Page 32 - the NOISE October 2012

Jimmy Cliff
Key envisioned for himself and his lost love be- fore she drifted apart. The first lyrics on the al- bum is “Bottoms up tonight, I drink to you and I. ‘Cause with the morning comes the rest of my life.” Out of context of the song, these lyrics can be applied to almost every time we young students go out for a night of partying, want- ing to forget about the pressures of school and the “real world” for a night, before getting up and once again having to face life.
Key’s lyrics have matured compared to be- fore their 2008 hiatus. The musicianship of the band too has matured tremendously. As catchy as some of the ten tracks are, I’d say it’s a lot more apparent now that Yellowcard isn’t in- it-to-win-it like they used to be, commercially speaking. The first single from Southern Air is
“Always Summer,” which with school starting up again, I’m sure we all wish were the case. It’s an upbeat ditty with a blazing violin solo towards the end that has you questioning why they don’t just let violinist and founding member Sean Mackin go crazy for 30+ seconds on every song.
The album features three guest artists on a couple of tracks, with all three performing to- gether on the seventh track, “Telescope.” The guest artists include Alex Gaskarth of All Time Low, Taylor Jardine of We Are the In Crowd, and Cassadee Pope of Hey Monday. Patrick Stump of Fall Out Boy fame contributes lyrics to “Here I Am Alive,” which Jardine also performs on.
The album exceeded my stale expectations from a band I used to love but have heard next to nothing about for years. I’ll always respect Yellowcard for their ability to mix in violin as a lead and their uncanny way of tickling my pop- punk guilty pleasure. Check out Southern Air for a nice drive down to Lake Mary, or up to the color changing aspens. — Tom Blanton
Jimmy Cliff August 22, 2012 Orpheum
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People forget that it was Jimmy Cliff, not Bob Marley, who first brought the sounds of Jamaica to American ears. “Wonderful World, Beautiful People” and “Vietnam” (which Dylan declared the best protest song he had ever heard) were chart hits in 1970, and Cliff starred in The Harder They Come in 1972, possibly the first film in English requiring English subtitles. The soundtrack, to which Cliff contributed four standout tunes, is an essential reggae primer. You do own a copy, right?
Since being eclipsed in popularity by Marley in the late 1970s, Jimmy Cliff has had his ups and downs. His latest boost comes from Tim
“Lint” Armstrong, guitarist for Operation Ivy and Rancid, who set Cliff up with a new band and produced his latest album, Rebirth.
I was a bit wary going to this concert, and with good reason. In my time as a Flag resident, the percentage of good reggae shows I’ve wit- nessed has been far outnumbered by the bad. There’s been a lot of crappy reggae in this city, much of it perpetrated by overly happy white frat-boy douchebags from the west coast. I’m defining the word “reggae” loosely here, of course.
As far as the masters go, it’s been a mixed bag. Toots and The Maytals were disappointing (too showbizzy, and no “Pressure Drop”?), the Wailers were OK (good show, no Bob), Burning Spear was pretty righteous (dark and scary mu- sic from a bunch of MEAN looking dudes). So yes, wary.
We walked into the packed Orpheum right as Cliff’s band started their opening vamp. My
32 • OCTOBER 2012 • the NOISE arts & news magazine • thenoise.us