Jimmy Cliff - Sacred Fire

Tim Armstrong could be to reggae music what Rick Rubin is to country.
The man who could give it a real shot in the arm by reviving the careers of yesterdays heroes.
That's not to say that Jimmy Cliff needed that shot in the arm, or that he is even one of yesterdays heroes, but the collaboration between Tim as producer and Cliff as artists does serve to bring him to a new audience in a rather grand style and could open the doors for others to follow.
Across the breadth of the ep it's got a solid punk vibe that Jimmy Cliff manages to comfortably wrap his trademarked tones around .
Guns of Brixton is reverentially treated and will warm the cockles of any Clash fans heart and the cheeky inclusion of Tim's very own Ruby Soho sits very nicely next to it.
The only original song, 'Ship is Sailing' occupies the central ground and offers a hint that the forthcoming full length album could well be the must have grab of 2012.
The inclusion of Dylan's 'Hard rain's a-gonna fall' might seem to be the odd one out when considered without hearing it, but once the beat gets going the flow continues with nary a ripple.
Closing with a reprise of Guns of Brixton done in a dub stylee could attract accusations of it being used a as bit of filler. But it's nothing of the sort and as a stand alone track is as strong as anything else already heard.
In fact it might not be a bad idea to add a full length dub version of the album to the album proper when it comes out and call it a special edition.
I doubt anyone is going to be disappointed with this.