Cliff returns with Sacred Fire
SACRED FIRE is the title of Jimmy Cliff’s new album, scheduled to be released November 29 by Collective Sounds. The set is produced by Tim Armstrong, guitarist with ska/punk band Rancid.
It is Cliff’s first album since Black Magic which was released in 2004.
Prior to the digital release of Sacred Fire, fans will be able to purchase a limited edition, colour-vinyl version of the album. That collection will be available on Friday and features the bonus track, World Upside Down.
Cliff, who was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame last year, said working with Armstrong was a fulfilling experience.
“Tim has such a great foothold in the tradition,” Cliff told The Examiner newspaper of San Francisco. “He woke me up to a lot of the things I had forgotten. I enjoy the creative spontaneity of collaborating with other people — I always want to try new things.”
Armstrong was mutually respectful.
“This is Jimmy’s record. I’m honoured to be a part of it,” Armstrong said.
Though his tours still draw large crowds, Cliff has not had a hit album since the Grammy Award-winning Cliff Hanger of 1985. That album sold over 500,000 units and earned gold status.
Cliff’s last big international song came in 1993 with his cover of Johnny Nash’s I Can See Clearly Now, taken from the Cool Runnings soundtrack. In 2002, he recorded Fantastic Plastic People, an album for the European market featuring The Clash’s Joe Strummer, Sting and Annie Lennox.
Jimmy Cliff started recording as a child in the early 1960s with producer Leslie Kong. In the late 1960s, he moved to Britain where he enjoyed considerable success with the song Wonderful World, Beautiful People.
He became a massive star after starring in The Harder They Come, the 1972 low-budget movie based on the exploits of Ivanhoe ‘Ryghin’ Martin, a gunman who terrorised sections of west Kingston in 1948.
The film’s soundtrack contains songs that are Cliff standards, including the title track, Sitting In Limbo and You Can Get It If You Really Want.