Dear readers,
At the moment I have nothing meaningful to say on the musical subjects, but want to say I appreciate having readers whether you leave comments or not, and doubly appreciate the comments with suggestions, astute culturological analysis, or shares. Below is some of the excellent stuff posted lately throughout the blog in comments:

The Wrigglers: Sing Calypso at the Arawak (1958) with the great Ernest Ranglin on guitar at the Easy Jams blog (original vinyl rips and great commentary)

Yuko Ikoma - Moisture with Music Box (2008) - Eric Satie on a music box, very surprising and effective readings of his music, on Hypnagogic Travels

Olivier Messian - Les Corps Glorieux (Organ Works III) - "kinda cosmic stuff, very deep and unusual" - in FLAC, thanks to Symbolkid!

Lord Kitchener - Klassic Kitchener Vol.1-3

Lord Kitchener - Klassic Kitchener Vol.1-3
REUP: 192kbps, 242mb on depositfiles


When A Man Is Poor
Nora
Trouble In Arima
Tie Tounge Mopsy
Cricket Champions
Old Lady Walk A Mile & A Half
Chinese Never Had A VJ Day
Steel Band Music
If You're Brown
Doctor Kitch
Batty Mamselle
Law And Order


My Pussin
Flag Woman
One To Hang
PP99
Panorama Night
Take Yuh Meat Out Muh Rice
No More Calypsong
Handy Man
No Melda
Love In The Cemetery
Mama Dis Is Mas
The Road
Miss Tourist
67
Magie


Jerico
Pan In A-Minor
Pan In Harmony
Fever
Sugar Bum Bum
Symphony In G
The Symptoms Of Carnival
The Bees Melody
Gimme The Ting
The Spirit
Pan In The 21st Century
Jaws
Curfew Time
Rain-O-Rama
Tribute To Spree Simon

Calypso

A few albums I uploaded for a fellow calypso fan, might as well share the links here.


A Guide to the Real Calypso
A CD that came with a japanese book of the same name.
VBR, 86mb on zippyshare
1. Atilla & The Huns – West Indian Rhythm
2. Gerald Clark And His Caribbean Serenaders – Flores De Trinidad
3. Atilla & The Huns – Man Man Biscoe
4. Atilla & The Huns – Women Will Rule The World
5. The Executor – Three Friend's Advice
6. Lion – Ugly Woman
7. Sam Manning – Medley Of West Indian Song
8. Wilmoth Houdini – He Had It Coming
9. King Radio – Chip Chip Water
10. The Caresser – Ah Gertie
11. Tiger – Next Door Neighbor
12. Mighty Destroyer – Mother's Love
13. Lord Invader – The Sport Pool
14. Lord Beginner – Norah The War Is Over
15. Duke Of Iron – Box Car Shorty
16. Macbeth The Great – Old Man
17. Trinidad Blues-Calypso – Lord Biginner
18. Lord Kitchener – Is Trouble
19. Mighty Terror – Calypso War
20. Wonder – Follow Me Children
21. King Fighter – The Two Old Lovers
22. Lord Melody – Mama Look A Boo-Boo
23. Mighty Sparrow – Simpson



Duke of Iron - "Calypso!" (1957) in 320kbps and "Duke of Iron Sings Calypso" (incomplete)
118mb on mediafire or megaupload
Man Smart, Woman Smarter
Music Lesson
Meringue Jenny
Creole Girl
Last Train
Coconut
Last Watch
Loving Woman Is A Waste Of Time
Man Is Easy Fish
Mambo Calypso
Clear De Road
West Indies Serenade
+
Duke of Iron Sings Calypso
I Left Her Behind For You
A Better Woman Than You
Fifty Cents
Katie
Vitalogy
The Walking Department Store
Calypsonian Invasion
It's The Rhythm We Want
Pepper Sauce Milly

Linkage

A contribution by DayGloJoe, who correctly judged that I would find this album interesting, and so would the readers of this blog.

The actual title of this comp is Ryukyu Rare Groove: Shimauta Pops in 60's-70's, but it is also sold by the non-japanese-speaking retailers as Okinawan Groove Collection. Here's a review by Mikey IQ Jones:
A fantastic collection of wonderful, chameleonic Okinawan pop music from the 1960s & '70s, Shimauta Pops showcases brilliant early examples of the collusionist aesthetic that makes Okinawan pop so much fun while being rather forward-thinking in approach. Featuring tracks by the Hoptones, Four Sisters, Yara Family, and Aiko Yohen (though unfortunately none of the info is translated into English), this disc shows the artists fusing traditional Okinawan island melodies and instrumentation with more "modern" western styles -- R'n'B, bossa, Tin Pan Alley, even some wild banjo/fiddle hootenanies! -- though in all honesty what is achieved here proves to be rather modern in itself while maintaining that gorgeous nostalgic questing tone that I love so much in the melodies. The final product often sounds like a much less frenetic cousin to Indian "Bollywood" film music, and as testament to their true pop nature, many of the songs are as infectious as influenza. The overall sound had a BIG influence on Haroumi Hosono (fresh out of Happy End but not yet on his way to Yellow Magic Orchestra) and his excellent mid-'70s trilogy of "tropical" albums -- Tropical Dandy, Bon Voyage Co, and Paraiso -- with shamisens and shakuhachis backed at times by New Orleans or Detroit Soul rhythm sections, steel pans and vibes, and doo-wop harmonies... track 7 even features a shamisen/Moog duet with primitive drum machines plonking away in the back! Overall, this is beautiful, innovative, and best of all, totally fun. Any record that simultaneously makes your head spin and your butt shake gets top marks in my book!


224kbps, 42mb on rapidshare
Unfortunately, the song titles and artists' listing are only in Japanese. See comments for the tracklist.

Some time ago, Solepower left a comment searching for Ernest Ranglin's album Sound and Power. The only copy circulating on the internets is a low-quality vinyl rip that's much shorter than the subsequent CD reissue. Solepower was able to find a better quality complete CD rip and posted it on his blog, here.
You can't go wrong with a Ranglin album!


1. Major Walk
2. Mix Master
3. Sound and Power
4. More Stars
5. West of the Sun
6. Black Man's Train
7. Psychedelic Rock
8. Ranglin Doddlin
9. Mama Top
10. So We Call It
11. Lee Arab
12. Jericho Rocking
13. Less Problem
14. Black Eyed Peas
15. These Eyes
16. Still Water
17. Now

Reup: Best of Cymande

Amazon review: Short-lived but legendary, Cymande is oft-compiled on funk assemblages, but this CD of their first two LPs is altogether necessary, even if the music moves away from tight beats into Rasta-folk toward the end. Cymande's reputation has grown considerably over the last twenty years. Featuring a multi-national crew with a strong Caribbean influence, the band produced a few hits in the early seventies, then disappeared. But the epochal "Brothers On the Side," and the ingeniously structured "Fug" contain a subtlety and tension lacking in all but the best bands of the era.

Funky 16 Corners: Their music was a sophisticated mixture of American soul and funk, African pop, Latin sounds, rock and all of the various and sundry intersections of those sounds. A close listen to their first LP is like a drive through Harlem in the early 70’s with your car windows down, letting snatches of Curtis Mayfield, Jimi Hendrix, Miles Davis, Stevie Wonder, Santana and a thousand lesser groups (woven securely into the fabric, but essentially lost to the ages) drift through the windows and into your ears. There are elements of early-70’s prog-cum-stoner rock guitar, hard drums, jazzy bass and horns as well as a bedrock of polyrhythmic percussion.

AMG bio


Cymande (1973)
320kbps, 180mb on megaupload
1. The Message
2. Brothers On The Slide
3. Dove
4. Bra
5. Fug
6. For Baby Woh
7. Rickshaw
8. Equitorial Forest
9. Listen
10. Getting It Back
11. Anthracite
12. Willy's Headache
13. Genevieve
14. Pon De Dungle
15. Rastafarian Folk Song
16. One More
17. Zion I

PS My bad, Willy's Headache in the archive is corrupted. Here's the good file: http://sharebee.com/4fb2fa67

John Surman - John Surman (Anglo-Sax)

A recent discovery: first album by a prominent british baritone saxophonist John Surman. Side B is a three-part suite by Surman and a large ensemble, strongly influenced by free-jazz. The reason I am posting this, though, is Side A, which is completely different: a small combo, with a pan player, is playing jazz covers of calypsos Obeah Wedding (Mighty Sparrow), My Pussin (Lord Kitch), Don't Stop The Carnival (which is here credited to Sonny Rollins, who, indeed, introduced it to jazz, but really is a traditional tune), and what I assume is an original by the piano player Russel Henderson, Good Times Will Come Again. This is calypso-jazz of the highest grade, highly recommended for the fans of caribbean music and for those interested in the jazz-ethno hybrids.
In UK this came out as John Surman, US edition was titled Anglo-Sax.


John Surman - John Surman
REUP: 320kbps, 105mb on 4shared
A1. Obeah Wedding
A2. My Pussin
A3. Good Times Will Come Again
A4. Carnival
B1. Incantation
B2. Episode
B3. Dance

Les Freres Dejean - L'Univers

I never thought I will say this, but here is an album that's as good as the best of Orchestra Baobab. Must hear!


Les Freres Dejean - L'Univers
320kbps, 111mb on megaupload
1. L'Humanite
2. Conviction
3. Experience
4. Naide
5. Yoyo
6. L'Univers

Lord Creator - Jamaica Time

Lord Creator - Jamaica Time
160kbps, 45mb at sharebee
1. Jamaica Farewell (Original)
2. Archie
3. Bad Lucky
4. Blowing In The Wind
5. Don't Go Away
6. End Of The World
7. Independent Jamaica
8. Sweet Jamaica
9. Island Woman
10. Yellow Bird
11. Queen's Canary
12. Ma And Pa

Les Freres Dejean - Pa Gain Panne

More konpa. Highly recommended!
Also, you can (and should!) see them live on youtube.
History of the band


Les Freres Dejean - Pa Gain Panne, 1974
192kbps, 57mb on zshare, rapidshare, megaupload, badongo
1. Marina
2. Joyeuses Vacances
3. La Foi
4. Pa Gain Panne
5. Leogane
6. Alleluia

Tabou Combo - New York City (1974)

Here's an album I am seriously digging lately. A prime example of Haitian konpa style, this was recorded live in New York. I think this album came out under two different names (and possibly resequenced?): as 8eme Sacrement and as New York City.

Review: The group's relentless, high-energy style knows no language barrier. Singing in English, Spanish, French or their native Creole, Tabou serves a hot mix of grooves and textures with multiple roots, including a strong dose of the Dominican Republic's national dance music, Merengue. In addition, they offer up Haiti's dance-till-you-drop carnival music, rara, the hypnotic drums of Haitian voodoo rituals. The quadrilles and contra-dances from Haiti's French colonizers join funk from the American soul era. The music includes the feel of West African Soukous topped with bright piano riff and the brassy sound of an all-American horn section. @


Tabou Combo - New York City (1974)
High VBR, 80.64mb on sharebee
1. 8th Sacrement
2. Pace Domine
3. Come Back My Love
4. Respect/Zapaton
5. New York City
6. Courai
7. Education

Roy "Bubbles" Burrowes - Reggae au go Jazz

May (of 1999) saw another great album out of Studio One when Mr Dodd dusted off his vintage rhythms and invited Jamaican jazz trumpeter Roy "Bubbles" Burrowes to extemporise over them. Keeping Burrowes company on Reggae au go Jazz were US tenor sax players Clifford Jordan and Charles Davis and the entire set amounted to one of the most interesting projects to emerge out of Studio One in recent years, part of a lineage stretching back to those classic 1970s instrumental sets from Cedric Im Brooks and Roland Alphonso. @

Another music business mystery - why such a good and relatively recent album would ever be out of print and completely unavailable in any form. Ernest Ranglin on guitar and bass, Jackie Mittoo on the keys, Clifford Jordan on sax, Sir Coxsone Dodd is producing. Can't miss with a lineup like this! Sounds somewhat like Monty Alexander or Ernest Ranglin's solo albums, but more mellow.


Roy 'Bubbles' Burrowes with Clifford Jordan and Charles Davis - Reggae Au Go Jazz
192kbps, 60mb on sharebee
1. Wet Land
2. Jericho Jazz
3. Bubble's Bubble
4. My Father's Jazz
5. Thirty One Thirty Five
6. Soul Sender
7. Dont Wait Too Long
8. Mount Zion Rock
9. Jamrec Jam
10. Mr. Loving Spoon
11. Reggae Au Go Jazz
12. Jazz Ville Funk

Drummers of the Societe Absolument Guinin - Voodoo Drums

Here's one that falls more in the category of weird shit than in the category of timeless music to stay with you forever.
The label says the following: "This release features the Voodoo Drums of Haiti and was recorded by Soul Jazz Records in Port-au-Prince, Haiti."
Review from allaboutjazz.com


Drummers of the Societe Absolument Guinin - Voodoo Drums
REUP: 320kbps, 97mb on depositfiles

Cult Cargo - Belize City Boil Up

UPDATE: Link removed upon the label's complaint. Go buy it!

Dusty Groove review: An amazing world of music -- rare funk, soul, reggae, and other grooves from Belize -- all beautifully compiled in the rich Numero Music style! We're really stunned by the set -- as we had no idea at all that Belize had anything going on at this level -- and the collection is an amazing surprise to our ears, filled with new delights at each turn, and clearly marking Belize as a new funky capitol on our ever-expanding map of musical understanding. Numero really outdid themselves with this package -- going far beyond their already-great collections of work from the Bandit and Capsoul labels -- to dig up a range of tracks that have never really made it out to the world at large, but which bubble over with influences from American funk and soul at the time.

Sleeve notes


Cult Cargo - Belize City Boil Up
1. Lord Rhaburn - Disco Connection
2. Harmonettes - Can't Go Halfway
3. Jesus Acosta & The Professionals - Guajida
4. Web - The Same Old Me
5. The Professionals - A Part Of Being With You
6. Lord Rhaburn - More Love Reggae
7. The Professionals - The Back Stabbers
8. Web - Rated G
9. Harmonettes - Shame Shame Shame
10. Soul Creation - Funky Jive (Part II)
11. Lord Rhaburn - Don't Fight It
12. Nadia Cattouse - Long Time Boy
13. Lord Rhaburn - Boogaloo A La Chuck
14. The Professionals - The Godfather
15. Web - Things Are Going To Work Out Right
16. Soul Creation - Funky Jive

Los Zafiros - Bossa Cubana

World Circuit's newest release is a look back to the 1960s, into the world of Cuban pop doo-wop - the music of Los Zafiros ("the sapphires"), on Bossa Cubana. A vocal quartet formed in Havana in 1962 by two singers ("Kike" Morúa and "Miguelito" Cancio), Los Zafiros combined the sweet harmonies popularized by American doo-wop groups like The Platters and The Ink Spots, and the unique arrangements used by The Flamingos and others with the craze for rhythms of South American origins, including the bossa nova and the calypso. With two other singers - Eduardo Elio "El Chino" Hernandéz and Ignacio Elejalde, the latter's high, silky-smooth ultra-tenor voice dominating the ballads - and a guitarist, Manuel Galbán, Los Zafiros produced a string of pop hits in Cuba. These alternated between doo-wop infused with rhythmic and harmonic complexities and with slow love songs featuring Elejalde's vocal cord-defying range. Fusing a variety of musical ideas, Bossa Cubana surprises the listener: be ready for a unique experience. @
Read more

Y Sabes Bien on Youtube


Los Zafiros - Bossa Cubana
REUP 2/8/2014: 224kbps, 76 mb on 4shared
1. Bossa Cubana
2. La Luna en Tu Mirada
3. Mirame Fijo
4. Dichoso Mar
5. Por No Comprenderte
6. Y Sabes Bien
7. Cancion de Orfeo
8. Mi Amor, Perdoname
9. Cuando Yo la Conoci
10. La Caminadora
11. He Venido
12. Puchunguita Ven
13. Herido de Sombras
14. Si Corazón
15. Mi Corazon
16. Un Nombre de Mujer
17. Canta la Sentimental

John "Buddy" Williams - Le Jazz Primitif From Trinidad

Le Jazz Primitif - can't go wrong with a name like that. Buddy Williams was a pianist and bandleader of a prime Trinidadian dance band. It sounds like they backed up all the great calypso singers in studio by day and cut the rug up for the islanders in bars at night. This is a live recording, with an appropriately muddy sound, but with a lot of excitement and loud cheering from the crowd in between the songs.
This is one half of a split LP with Buddy Williams on one side and some other dude on the other, I don't have the second side and the reviews suggest it's not worth seeking.
A word on the songs: She 'Pon Top is a mento tune by Baba Motta (available on the Mento Madness comp); Last Night The Landlord is a calypso by Lord Christo (available on the Smithsonian's Dance Calypso). I couldn't trace Shoemaker Shop and Man Is Dey, so I assume these are Buddy's originals. Alma Llanera (Soul of the Plains) is a traditional Venezuelan joropo, still very popular throughout Latin America. My coworker, a Colombian girl, recognized it as "that tune they play back home at dances in small towns... where'd you get it?"


John "Buddy" Williams - Le Jazz Primitif From Trinidad
192 kbps, 28 mb
REUP: mediafire
1. Alma Llanera
2. She 'Pon Top
3. Shoemaker Shop
4. Man is Dey
5. Last Night the Landlord Nearly Killed Me

Dave Pike - Limbo Carnival

I've been looking for this album for the longest time, and found it just today posted at the great Orgy in Rhythm! The american vibist and bandleader Dave Pike is also heard here on marimba. This disc is one of the more successfull attempts at calypso-jazz fusion. It's been recently reissued as a half of the "Carnavals" CD together with another Dave Pike album, Bossa Nova Carnival (not sure what's with the spelling, but that's how they wrote it). A selection with some calypso standards (Matilda, Jamaica Farewell) and three latin jazz/calypso jazz crossover pieces - Charlie Parker's Little Suede Shoes and two tunes by the greatest sax player that ever lived, Sonny Rollins. Highly recommended to calypso fans, jazzheads and the "world music" buffs!


Dave Pike - Limbo Carnival
320 kbps
Get it at orgyinrhythm.blogspot.com!
1. La Bamba (Valens) 7:46
2. My Little Suede Shoes (Parker) 3:39
3. Matilda (Span) 3:59
4. Mambo Bounce (Rollins) 3:15
5. Limbo Rock (Sheldon, Strange) 2:26
6. Calypso Blues (Cole, George) 3:49
7. Cattin' Latin (Poindexter) 4:47
8. St. Thomas (Rollins) 3:45
9. Jamaica Farewell (Burgess) 4:57

Calypso podcasts

I'm back, but not in the swing of things yet, so the regular postings would not resume quite yet. Meanwhile, I wanted to compile the links to some calypso mixes and podcasts. Calypso as such is not an album-oriented music; a lot of it was recorded as singles, and even on the actual albums there are often a few good songs and the rest is filler. So mixes might be the best way to listen to calypso - if the person has a fine enough taste to like calypso, I guess you can trust him with the choice of songs.

Here are a few:
J'Ouvert Morning Calypso series on Pod-O-Matic:
Vol. 1, Vol. 2, Vol. 3, Vol. 4, Vol. 5

A great mix at http://baikinange.blogspot.com, grab it!

Two podcasts from MobTown: one, two.

Most excellent http://siebethissen.blogspot.com/ offers several calypso mixes: Bam Bam (Mentomania), Big Bamboo: Calypso Picong Songs, Mango Bang Bang, War at Dirty Jim's.

Enjoy!

Mighty Sparrow and Byron Lee - Only a Fool + one more by Byron Lee

Another fine calypso album by Mighty Sparrow collaborating with Byron Lee and his group. Byron Lee is an interesting personage: his band, the Dragonaires, might be the longest-running musical group from Jamaica; they were very financially successfull and popular in Jamaica, all over Caribbean, and in the US in the 60s and 70s, but now are all but forgotten. Both their former popularity and their current obscurity stem from one source: they adapted the music of the slums to the tastes of the elite. So while the "real deal" was too dirty and dangerous, Byron Lee was a hit; when it was tamed by time and distance and became acceptable, the Dragonaires' fortunes declined.
The Dragonaires were musical omnivores, playing every caribbean style from calypso, mento and ska to reggae and rocksteady, but all of it with an eye for respectability. Byron Lee, a very talented musician and arranger, and a shrewd businessman, collected the latest tunes and trends from all over the islands, and then played them his own style, tight and smooth; hot dance numbers were interleaved with sappy ballads and instrumental covers of the US hits. This is the approach they choose here.
On this LP Mighty Sparrow made an honest effort to go commercial: he picked only the love songs from his repertoire, purging all the drinking, fighting and whoring subject matter. Unfortunately, this wasn't enough to fill an album, so there are some saccharine ballads sung by somebody else (I assume it's Byron Lee himself, but I have no positive proof) which are pretty disposable, and a couple of instrumental pieces, caribbiefied takes on the popular movie themes of the times - and those are pretty good. Only a Fool was Sparrow's only appearance on American charts. Incredibly, the song, while bearing his name ("Mighty Sparrow and Byron Lee", say the credits), did not have his vocals.
You can't keep a good man down, though: Sparrow's tunes are driving dance numbers with a chugging locomotive beat. Even his cover of an Otis Redding ballad (Try a Little Tenderness) is twice as fast as an original.
I will throw in another Byron Lee album without my endorsement. If you are a big reggae fan, go for it.


Mighty Sparrow and Byron Lee - Only a Fool
REUP: sharebee
210VBR, 52 mb
1. Maria (MS)
2. No Money, No Love (MS)
3. More And More Amour (instrumental)
4. Born Free (BL)
5. Sandra (MS)
6. Walk Away (BL)
7. Peace And Love (MS)
8. Only A Fool (BL)
9. Theme From Dr Zhivago (instrumental)
10. More (BL)
11. Make The World Go Away (instrumental)
12. Try A Little Tenderness (MS)


Byron Lee and the Dragonaires - Reggay Eyes
REUP: mediafire
128 kbps, 28 mb
1. Soul Serenade
2. Can I Change My Mind
3. More Scorcher
4. Long Shot Kick De Bucket
5. Square From Cuba
6. Another Scorcher
7. Musical Scorcher
8. Throw Me Corn
9. Bond In Bliss
10. Too Experienced
11. Games People Play
12. Pum Pum On A String

Trojan Calypso

A great Trojan compilation of the calypso classics from the golden age. Many great songs unavailable elsewhere, although it has some filler, too. My favorites are Nora Dean's The Valet, The Maytals' Bam Bam, Lord Invader's Cat'O'Nine, and the tracks by Count Lasher, Sparrow, and Lord Creator.
Read a thorough review here.


Trojan Calypso
192 kbps, 190 mb (all three CDs in one archive)
REUP: megaupload
or two parts on sharebee: one and two.

Vol.1 - Jamaican Mento, Calypso and Jump Up Sounds
1. Count Lasher with Lyn Taitt & The Baba Brooks Band - The Weed (aka Man Pyabba)
2. Lord Kitchener - Love In The Cemetery
3. Lord Creator - Big Bamboo
4. Charlie Binger & His Quartet - Jamaica Is The Place To Go
5. Tommy McCook & The Supersonics - Get Me To The Church On Time
6. Nora Dean - The Valet
7. Lord Spoon & David - Woman A Love In The Night Time
8. The Mighty Vikings - Do Re Mi
9. Aston & Yen - Skillamy
10. Phyllis Dillon - Nice Time
11. Count Alert with Lyn Taitt & The Baba Brooks Band - In The Park
12. Derrick Harriott - Our Time Fe Celebrate
13. Marva Moore & The Gaysters - Great '68
14. The Maytals - Bam Bam
15. Count Lasher & Williams with Lynn Taitt & The Baba Brooks Band - Bam Bam
16. Lord Kitchener - Jamaica Woman
17. The Undergrounds - Savito

Vol.2 - Caribbean Calypso Carnival
1. Lord Kitchener - Neighbour, Neighbour
2. Nora Dean - Must Get A Man
3. Count Lasher & Williams with Lyn Taitt & The Baba Brooks Band - 'Mufridite
4. Charlie Binger & His Quartet - Country Gal
5. Lord Creator - Paint Up, Clean Up Time
6. Lord Spoon & David - The World On A Wheel
7. Derrick Harriott - Happy Times
8. Count Alert with Lyn Taitt & The Baba Brooks Band - Hard Time
9. Tommy McCook & The Supersonics - Reggae Merengue
10. Lord Cristo - Dumb Boy & The Parrot
11. The Mighty Sparrow - Village Ram
12. The Mighty Dougla - Teacher Teacher
13. Baldhead Growler - The Sausage
14. Mister Calypson - Muhammad Ali
15. Sampson The Lark - Undemocratic Rhodesia
16. Lord Kitchener - Kitch, You So Sweet
17. Lord Tanamo - A Dash Of The Sunshine

Vol.3 - Calypso War in the UK
1. The Mighty Terror & His Calypsonians - Calypso War
2. Lord Invader & His Calypso Rhythm Boys - Me One Alone
3. Lord Ivanhoe & His Caribbean Knights - The Water Gobbler
4. Ben Bowers & Bertie King's Royal Jamaicans - Not Me (aka Man Woman, Woman Smarter)
5. The Mighty Terror & His Calypsonians - Brownskin Girl
6. Lord Invader & His Calypso Rhythm Boys - You Don't Need Glasses To See
7. Lord Ivanhoe & His Caribbean Knights - Belinda
8. The Mighty Terror & His Calypsonians - Heading North
9. Lord Invader & His Calypso Rhythm Boys - I'm Going Back To Africa
10. Lord Ivanhoe & His Caribbean Knights - Africa, Here I Come
11. The Mighty Terror & His Calypsonians - Little Jeannie
12. Ben Bowers & Bertie King's Royal Jamaicans - Naughty Little Flea
13. Lord Invader & His Calypso Rhythm Boys - Mahalia, I Want Back My Dollar
14. Lord Ivanhoe & His Caribbean Knights - Lift The Iron Curtain
15. The Mighty Terror & His Calypsonians - T.V. Calypso
16. Lord Invader & His Calypso Rhythm Boys - Teddy Boy Calypso (Bring Back The Cat-o-Nine)

Mighty Sparrow and Lord Kitchener

I am a big fan of calypso music. I wrote about it at length elsewhere, so I'll keep it brief. It's a caribbean tradition that appeared early in the XXth century and is still alive, after a lot of permutations. Although calypso is played all over the Caribbean basin, the main source is Trinidad (and Tobago, too!). My favorite period is the 50's-60's, when calypso was musically influenced by the american bebop and the contemporary latin styles like samba of the neighboring islands. This was a time when a new, post-war generation of calypsonians appeared; it is comparable to the punk revolution of the 70s, with the shocking, lurid lyrics and a driving, danceable beat.

The Mighty Sparrow is my favorite calypsonian, and this is an album from his best period. May May could be his most sexually explicit song, with a deathless post-coital line "When a man is finish / I think it's foolish / to play licorice". I suspect that Maria borrows a riff from some jazz tune of the period (Gillespie?) but I can't quite place it. Leave the Damn Doctor is about the politics ("Doctor" is Dr. Eric Williams, trinidadian prime minister at the time, whom Sparrow supported). Cowboy Melo is a swipe at a famous calypsonian Lord Melody in the tradition of "calypso wars" (an equivalent of today's freestyle rap battle).


REUP: mediafire
192 kbps, 56 mb
1. Lulu
2. Keep The City Clean
3. Cowboy Melo
4. Maria
5. Charlie
6. Leave The Dam Doctor
7. Monica Doo Doo
8. May May
9. Benwood Dick
10. Raphaela

Here's a Lord Kitch / Sparrow split with their greatest songs. Jean and Dinah is the Sparrow's first hit that won him the calypso crown in 1956.


Mighty Sparrow / Lord Kitchener - 16 Carnival Hits
REUP: mediafire
160 kbps, 74 mb
1. Jean & Dinah (Mighty Sparrow)
2. Pay As You Earn (Mighty Sparrow)
3. May May (Mighty Sparrow)
4. Royal Jail (Mighty Sparrow)
5. The Road (Lord Kitchener)
6. Mama Dis Is Mas (Lord Kitchener)
7. My Pussin (Lord Kitchener)
8. Obeah Wedding (Mighty Sparrow)
9. Sixty Seven (Lord Kitchener)
10. Miss Tourist (Lord Kitchener)
11. Sa Sa Yea (Mighty Sparrow)
12. Margie (Lord Kitchener)
13. Mas In Madison Square Gardens (Lord Kitchener)
14. Drunk & Disorderly (Mighty Sparrow)
15. Rain-o-Rama (Lord Kitchener)
16. Tribute To Spree Simon (Lord Kitchener)