Customer Reviews

Wonderful World Beautiful People

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This is a classic and the reviewer who said there are only three really good tracks is crazy - every song on this is as exactly as it should be. Put this on while you are drving and feel your spirits lift. Never met anyone who didn't like it once exposed to it. If it is not currently in print, I have to wonder what is wrong with the world. Skip the anthologies - this album deserves to be listened to from beginning to end as one great piece of art from a particular time period.

To capitalize on the strong tracks from his 1st lp, A&M records re-released his "Jimmy Cliff" debut lp in America as the important "Wonderful World, Beautiful People," where it met with a good measure of success.

Whether you buy this lp of Cliff's self titled debut on the Trojan label, you still get many of the strong tracks that made Cliff famous, including "Vietnam," "Time Will Tell," "Many Rivers to Cross," and "Sufferin' In the Land."

An indespensible lp, no reggae collection is complete without either release. Superb.

Magnifficent music from Jimmy Cliff, his early work was as outstanding as his later music.
Much of this album tells of his own experiences and his own hopes for the world.
Time Will Tell and My Ancestors are songs of social alienation and pain.
As is the soulful gospel-sounding hit Many Rivers To Cross.
Viet Nam , a protest song, was judged by Bob Dylan, to be one of the best protest songs about the Vietnam War. Use What I Got is an inspiring melody of hope in a seemingly hopeless situation, as is Hard Road To Travel.
You can see from these songs the tough times that Jimmy Cliff went through in the 1960's in London.
He always retained a strong sense of his Afro-Carribean identity.
Wonderful World, Beautiful People is a bouncy jamboree of hope for a world of peace and love, while Sufferin' In The Land tells of the suffering of the people. Then there are the great love songs like Hello Sunshine and Come Into My Life . A must have for any one who likes reggae/and or the music of the late 60's and early 70's.
An excellent resource to explore some of the earlier reggae music, from one of reggae's great legends.

Jimmy Cliff's WONDERFUL WORLD, BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE was released in the U.S. as A&M SP 4251 on vinyl in 1970 and later on compact disc (75021 3189 2) although it may now be out of print. Every track is worthwhile. The reggae beat is constant, except for "That's the way Life Goes," which offers a refreshing change of pace. Cliff's vocals are consistently enthusiastic.