Juke Box Jury
It’s been so long since an R&B record of any kind really knocked me out that I’d almost forgotten the feeling. I don’t know if purists would class reggae with soul music, but when I hear Jimmy Cliff all I can think of is early Curtis Mayfield, Smokey Robinson and Sam Cooke; and that’s good enough for me.
Juke Box Jury
BY GREG SHAW
The Next Soul Giant? Meet Jimmy Cliff
March 21
It’s been so long since an R&B record of any kind really knocked me out that I’d almost forgotten the feeling. I don’t know if purists would class reggae with soul music, but when I hear Jimmy Cliff all I can think of is early Curtis Mayfield, Smokey Robinson and Sam Cooke; and that’s good enough for me. I think we are witnessing in Cliff the emergence of a truly great black singer, clearly in a league with the above-named. Soul, before it meant slick singing and vapid production (with obvious exceptions like the O’Jays I’m thinking here mainly of A1 Green and his ilk) had something to do with feeling, and that’s one commodity Jimmy Cliff has in abundance.