Week 6 Le Steel-Band De La Trinidad ‎– Magie Caraïbe

This week, we welcome our esteemed guest contributor Dan Wall from Funky Navigation, to provide our features...

When Ralph MacDonald sang 'You need more Calypso in your life' he wasn't playin' with ya; you probably do ...and he knew it. There's nothing like a bit of Calypso to raise the spirits and inject some Caribbean swag into your stride. It's like Berocca for the ears. 

Despite the rather ordinary and unassuming title title, this Charity Shop Gem of The Week is no ordinary Calypso LP.  What you get here is an alternate take on the sound of Trinidad; this is a Trinidad after-party, the type not advertised to tourists. Gone is the usual gaiety synonymous with steel bands, this has a different vision, a dark side. The arrangements are sublime, some straight pan, others mixing conga and electric guitar. The tune selection is also pretty surprising. 'Coming Home' is a tidy, low-slung version of the Ben Tucker penned tune 'Coming Home, Baby',  popularised by Mel Torme. The arrangement and lazy vocal styling on their cover of Gershwin's 'Summertime' is so insanely good, one can feel an instant increase in temperature and humidity as it plays. Then there is their unique proto-reggae take on the traditional island ballad - 'L'Homme A La Grosse Tête'; a bitter sweet song full of disillusionment and sorrowful observation, which at 1.57 minutes is the aural equivalent of a shot of Angostura Legacy Rum. If that alone doesn't hook you there are also two original numbers from steel pan legend - Desmond Bowen (sadly no longer with us) that suitably demonstrates that these boys knew exactly what they were doing. The latter of which, 'Calypso Jazz improvisation', can be heard on this Month's Curious Music For Curious People podcast.

Week 3: Kojak - 2 Exciting Stories!

Now we're talking... a great example of the kind of bonkers but undeniably cool records that can be found in bargain buckets if you keep your eyes peeled.

This is one of many storybook/record sets I've picked up over the years (almost all without the book)

Littered with great quotes, sound effects and soundbites, all in an ultra-cool New York drawl, with some ridiculous characters and plots that just about make sense... what's not to like?

Week 2: Arthur Lyman's Taboo

Lounge-jazz with exotic instruments recorded in a Hawaiian ecological sanctuary, you say? Well, that ought to be tasty. This record is unlike anything I've heard before, thanks to it's unique recording process - according to the liner notes it was recorded in a large eco-dome, which gives it some incredible natural delays, and the recordings are infused with actual wildlife sounds as exotic birds occasionally pipe up. Musically, it would be pretty straightforward lounge-jazz, but the 3-second reverbs drenxch everything in a kind of ethereal glow, and the use of unusual Polynesian instruments give it a character that's unlike anything else.

Pretty chuffed to spot this the other day for 99p... it isn't particularly rare or sought after, but at CMFCP we don't care. It's brilliant!