Enjoy every laid-back terrific minute

The Harder they Come, Lowry Lyric, Salford

MANY younger music fans probably think it was Bob Marley who made Jamaican music world famous.

In fact, it started pretty much with a Sixties advance guard led by the likes of Desmond Dekker and the more mainstream, but still powerhouse, Jimmy Cliff — the latter providing some of the songs on the stunning soundtrack to the 1972 movie that bears this show’s name and Cliff as the leading character.

“The Harder they Come”, directed by Perry Henzell, who adapted it as this musical, was the first major West Indian-made movie, telling the story of a Caribbean “rude boy”, Ivanhoe (Ivan) “Rhygin” Martin.

A self-styled Forties Robin Hood, tremendously popular with the public, Martin tried to make a name for himself as a singer but fell foul of corrupt record bosses and ended up dying at the hands of corrupt policemen.

The movie gave Cliff the chance to make his name in the UK with songs such as “Many Rivers to Cross”, “Wonderful World, Beautiful People” and the title song. Their success led the way for Marley and musical diversions from Ska all the way to punk — while maintaining a pop wing through Cliff himself.

But to be honest, this co-production could be about Jamaican banana sales for all the difference it makes. A fantastic cast of 14, supplemented by an equally-terrific, on-stage band, tells the basic story of local boy rising from would-be singer to ganja distributor, falling for the preacher’s ward and eventually falling foul of the local criminal hierarchy.

The story starts strongly in the first half, falls apart a little in the second but is always pushed deeply into second place by the music, a string of brilliant songs played and sung by gifted performers who also manage to offer great characters, from handsome Matthew J Henry as Ivan, through the wonderful Marlon King as friend Pedro — a man with a voice that comes out of his boots — to comic friends, hypocritical preachers, beautiful girls and sweaty lawmen.

They all appear to have a ball and so does the audience, on its feet as the final few songs bounce over the footlights to enliven even the oldest and frailest people in the stalls.

Even those of you who don’t like reggae will enjoy every laid-back, terrific minute.