Calypso Season

Calypso Season

1989

Mango Records

Format I Own it on: Vinyl

1. Baron: Somebody  2. Bali: Maxi Dub  3. Tambu: Free Up  4. Ronnie McIntosh: Shaking It  5. Roaring Lion: Jail Them  6. All Rounder: Innocent Jimmy  7. Mighty Sparrow: Congo Man  8. Duke:
Yah  9. David Rudder: One More Officer  10. Desperados: Somebody 








Ahhhhhhgh! So sick of being sick...When you're on yr 7th day of a cold/flu and there's still no end in sight...

Relentless cough... Brutal headaches...Bloody noses...

Undone chores piling up...I wish I felt better...I wish I was on a beach somewhere in the Caribbean...Drinking fruity rum drinks...

Maybe some music will cheer me up...Ah, howabout this "Calypso Season" record?

Alright, here's some backstory... A few years back I picked up an intriguing old record by Mighty Sparrow and instantly fell in love with his bawdy, political calypso. One day at the record store, I spotted this album and decided to check out what else the genre had to offer...I had no idea that the calypso genre was still alive by the late 80's  (and thriving to the point you could put together a compilation of new material by various artists) and I had to know what the genre sounded like by this point....

And what does Calypso circa '89 sound like? (drumroll) Like the fluffiest, most lightweight Soca 80's movie soundtrack music possible! Imagine an 80's movie where John Candy goes to Carnival. Or maybe the most booty-shakin' Carnival Cruise Line commercial imaginable. This would be an awesome soundtrack to such a thing. Drummachines, dancehall chants, bustling percussion, relentlessly sunny disposition. How exactly would someone listen to "Free Up" by Tambu and not break out into a spirited one-man conga line. Oh yea! And All Rounder's "Innocent Jimmy" sounds like a nasally, Calypso version of Culture! Score!  

And while all the good time Soca is nice, the stuff I really love on here is the legit Calypso stuff...When Roaring Lion's "Jail Them" comes on it almost makes your head spin 360 degrees...A quiet, angry acoustic calypso that sounds as old as time itself. Is this from the 80's? Is it some archival recording meant to show the roots of Calypso? Who knows. There's zero information on the record sleeve about anything, so your guess is as good as mine...Beautiful stuff, though...

And then we have THEE MIGHTY SPARROW!!! When I got this record, it only said "Sparrow" so I had a feeling it might be Mighty Sparrow, but I wasn't sure. But then it came on and then I heard that voice, (relaxed, rapidly rising and falling) and those lyrics, so quintessentially Mighty Sparrow-ish:

"Dis is a story ladies and gentlemen about two lovely white women,
 Traveling all de way to Africa
Found themselves deep in the heart of the Baluba
In de congo.
In de hands of my big brother Umba,
and if is me ah woulda taken dem back to dey husband,
But brother was hungry, hungry, hungry!"

And sure enough Umba goes on to graphically devour the white women! My God! Unsurprisingly, this turned out to be a controversial song, but it's also a great one. Consider this...The other Mighty Sparrow stuff I have is from the 50's and this song from the late 80's is not only immediately recognizable as his, but it's every bit as good (if not better) than the super classic stuff...Now that's a career! 

The album ends with "Somebody" by the Desperados, which I can only explain as a steeldrum inferno. A phalanx of sweet clankety clank. It sounds like the greatest "Girls Gone Wild" video ever made!  

  
Here's a pretty fascinating video of the band playing it live...If you're interested in percussion in general or steel drums in particular it's definitely worth checking out..

Y'know, what? I am feeling slightly better...Maybe I'll do some of those dishes now...See? The healing power of soca...Let's hear some more...

Here's ""Congo Man" by Mighty Sparrow...Enjoy...