Kid Creole & The Coconuts - Tropical Gangsters (1982) (vinyl LP) - €10,00

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Tropical Gangsters is the third album by Kid Creole and the Coconuts, released on May 10, 1982.

After reluctantly giving in to his record label’s request to make the album a Kid Creole and the Coconuts record rather than a solo album, Darnell felt the most appropriate thing to do was to continue the concept of the first two Kid Creole albums, about the adventures of the band shipwrecked on the imaginary island of B’Dilli Bay. Darnell told NME about the album’s theme, and also explained away the change of musical style from the first two albums, saying, “What this album is, is a continuation of the Fresh Fruit … idea.

Only it’s a flashback, it all takes place on B’Dilli Bay … It’s a flashback story of what exactly happened for the 21 days that Creole and his crew stayed on that island, with the scum of the earth, the prostitutes, whores and pimps … Creole is on B’Dilli Bay looking for Mimi and he had to spend time there, he had to buy his time there. Because the music of B’Dilli Bay was R&B. And Creole was forced to play the music to stay there.”

“I’m a Wonderful Thing, Baby” was started by the Coconuts’ keyboard player Peter Schott and originally titled “It’s a Wonderful Thing”. Darnell decided to change the first word to “I’m” and create a song about an egocentric character.

“Imitation” was Darnell’s response to people who were constantly telling him about new British bands they felt were ripping off Kid Creole’s music, and also a riposte to ZE label boss Michael Zilkha who had told him to write something less obviously Latin-sounding and “more funky”: “As I explained to Zilkha later I’d been inspired by funk, just like I’d been inspired by salsa, but you don’t find me writing pure cha-cha’s or pure reggae because why should I do that? … I’d rather take pride in knowing I’ve created a fusion of those worlds … My motto has been ‘Emulation not imitation is the healthy way to go’.”

“Stool Pigeon” was inspired by a newspaper article Darnell had read about a former Mafia boss who had been let out of jail after providing information about his former colleagues, and had now had his identity changed and protected by the FBI. Darnell said, “I actually had compassion for the guy. I thought, wow, what a way to go.
And I could understand why he did it. He sold out for the money and the comfort, I guess the very things that had brought him into the underworld.”
The song also features Darnell’s attempt at the then newly fashionable art of rapping—he later confessed, “That’s just me goofing at being a rapper, which was the last thing I ever wanted to do”.

Side one

1.  Annie, I’m Not Your Daddy - 6:16

2.  I’m a Wonderful Thing Baby - 5:15

3.  Imitation - 4:11

4.  I’m Corrupt - 4:11

Side two

1.  Loving You Made a Fool Out of Me - 4:50

2.  Stool Pigeon - 5:00

3.  The Love We Have - 5:13

4. No Fish Today - 4:56

Kid Creole and the Coconuts:

• August Darnell, Coati Mundi, Peter Schott, Carol Coleman, Adriana Kaegi, Jimmy Rippetoe and special guest star Cory Daye

Additional personnel

• Angelica de la Luna, Ronnie Rogers, Dave Spann, Winston Grennan, Jay Stovall, Yogi Horton, Charles Lagond, Cheryl Poirier, Lori Eastside, Taryn Haegy, Perri Lister, Stephanie Fuller, Theodore “Dutch” Robinson, Christine Wiltshire, Mark Mazur, Clarence Banks, Andrew Lloyd, Floyd Fisher, Sam Turner and Eugene Grey

Additional credits

• Bob Blank – chief engineer
• Bruce Buchalter – assistant engineer
• Carlos Franzetti – horns and strings arrangements for the Pond Life Orchestra, except “I’m a Wonderful Thing, Baby”
• Michael Frondelli – chief engineer
• Michel Sauvage – assistant engineer
• Peter Schott – horns and strings arrangements on “I’m a Wonderful Thing, Baby”
• Michael Zilkha – executive producer

Notes

Release:  1982

Format:  LP, Vinyl

Genre:  Latin, Tropical

Label:  ZE Records

Catalog#  204669

Vinyl:  Goed (VG)

Cover:  Goed (VG)

Prijs: €10,00