Go Calypso, Go

Cultural appropriation of the kitschiest variety, starring the voluptuous Mamie Van Doren:

Muriel's Treasure, Vol. 2

Now available thru iTunes, Amazon, and everywhere else. Volumes 1, 3 and 4 also available, with more to come. Meticulously digitally remastered from vinyl—which means they ain't perfect, but they're as good as you'll find them in the absence of master tapes.

Track list:

01 Percy Dixon - Bloodshot Eyes

02 Duke of Iron - Calypsonian Invasion

03 Lord Kitchener - The Wrecker

04 Marie Bryant - Don't Touch Me Tomato

05 Fabulous McClevertys - Landlady Want de Rent

06 Mighty Sparrow - Castro Eating Banana

07 Lord Christo - Boy Days

08 Lord Creator - Mr Rake and Scrape

09 unknown - Brown Skin Girl

10 Lord Nelson - I Got The Itch

11 Duke of Iron - Undercover Man

12 Lord Spectacular - Lazy Man

13 Mighty Gypsy - Sucker

14 Mighty Prince Galloway - Confusion Men

15 Count of Monte Cristo & Congo Bey - Run Joe

16 Sir Jablonski - More Pork

17 George Symonette - Camilla

18 Lord Creator - Race Track (mono)

19 Talbot Brothers - Atomic Nightmare

20 Tony Johnson - Linstead Market

21 Lord Invader - Reincarnation

22 Telco Orchestra - Belmont Jackass

23 Mighty Zebra - The Bedbug

24 The Sparrow - Donkey Want Water (Hold 'Em Joe)

25 Mighty Duke - Play Them

The Avalanches - "Frankie Sinatra"

The Great calypsonian Wilmoth Houdini takes uncredited vocal turns in this video by the Avalanches for their single, "Frankie Sinatra." The sampled song is "Bobby Sox Idol," which Houdini recorded in the early 1940s to celebrate the young crooner who made female hearts flutter on concert stages, over radio airwaves, and on 78 rpm platters.

HT: Mike Noble

Muriel's Treasure, Vol. 1

Now available thru iTunes, Amazon, and everywhere else. Volumes 2, 3 and 4 also available, with more to come. Meticulously digitally remastered from vinyl—which means they ain't perfect, but they're as good as you'll find them in the absence of master tapes.

Track list:

01 Lord Kitchener - Muriel And De Bug
02 The Lion - Trinidad, Land Of Calypso
03 Mighty Sparrow - The Slave
04 Duke & the Jamaica 5 - Bloodshot Eyes
05 Wilmoth Houdini - Bobby Sox Idol
06 George Symonette - Coconut Water, Rum And Gin
07 McClevertys - Don't Blame It On Elvis
08 Duke of Iron - Fifty Cents
09 Mighty Zebra - Man Smart, Woman Smarter
10 Duke & the Jamaica 5  - Hungry Woman
11 Lili Verona - Massa Johnny
12 Duke of Iron - The Music Lesson
13 Duke Errol & the Lords - Mama Look'a Boo Boo
14 Lord Brynner - Hang Them High
15 Lord Kitchener - Smoke A Cigarette
16 Count Lasher & Williams - Mufradite
17 Talbot Bros - Too Much Rock & Roll
18 Duke Errol & the Lords - Shame And Scandal
19 Mighty Dougla - Split Me In Two
20 Mighty Zebra - We Like Ike
21 Duke Errol - Back To Back and Belly To Belly
22 Lord Christo - Trip To Mars
23 Two Gun Smokey - Vacation
24 Nap Hepburn - The River
25 Mike Alexander & the Pott Steelers - You Are My Sunshine

We can do it!

Calypsos for Adam and Eve

This vivacious tropical cover for the Monogram label (disc: Kalypso Records Ltd., Jamaica) appears to be the handiwork of the same uncredited artist who illustrated Ritmo's Calypsos from Jamaica.

The above 7" EP features tracks by the Duke of Iron ("Big Bamboo"), Lord Kitchener ("Big Toe"), the Four Deuces ("Lemme Go Emelda"), and Sir George Brown ("He Like It, She Like It"). The A-sides, with Kitch and Duke of Iron, are classic Trinidad calypso, while the artists on side B reflect the Jamaican mento variant.

We would appreciate any information about the illustrator, whose style is audacious and singular.

The Day Van Dyke Parks Went Calypso

Crawdaddy magazine (Nov 19): "Parks is generally a well-mannered and affable Southern-born gent with a mildly mischievous streak. A one-time child prodigy on clarinet, he’s often mentioned in tandem with his Southern California work with Beach Boy Brian Wilson, who was reportedly too tripped-out to continue their Smile-era collaborations. A formidable freethinker and raconteur of psychedelic dimensions himself, you can hear the Parks imprint, curly-cuing through 'Heroes and Villains' and 'Sail On, Sailor.' ... Rarely at a loss for bookings as a composer, arranger, musician, and producer (Parks would go on to work with artists from Harry Nilsson and Ringo Starr to Joanna Newsom and Rufus Wainwright), ... he juggled sessions by psychedelic bands as well as singer-songwriters Randy Newman and Phil Ochs. It was following the critical success of his first solo work, Song Cycle, in 1968 and the oil spill in ’69, that Parks began in earnest his pursuit of the music of the West Indies—specifically calypso and ... steel pan."

HT: Jeff Winner

Pillow Fight (Lord Kitchener)

Domestic violence on YouTube:

No guns, no knives, no fists—just a weapon whose use was chronicled by Monty Python's take on the Spanish Inquisition.

HT: Lane Steinberg

Tomatoes, touching

Bob Marley's mom recounts her young son's discovery of songs about fruit:



HT: Thelma

Nobody but she husband

"Murder is nothing to brag about"—unless it sells a half-million records. TIME magazine fêtes calypsonian Wilmoth Houdini, August 26, 1946.





HT: Doug Schulkind

True, Man, True

Somebody has to play Cleopatra. Why not Mary Tyler Moore?

Calypso girl

HT: Michelle Shaw