Friday Night Record Party : Buccaneer: Da Opera

Sunday, August 18, 2013

Buccaneer: Da Opera

Buccaneer: Da Opera

1998

VP Records

Format I Own it on: Compact Disc

Track Listing: 1. The Opera House 2. Plenty More Gal 3. Fade Away 4. Tek It Easy 5. Mad Dem 6. Hypocrite 7. Father Joe 8. Dancehall Vibes 9. Bruk Out 10. Soco Numa 11. Bad Man Nuh Stay 12. Tra La La La Laa 13. Bad Man Story 14. Gweah 15. Everything To Me 16. Da Opera 17. Bruk Out (Rancid Rock Music)

I can see how this record could drive someone nuts, but I find this endlessly fascinating for some reason...Buccaneer is notable for mixing Jamaican dancehall with opera...So you'll usually hear some combination of opera music with Buccaneer toasting over it, or dancehall rhythms with Buccaneer singing opera over it...

I discovered this through "Bruk Out" which was his collaboration with Rancid, which is included on this disc, along with a regular dancehall version...Both versions are cool, but the Rancid version is the superior one, I think...Rancid plays it completely straight, just blasting out punk rock while Buccaneer toasts over it...And it works so well, it makes me wish that dancehall/punk crossovers happened more often...

He also includes not one, but two, different takes on Enya's "Orinoco Flow," for chrissakes! One titled "Fade Away" and one called "Bad Man Nuh Stray," the latter of which morphs into a bizarre version of Billy Joel's "Uptown Girl." Here's hoping the Buccaneer version ends up on the next "Pure Moods" CD...

Man, that commercial is freakin' hilarious...I remember they used to play it on TV every 10 minutes back in the 90's, and the unicorns still crack me up...Its horn bounces so much...I completely forgot about that horrible Enigma song with the ear-splitting "HEYYYY YAAAA YOOOO-O-O-O-O!!!" and the woman with the phone-sex voice talking over it...Is this the kind of music people really find relaxing? Do they come home from work, sit back in their LA-Z Boy, turn on the hi-fi and listen to "HEYYYYY YAAAAA YOOOO-O-O-O-O!!!!" I can''t think of anything that I would want to hear less when I'm stressed out...Different strokes for different folks, I guess...