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Thursday, Jul 7 2022, 7AM
On this day 50-years ago, just 10-years after Jamaica gained independence from the United Kingdom, the soundtrack to the film The Harder They Come was released.
Jamaican film-maker Perry Henzell wrote and directed the cult-classic film, which captured the essence of Jamaica and popularized Jamaican music across the world.
The Harder They Come was the first full-length film shot in Jamaica with a full Jamaican cast and director, and went on to show the world the harsh realities of exploitation and crime in the country’s capital, Kingston. It tells the story of Ivan Martin (whom The Clash mention in “The Guns of Brixton”), played by Jimmy Cliff, a young country boy who moves to Kingston to make a living as a singer. Depicting social difficulties and tensions in the 1970s, it charts the rise and dramatic fall of Ivan into a life of drugs and violence as he attempts to get by. Throughout, the struggles of Ivan’s life are sound tracked by some of the most well-known reggae acts, including Toots and the Maytals, Desmond Dekker and the Aces, and Cliff himself.
The soundtrack album played a major part in popularizing reggae in the United States and the world beyond, the film itself preventing the genre from remaining an isolated phenomenon in Jamaica. In 2021, the album was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Recording Registry.
theculturetrip.com
Upon release, “Waiting in Vain” made it onto the top 30 of the UK Singles Chart. Annie Lennox also covered “Waiting in Vain” in 1995, and her version made the top 40.
"All You Need Is Love" was released 55 years ago today!
John Lennon wrote this as a continuation of the idea he was trying to express in his 1965 song "The Word." John was fascinated by how slogans effect the masses and was trying to capture the same essence as songs like "We Shall Overcome." He once stated, "I like slogans. I like advertising. I love the telly." In a 1971 interview about his song "Power To The People," he was asked if that song was propaganda. He said, "Sure. So was 'All You Need Is Love.' I'm a revolutionary artist. My art is dedicated to change."
Phosphorescent performed live in the KEXP studio in 2013. They played four wonderful songs, including "Song for Zula". youtu.be
It’s KEXP’s 50th anniversary! To celebrate we’re playing songs you know and love from 2013! kexp.org/50/
When the then-unknown Tracy Chapman was booked to appear down the bill at the Nelson Mandela birthday concert at Wembley Stadium on June 11, 1988, little did she know her appearance would be the catalyst for a career breakthrough. After performing several songs from her self titled debut during the afternoon, Chapman thought she'd done her bit and could relax and enjoy the rest of the concert. However, later in the evening Stevie Wonder was delayed when the computer discs for his performance went missing, and Chapman was ushered back onto stage again. In front of a huge prime time audience she performed "Fast Car" alone with her acoustic guitar. Afterwards the song raced up the charts on both sides of the Atlantic.
www.songfacts.com
The beginning of the song, "All God's children need traveling shoes" is the title of a book by the writer Maya Angelou. It is the fifth and last book of her autobiography series in which Angelou writes about her dream to return home as a black American woman to Africa and her subsequent emigration to Ghana.
Said Tikaram: "I don't know why I used it but it sounded poetic and spiritual too me; the rest of the song is really about not understanding - when you're 18, you've got a very particular emotional relationship with the world, you feel very isolated, and everybody else is so distant and cold. And I think I was singing about not feeling anything or not being moved by things around. I think this is a strong feeling when you're just after adolescence.
Van Etten chose not to put out any singles ahead of We've Been Going About This All Wrong's release. "I still believe in the idea of an album," she told Rolling Stone; she hopes listeners will listen to the record in its entirety to understand the scope of its story. Her album bio calls the decision to release the album this way a "subtle act of control," and given the powerlessness Van Etten confronts across the record, it makes sense. In the face of time, trauma and loss, it's understandable to try to hold more tightly to the things within your grasp — to be painstaking about your work, to be exacting about your vision. Care doesn't just animate the lyrics of these songs, but also the choices Van Etten made in creating and releasing the record. n.pr
Tears For Fears' album "Elemental" was released on this day in 1993!
This was the first single from Tears for Fears' fourth studio album, 1993's "Elemental." Curt Smith had left the band by this time, so the song featured Roland Orzabal with peripheral Tears For Fears band members Alan Griffiths and Gail Ann Dorsey. "A lot of the songs were written while I was in a sense going through the 'divorce,'" Orzabal told The Washington Post in 1993. "Things like 'Break It Down Again' refer to that to some degree, and 'Fish Out of Water,' obviously. I did psychotherapy for about six years. I stopped going regularly when I'd finished Elemental, which I think probably says something. I think I'm moving on."
Smith returned to the band in 2004.
Dear John,
Could you please play Common People by Pulp for this Englishman on his birthday?
Love,
Mark in Oakland.
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Happy birthday Mark!
On this day 50-years ago the soundtrack to the film The Harder They Come was released.
Enjoy this throwback KEXP blog post by Levi Fuller about prolific reggae artist Jimmy Cliff, who made his debut in 1967:
kexp.org
"Wichita Lineman" is a song written by the American songwriter Jimmy Webb in 1968. Heading westward on a straight road into the setting sun, Webb drove past a seemingly endless line of telephone poles, each looking exactly the same as the last. Then he noticed, in the distance, the silhouette of a solitary lineman atop a pole. He described it as "the picture of loneliness". Webb then "put himself atop that pole and put that phone in his hand" as he considered what the lineman was saying into the receiver.
Cash came up with the lyrics “But I shot a man in Reno, just to watch him die,” by sitting and thinking of what the worst reason would be to kill someone.
If you shot a man in Reno in the 1950s, you most likely would have ended up in Nevada State Prison, located in Carson City, NV, and not Folsom Prison.
Fontaines D.C. played LIVE on KEXP back on May 14th! See the full performance: bit.ly
The title of Fontaines D.C.'s album, Skinty Fia, draws its name from an old Irish swear-word that translates to "the damnation of the deer."
fontainesdc.bandcamp.com
The Smile are playing WaMu Theater in Seattle on December 16th!
The debut from Thom Yorke, Jonny Greenwood, and drummer Tom Skinner’s new group. Read more here pitchfork.com
Paid in Full is the debut album of American hip hop duo Eric B. & Rakim and one of the most influential rap albums of all time was released 35 years ago today!
Eric B. & Rakim performed this track on the show Soul Train, getting a huge response at the line, "Grab the mic like I'm on Soul Train." youtu.be
Thank you for making space for how much everything weighs on us. Can you serve up that daily dose of Beyonce - Break My Soul as a little bit of medicine?
Anastasia, Tacoma
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New Beyoncé released in anticipation of forthcoming seventh solo studio album, RENAISSANCE. "Break My Soul" samples New Orleans' Queen of Bounce, Big Freedia, and "Show Me Love" by Robin S. Robin S. didn't know she featured on Beyoncé's new single until her phone started pinging! ab.co
Afropunk review of this excellent song: bit.ly "The music video [for "Q.U.E.E.N."] is loaded with subtle imagery and intriguing subtext—alluding to historical Black iconography and examining the paradox of museum culture—while playing with the ideas of Afro-Futurism and the past being reignited to usher us into a future with a multitude identities and equality." Check out the video! youtu.be
Raspberry Beret reached #2 on the Billboard Hot 100. It was beat to #1 by Duran Duran's A View To A Kill.
Prince discussed the meaning of 'Around the World in a Day' with Rolling Stone in 1985: "I was trying to say something about looking inside oneself to find perfection. Perfection is in everyone. Nobody's perfect, but they can be. We may never reach that, but it's better to strive than not." bit.ly
On this day 50-years ago the soundtrack to the film The Harder They Come was released.
The Harder They Come was the first full-length film shot in Jamaica with a full Jamaican cast and director, and went on to show the world the harsh realities of exploitation and crime in the country’s capital, Kingston. It tells the story of Ivan Martin - whom The Clash mention in “The Guns of Brixton”
Celebrating 50 years of "The Harder They Come" soundtrack.
The Slickers toured the United Kingdom and United States on the back of the success of "Johnny Too Bad", and continued until 1979, when they recorded the Breakthrough album, before splitting up.
Sudan Archives will be at Capitol Hill Block Party on July 22nd, but if you can't catch them then, they'll be back in Seattle at Neumos on Saturday, October 1st. sudanarchives.com
Sudan Archives say this new song is “about women and the celebration of hair. It’s about representation of different hair textures and embracing all colors and textures of it.” bit.ly
Join us at Seattle Center for KEXP50, a free community concert and celebration, commemorating 50 years of music and community. Saturday, August 6th from 12PM to 7PM, featuring performances beginning at 1pm from Sons of Kemet (last US show ever), Thao, Chk Chk Chk, Tomo Nakayama, LIVt and special guests. With food trucks, beer garden with ID, DJs broadcasting live from the gathering space and much more. KEXP50 - Saturday August 6th. More information at KEXP.org
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Shabaka Hutchings, leader of this UK jazz group, called this song the "central (ideological) axis-point" of the album, adding that "the Source refers to the principles which govern traditional African cosmologies/ontological outlooks and symbolizes the inner journey."
www.shabakahutchings.com
I'm feeling like we need some Assembly Line from the Commodores this morning. To remind us to resist the man and the machine and go live our lives.
Megan in Redmond
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Jungle play the THING! Festival in Port Townsend in on Sunday, August 28th. thingnw.org
Jungle performed live on KEXP back in October: bit.ly
The soundtrack to the cult classic The Harder They Come was released 50 years ago today!
Dekker wrote the song after watching news coverage of a student demonstration against government plans to build an industrial complex on land close to the beach, which descended into violence.
In Dekker's words:
"The students had a demonstration and it went all the way around to Four Shore Road and down to Shanty Town. You got wildlife and thing like that because it down near the beach. And the higher ones wanted to bulldoze the whole thing down and do their own thing and the students said no way. And it just get out of control...Is just a typical riot 'cause I say - Them a loot, them a shoot, them a wail."
"Can't Get Used to Losing You" is a song written by Jerome "Doc" Pomus and Mort Shuman, first made popular by Andy Williams in a 1963 record release, which was a number-two hit in both the US and the UK. Twenty years later, British band The Beat took a reggae re-arrangement to number three in the UK.
Williams' vocals on the song's verses were double-tracked in unison, and overdubbed on the choruses so the listener hears Andy singing harmony with himself.
In 1963, Patti Page recorded a version, with strings background, as part of the Say Wonderful Things album. In the same year, Paul Anka included it on the album Song I Wish I'd Written, and Julie London performed it on The Wonderful World of Julie London. Bobby Rydell did his rendition the same year. In 1965, Chad and Jeremy's cover appeared on their Before and After.
Dandy and the Israelites performed it as reggae in 1970, whilst Danny Ray released a ska version in 1976.
Another Andy Williams cover, electro dance style!
Famous rocksteady song written and performed by Jamaican reggae singer songwriter and star of The Harder They Come, Jimmy Cliff. A version was recorded by Jamaican singer Desmond Dekker and released within a few weeks of Cliff's version.
Happy birthday to Ringo Starr! In addition to Yellow Submarine, Ringo is singing on Octopus's Garden, With a Little Help From My Friends, and Don’t Pass Me By.
"That song has a good duality, which I love in music frontman Bobby Gillespie told The Sun. "Country and soul are two of my favourite genres. They can be ecstatic and painful at the same time. Marvin Gaye was the king of that with 'I Heard It Through The Grapevine' and even 'Sexual Healing.'"
The Haunted Youth are pulling out all the stops with this uptempo summer tune, making you walk on air and long for a drink on a festival site. Echoing the grandiose style of high-sounding bands such as The Cure and M83, ‘Broken’ naturally also bears the band’s instantly recognizable signature dreamy sound.
www.thehauntedyouth.be
thehauntedyouthofficial.bandcamp.com
Hug of Thunder is the fifth studio album by Canadian indie rock musical collective Broken Social Scene, released on this day in 2017!
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"Halfway Home" was chosen as a KEXP Song of the Day and you can download it for free here: www.kexp.org
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Broken Social Scene performed live in the KEXP studio in 2017. Watch here: www.youtube.com
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Broken Social Scene plays the Paramount Theater on Saturday, Sept 24th - brokensocialscene.ca
The music video for this song is a short film, directed by Emily Kai Bock and notably shot with a mix of 35mm and 65mm film, depicts a Latino family in Los Angeles, California, dreaming of their missing mother.
The video won the 2014 Prism Prize.
Official Video here:
youtu.be
The Stooges released Fun House 52 years ago today!
“It was when I sat alone and listened to the album Fun House that I really got it. It was a profound experience,” former Black Flag/Rollins Band frontman and devoted Stooges fan Henry Rollins told Rolling Stone in 2020. www.thisisdig.com
Bogota's Meridian Brothers are the creation of Eblis Álvarez, who writes, arranges, produces, plays, and sings everything on their recordings, though when the band plays live he is aided by other musicians. Their music is almost unclassifiable, a bracing meld of electronic and organic instruments, influenced by Latin rock, psychedelia, Frank Zappa...
hashbrandnew.com
www.meridianbrothers.com
The Maytals, known from 1972 to 2020 as Toots and the Maytals, are one of the best known ska and rocksteady vocal groups.
Frontman Toots Hibbert was considered a reggae pioneer on par with Bob Marley. His soulful vocal style was compared to Otis Redding, and led him to be named by Rolling Stone as one of the 100 Greatest Singers
Los Fabulosos Cadillacs were formed in 1985 in Bueno Aires. KEXP will be live from Argentina in September! www.kexp.org
Following the success of 1986's 'Graceland', Simon turned to Latin America for much of 'The Rhythm of the Saints'. Simon recalled to Mojo magazine: "One day we were driving through the old part of Salvador in Bahia when we heard this incredible drumming coming from Pelouinho Square. It was the group Olodum practising outside and (Simon's percussionist) Mazzola asked if we could record them. We did it in their back yard, just rented a couple of 8-tracks, and that was our backing-track for 'The Obvious Child.'"
50 years of The Harder They Come!
"Pressure Drop" helped launch the band's career outside Jamaica when the song was featured on the soundtrack to the 1972 film The Harder They Come, which introduced reggae to much of the world. In 2004, Rolling Stone rated the song No. 453 in its list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
In an interview in 2016, songwriter Frederick "Toots" Hibbert said that "Pressure Drop" was a song about karmic justice.
It’s a song about revenge, but in the form of karma: If you do bad things to innocent people, then bad things will happen to you. The title was a phrase I used to say. If someone done me wrong, rather than fight them like a warrior, I’d say: 'The pressure’s going to drop on you.'"
— Frederick ‘Toots’ Hibbert, The Guardian
This Toots and the Maytals song has been covered often, most notably by Robert Palmer, Keith Richards, Izzy Stradlin and the Ju Ju Hounds, the Oppressed, The Clash, and this version by The Specials!
Released July 7, 1972.
"The Harder They Come" is the soundtrack album to the 1972 film of the same name. The heart of the soundtrack comes from performances by the film's star, reggae singer Jimmy Cliff. Only the title track "The Harder They Come" was recorded by Cliff specifically for the soundtrack, which also included three earlier songs by Cliff. The movie and album helped popularize reggae across the world.