guess in the end it's just like Island Records boss Chris Blackwell said in the early 1970s: Bob was a more lucrative opportunity. Jimmy just didn't have the image. But I've got to be honest about my serious undying love for Jimmy Cliff...
- www.cokemachineglow.com
2012-08-13
★★★★★
Sacred Fire was just the beginning; with Rebirth, Jimmy Cliff has launched a full-on comeback. Much like that limited edition EP, Rebirth finds the reggae icon returning to his earliest roots. Cliff has said that this record offered him a chance to revisit the roots reggae of his self-titled 1969 album. That's a heck of a journey through time, but with a production assist from Rancid's Tim Armstrong, it comes off quite naturally...
- www.punknews.org
2012-07-23
★★★★★
Reggae music legend Jimmy Cliff turned 64 on the first of April this year. In 2010, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame, making him only the second reggae artist to ever achieve such status (the other, of course, is Bob Marley). In 1972, the singer starred in The Harder They Come, a movie that introduced him to the American mainstream as his Ivanhoe "Ivan" Martin proved to be a mesmerizing character for audiences everywhere...
- www.popmatters.com
2012-07-19
★★★★★
Has anyone ever sounded as joyous as Jimmy Cliff when expressing such deep concern for the state of the world? Now aged 64, the reggae superstar sounds as socially engaged as ever on this remarkably consistent set of mostly self-penned songs, which explicitly revisit the sonic terrain of his biggest 60s/70s hits. What could've felt like an ageing artist desperately chasing past glories instead succeeds as a vibrant reconnection with what made him so great in the first place...
- www.bbc.co.uk
2012-07-16
★★★★★
Jimmy Cliff is not a likely candidate for the American Recordings-style, late-career comeback. Since his 1970s heyday--most notably with the game-changing soundtrack of The Harder They Come--the singer has maintained his status as one of reggae's most dependable artists. But there's been a slick sheen and bloodless professionalism with much of his recent output. That's been rectified with Rebirth...
- www.altpress.com
2012-07-16
★★★★★
Jimmy cliff announced reggae to the world stage off the back of 1972's The Harder They Come film. Now he's returned forty years later to complete his message of unity with a reggae and ska LP that stops looking for progressive musical detail and focuses on huge songs, wrapped up in love and riddled with universal messages for the 21st Century's problems. Opener 'Bang' could easily be the work of Jerry Dammers such is the skank on the wah wah guitar...
- www.clashmusic.com
2012-07-12
★★★★★
Reggae royalty Jimmy Cliff has kept a low profile in recent years, so this five-song EP is noteworthy. He's teamed with producer Tim Armstrong of Rancid, a band that has long felt right at home mixing punk, ska, and reggae. It's therefore not surprising Cliff largely hews toward the bubbly, upbeat skank of reggae's old school, when he was a youngster recording for Jamaican producer Leslie Kong...
- www.austinchronicle.com
2012-03-15
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