Still deeper forays into the musical landscape of the Windrush generation.
A dazzling range of calypso, mento, joropo, steelband, palm-wine and r’n'b. Expert revivals of stringband music, from way back, alongside proto-Afro-funk.
An uproarious selection of songs about the H-Bomb and modern phones, prostitution and Haile Selassie, mid-life crisis and the London Underground, racism and solidarity, the Highway Code and a 100% West Indian Royal Wedding.
For example some frantic British-Guianan joropo music-hall about Eatwell Brown from Clapham, who starts out biting off a piece of his mother-in-law’s face at a party, then devours everything in his path… a chunk of Brixton Prison, a Union Jack, a policeman’s uniform. Or Marie Bryant — collaborator of Lester Young and Duke Ellington — taking time off from skewering the South African PM Daniel Malan at her West End revue, to contribute some arch, swinging filth about uber-genitalia.
Superior sound, courtesy of Abbey Road, D&M and Pallas; lovely gatefold sleeve; full-size booklet, with full notes, and fabulous previously-unseen photographs, including a set from the family archive of Russ Henderson (who led the first, impromptu Notting Hill Carnival march, in 1966).
Tracklist:
1. Lord Beginner - Sons And Daughters Of Africa (02:59)
2. The Lion - Royal Wedding (02:59)
3. The Mighty Terror - Hydrogen Bomb (03:09)
4. Dai Dai Simba - Modern Telephone (02:30)
5. Willie Payne & The Starlite Tempos - Wa Sise (02:40)
6. The Mighty Terror - Emperor Of Africa (02:38)
7. Louise Bennett - Bongo Man (02:26)
8. Marie Bryant - My Handy Man (02:39)
9. Nigerian Union Rhythm Group - Tortoise (02:32)
10. Calypso Rhythm Kings - Boule Vese (02:19)
11. The Mighty Terror - Life Is Like A Puzzle (02:51)
12. The Mighty Terror - Chinese Children (02:39)
13. Bill Rogers - Hungry Man From Clapham (02:18)
14. Lili Verona - Underground Train (03:10)
15. The Lion - Highway Code (03:10)
16. Billy Sholanke - Kana Kana (03:11)
17. Calypso Rhythm Kings - L'Année Passée (03:15)
18. Lord & Lady Beginner - One Morning (03:07)
19. West African Rhythm Brothers - Ema Foju Ana Woku (02:35)
20. Trinidad Steel Band - Caroline (02:11)
Format: 2 x 12-inch Vinyl LP
Label: Honest Jon's Records
Catalog: HJRLP77
Released: December 2019
Genre: Calpyso / Joropo / Mento
