In 1968, Island Records released Jimmy Cliff's debut album, Hard Road to Travel, swiftly following it the next year with a self-titled full length set (retitled Wonderful World, Beautiful People for US release). Under any name it was a superb set, one that would further bolster Leslie Kong's reputation as the producer with the golden touch. Of all the early Jamaican label heads, it was Kong who garnered the most chart action, raising the likes of Desmond Dekker, The Maytals, and Cliff, of course, to international stardom.

In the late Sixties, Kong's session band, The Beverley's All Stars, comprising of members of Gladdy's All Stars and other local luminaries, were laying down some of the most delectable reggae to be heard on the island. Their sound, however, was buttressed with sympathetically applied symphonic overdubs, adding a further lushness to the band's own lavish style.

The musicians positively glowed on this set, assisted by Cliff's own strong and infectious melodies. "Many Rivers to Cross" would later resonate across The Harder They Come movie and sound track, while "Wonderful World" and "Viet Nam" were both destined for international chart success. Many more of the album's tracks could have joined them, and in Jamaica, they did. "Suffering in the Land", "Hard Rock to Travel" (reprised from Cliff's previous set), and "Come into My Life" would all spin successfully on 45 on the island as well.

As magnificent as the music was, lyrically it was arguably even stronger, with

(by Jo-Ann Greene, All Music Guide)