The Harder They Come

1	You Can Get It If You Really Want 2:40
2	Draw Your Breaks / Scotty 2:57
3	Rivers of Babylon / The Melodians 4:16
4	Many Rivers to Cross 3:02
5	Sweet and Dandy / The Maytals 3:01
6	The Harder They Come 3:41
7	Johnny Too Bad / The Slickers 3:04
8	Shanty Town / Desmond Dekker 2:43
9	Pressure Drop / The Maytals 3:44
10	Sitting in Limbo 4:57
11	You Can Get It If You Really Want 2:43
12	The Harder They Come 3:07

Barnes & Noble

If this isn't the single most popular reggae record in the world, it is surely one of the most influential. More people got turned on to Jamaican music by this soundtrack album and the Perry Henzel film it accompanied than any other work you can name. The story was brutal and irresistible: A wide-eyed country boy (played by Jimmy Cliff) comes to the big city to make his fortune as a singer. He voices a few tunes, gets ripped off by a crooked producer, gets caught up in the ganja trade before going out in a blaze of machine-gun fire -- just like the cowboy stars of his beloved spaghetti westerns. The film gains much of its power from masterful performances from two of Jamaica's greatest singers: Cliff and Toots Hibbert, sanctified lead vocalist of the Maytals and the man credited with coining the term "reggae." Toots rocks as usual on cuts like "Pressure Drop," and Cliff runs the emotional gamut from the exquisite gospel-tinged lament "Many Rivers to Cross" to the exuberant title track that guarantees "as sure as the sun will shine / I'm gonna get my share of what's mine." Get yours. Rob Kenner

All Music Guide

In 1973, when the movie The Harder They Come was released, reggae was not on the radar screen of American pop culture. The soundtrack went a ways toward changing that situation. It is a collection of consistently excellent early reggae songs by artists who went on to thrive with reggae's increased popularity, and others for whom this is the most well-known vehicle. Jimmy Cliff is both the star of the movie and the headliner on the soundtrack. He contributes three excellent songs: the hymnal "Many Rivers to Cross," "You Can Get It If You Really Want," and "The Harder They Come" (the latter two are repeated at the end of the album, but you probably wanted to hear them again anyway). Interestingly, the better production values of his songs actually seems to detract from them when compared to the rougher, but less sanitized, mixes of the other tracks. All the songs on this collection are excellent, but some truly stand out. Toots & the Maytals deliver two high-energy songs with "Sweet and Dandy" and "Pressure Drop" (covered by the Clash among others). Scotty develops a mellow, loping groove on "Stop That Train" (not the same as the Wailers' song by the same name) and the Slickers prove on "Johnny Too Bad" that you don't have to spout profanity or graphic violence to convey danger. The Harder They Come is strongly recommended both for the casual listener interested in getting a sense of reggae music and the more serious enthusiast. Collections don't come much better than this. ~ Toby Ball, All Music Guide