Search - Kid Creole & Coconuts :: Tropical Gangsters

Pure tropical genius...

Dejan Kovacevic | New York, New York United States | 05/23/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"If in your lifetime you only heard a song or two by Kid Creole and The Coconuts, it would be of off this album - "Tropical Gangsters" was the commercial pinnacle of their career and produced the number of their biggest singles - rightfully so, I may add. Although Kid & The Coconuts had better albums - check out "Fresh Fruits in Foreign Places" or "Doppelganger"- and ocassional great moments later in career - "Don't Take My Coconuts," "The Lifeboat Party," "Endicott," "(Dancing at the) Baines Douches" - none of the later song collections summarized better what the band was all about.



The songs on this album are as campy and trashy as you can only wish for and they are a firm statement of August Darnell (a.k.a. The Kid) as a great songwriter and masterful entertainer. With the invaluable help of his faithfull sidekick Andy Hernandez (a.k.a. Coati Mundi), he had managed to put together a very appealing package, drawing from Broadway musicals and disco, reggae and calypso, soul and funk, and most importantly from their heritage of blacks/Latinos in these great United States, with New York City a designated locale.



The sheer level of songwriting skills would mark this album - and Kid Creole as an artist - as one of the indispensable of the era, but the collective efforts of the whole orchestra and many of its member artists/branches - Cory Daye, Gichy Dan, Pond Life brass and strings, etc. - turns this record into a pop masterpiece never to be repeated in the further development of popular music.



Bonus tracks are all hard to find 12" mixes and all the more reason to get this record, along with few more titles - above mentioned ones plus "Off the Coast Of Me" - in the newly remastered Universal Kid Creole series. Guaranteed to please!"

A disco cruise around the Caribbean

Pieter | Johannesburg | 09/19/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Tropical Gangsters was Kid Creole And The Coconuts' 1982 album and has been re-released with 6 additional tracks consisting of remixes of Annie I'm Not Your Daddy, I'm A Wonderful Thing Baby and Stool Pigeon, plus B-sides previously only available on vinyl. It is musically very well rounded and more sophisticated than earlier albums like Off The Coast Of Me, meaning production is slicker and the band is tight. Still I think the Coast album contains more memorable songs and more musical variety like the brilliant Bogotá Affair and their charming version of Lilli Marlene. My favorites here include the huge UK hits Annie, I'm Not your Daddy, Wonderful Thing and Stool Pigeon. They're all melodic, uplifting and sometimes humorous tunes with catchy hooks and the trademark Darnell humour. I also love the soulful Loving You Made A Fool Out Of Me. Tropical Gangsters is a good album but the music is a rather similar blend of pop, caribbean and big band sounds lacking the variety offered by albums like Coast or Fresh Fruit From Foreign Places. It is however, an enduring and unique strain of popular music that started with Dr Buzzard's Original Savannah Band and has aged well, especially if you like dance music with lots of personality and a dash of humour."

20 Years Too Soon!

Tall Paul | San Diego, CA United States | 05/29/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Groundbreaking album. Combines many styles of music. Very unique sound. Fantastic use of acoustic instruments with synthsizers. There hasnt been a band yet to capture this amalgamation of music. Too far ahead of its time to enjoy its true success. If this were released today August Darnell would own the world."