AMG Review of Better Days Are Coming: The A&M Years 1969-1971

Jo-Ann Greene
All Music Guide

An odd collection to say the least, four discs strong yet not a career retrospective, and with a title quite divorced from reality. Jimmy Cliff signed to A&M in 1970, but it was a short-lived relationship. His American debut, Wonderful World, Beautiful People, titled after his U.S. Top 25 hit, arrived that same year; the album in its entirely appears on disc one of this set. Cliff's mentor/producer, Leslie Kong, died unexpectedly the following year, and the singer struggled to regaining his footing. World's follow-up, Another Cycle, was recorded in the aftermath with producer Gully Bright, and suggested that Cliff was back on track. Judge for yourself; the album is featured on disc three. But Cliff's problems were far from over. His British label, Island, lost interest, resulting in the singer moving, in 1973, to EMI in the U.K. and Reprise in the U.S. The A&M years were over, except not on this set, for disc four inexplicably picks up a chunk of the singer's 1974 album, Struggling Man, filling the rest of the disc with singles. Even odder, disc two is exclusively given over to Cliff's 45s, including a clutch that were only released in Jamaica and predated his A&M deal. All the music here comes from a tumultuous period in the singer's life, as Cliff climbed from Jamaican stardom to international fame, lost the man who had managed and recorded him since his early teens, and was forced for the first time to chart his own course. Cliff's albums during these years were all potent statements of intent, and this set provides a powerful overview of this time, something the wildly inaccurate title never even hints at.