Customer Reviews

Calypso Is Like So

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Yeah, I know. I was skeptical when I first spied the cover of this disc. Visions of Felix Unger doing the "Oscar, Oscar, Oscar" song bumrushed my consciousness.

The fact is, not only can Robert Mitchum sing (his prior vocal effort "Thunder Road" is included here), he can really swing out with that calypso beat. If you can listen to "Jean and Dinah" and "Tick, Tick Tick" (my two personal favorites) without bouncing around the room, take your pulse -- you might not be alive!

This may look like a novelty item to the uninitiated, but there is not a bad song on this very entertaining album.

Dig that album cover! The King of Cool doesn't disgrace himself with this 1957 release. What should have been a bizarre novelty emerges as a surprisingly enjoyable foray into the calypso milieu. Among the standout tracks are "What Is This Generation Coming To?" and "From a Logical Point of View." Robert Mitchum fans will not be disappointed.

So, how good does Robert Mitchum do de calypso, mon? Well, he's a more authentic calypso singer than Vanilla Ice was a rapper. He does a decent job on the tongue-twisting lyrics, especially on the up-tempo "What's This Generation Coming To?", a lament about how da crazy teenagers got da nation in a state of con-fyoo-shun wit' dere rockin' 'n' rollin'. On other tunes, his vocals aren't as powerful as his fists, but as Johnny Mercer once said, if Mitchum can't reach a high note, "he can act his way through it." And if that doesn't work...well, who's gonna tell him? Here is the track listing:

1. Jean and Dinah
2. From a Logical Point of View
3. Not Me
4. What is This Generation Coming To?
5. Tic, Tic, Tic
6. Beauty is Only Skin Deep
7. I Learn a Merengue, Mama
8. Take Me Down to Lover's Row
9. Mama, Looka Boo Boo
10. Coconut Water
11. Matilda, Matilda
12. They Dance All Night
13. The Ballad of Thunder Road
14. My Honey's Lovin' Arms

13 & 14 are bonus tracks. "The Ballad of Thunder Road" was a non-calypso single released about a year after this album, and "My Honey's Lovin' Arms" was it's b-side.

While vacationing in the Bahamas recently, my hotel's Muzak track played a Calypso song which was obviously entitled "From a Logical Point of View." Something immediately clicked, and the song was unquestionably a version of the early 60's U.S. hit "If You Wanna Be Happy" by one Jimmy Soul. As I listened intently, I found the Calypso version's lyrics funnier and far more clever; I suspected that it preceded the somewhat sanitized U.S. version.... but who was the singer?

My interest in the song was sidetracked until I returned from vacation, whereupon I promptly tracked it down on the web. Much to my surprise the vocal artist was Robert Mitchum! At first I thought it wasn't possible, but after repeated playings of the CD, I actually can manage to hear a tiny bit of Mitchum's real, actor's voice in the songs. Your first time through it, though, you simply won't believe your ears.

Mitchum does a surprisingly fantastic job. The tunes are catchy and infectious, and one is better than the other. Yes, they're politically incorrect, but that isn't a bad thing, IMHO. Sure, they're a tad "naughty" by 1950's standards, but hardly so by the standards of today. Thematically interesting, one song is about a group of popular bar girls' return to normal status after the American naval base in Trinidad is closed. Another concerns a father's musings over his kids disbelief that he's so darn ugly (and possibly that he's not their real father). A third is about a stolen watch and where it's hidden on (or should I say "in") a native lass' body. A particularly catchy tune recounts a lad's being taught the dance called "the merengue" (or could this be code for something else?) and of course there's the "Logical Point of View" number, which advises you to "always marry a woman uglier than you."

Happy, fun music from a bygone era. Great stuff!

Forget "Sgt. Pepper's," "Electric Ladyland" and the third Kraftwerk album; for that matter, who needs the artiness of Veloso or Buarque when you have the Mitch? This 1957 effort is simply one of the best LPs ever recorded, and it works on many levels. The man who did the best version of "Sunny" ever recorded (sure beat Bobby Hebb) and who terrorized children, mothers and nubile teenagers in films like "Cape Fear" and "Night of the Hunter" (and who was one of the heaviest film-noir anti-heroes in classics like "Out of the Past" and "Angel Face") proves his versatility by tackling these calypso songs and rendering them to perfection. The angular, avant-garde banjo on "I Learn a Meringue, Mama" beats anything DNA or Robert Fripp ever put on wax; Robert Fripp never had Jane Greer or Jane Russell as a love interest, and he ever got busted for weed he wouldn't have taken it in stride as well as Mitchum did back in 1947. The fact is, this is one solid platter and anyone who snickers and laughs at this masterpiece, or tries to parade her "hipster" credentials by calling it a camp classic, needs to have a talk with the Mitch, who is still dispensing his brand of wisdom, and a nightly version of "Mama Look a Boo Boo," from the right hand of Yaweh up in tough-guy heaven. Buy this before you buy anything else, and if you're lucky, maybe you'll find a woman you can call "Chiquita!"

Fantastic! My parents bought the LP when we lived in Rio, Brasil. It's now in my home hanging on the wall. It's nice to see it on CD. Many years ago, Bob Mitchum was on the Johnny Carson Show and when Johnny pulled the LP out to show Bob he had it, Bob laughed and said he was drunk when he made it.

This disc is tremendous. Like everyone else who's ever bought this disc, I did so for a bit of a laugh. Turned out to be great - Who knew? I thought Robert Mitchum did his best work in "Thunder Road." I was sadly mistaken.

Having bought this as a bit of a giggle and something worth a laugh - we find that Robert Mitchum can sing and that the CD is well worth it. The music has that swing and Mitchum carries it off with character.

I always thought this was a "Golden Throats" candidate, but had never before heard the album. When I did, I was amazed. Mitchum can really sing -- his tone is fine, his pitch is true, his rhythm is right in the groove, and his enunciation is spot-on. There's no way he was drunk (as he later claimed) when he recorded this -- it's just too clean. Trained musicians might have had trouble with these rhythms and lyrics, but Mitchum hits them out of the park. And the songs are delightful, as is his back-up band and singers. This album is a real delight, and though better calypso recordings undoubtedly exist, this record has to stand near the top of the list of best albums by Hollywood stars not otherwise known as vocalists.

Knowing my penchant for the odd and truly bizarre, a friend lent me this 1957 album of actor Robert Mitchum singing calypso. You immediate impulse is to wonder what the hell is going on here, but then you remember that there was a Carribean music craze touched off my Harry Belafonte's 1956 "Calypso" album. Mitchum is just going along for the ride. But this IS Robert Mitchum, which means that while this is mostly high camp you also have sexist lyrics and a rather racist delivery. Unfortunately, "What Is This Generation Coming To" is NOT one of the better tracks on the album, and is therefore a lousy choice as the one clip you can listen to here; "Tick Tick Tick" would have been good, "Thunder Road" okay, although it is one of those bonus tracks you get on reissue albums. Mitchum might have been drunk when he did this, as he latter claimed, but maybe the booze just relaxed him enough to go along for a ride. This is one of those guilty pleasure CDs. But I bet you can hook some of your friends on this one.