Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Breathless! Wi Breathless. . . , May 20, 2008
For the first time in a few years or so I was one of the billions of unfortunates around the world who missed out on Trinidad Carnival this year. While I had a very good excuse to do so (my wife was having a baby) (I was still close to going anyway!) I definitely paid quite good attention to one of the most powerful Carnival seasons in recent memory. And while you can probably STILL hear each and every soca head in the world complaining and lamenting that the season was far too short (and it was), Carnival 2008 definitely left us with some crazy memories and even crazier vibes highlighted by one of the most unlikely of showdowns (and controversies). Now, for those of us that missed out on the festivities comes the fun part. Each and every year after Carnival is over, the artists in charge of producing the world's most addictive vibes in soca start spreading out and touring all over the world. Wherever you are on the planet, you're likely to be close to a major city which at some point (if it hasn't already) hosted one of the biggest (or even an upcoming) names in soca. Also, if you're not the concert going type, there are the albums! MOST of the biggest and brightest stars in soca music typically release their albums after carnival with their biggest hits of the season and newer material, while these albums tend to go, for the most part, unnoticed outside of the Caribbean and various other soca hotbeds throughout the world, if you are so inclined to track them down, trust, there's a decent chance that one of your favourite soca artists has a brand new album out right now and you might not even know it. Also, and most importantly in my opinion, it is AFTER Carnival when soca music REALLY starts to exceed in the mainstream because Carnival produces stars. Whether reinforcing the fact that Bunji Garlin (aka Mr. Fay-Ann, more on that in a minute) is aiming at Capleton to see who is the Caribbean's real fireman; Showing that Machel Montano is truly on the verge of becoming a genuine musical superstar; or introducing the world to future stars such as Problem Child, Ricky T, Don Trent, Zoelah and other countless names, many of whom will ultimately be charged with taking Soca music to the next level. Carnival is without a doubt the BIG stage for soca music, but really after things cool down, the trucks are packed up and people start going home, you really get the time which makes the world question just how such a powerful vibes continues to largely play off radar.
What isn't off radar, or even close to it, is the Soca Gold compilation. You're very likely to find people who are fans of modern music who cannot name a SINGLE current soca artist but who know EXACTLY what Soca Gold is. If you do not know, it is the biggest soca album of the year, released by VP Records, the largest Caribbean music label in the world, annually. The same which can be said of the period after Carnival can be said for the SG album itself, it can definitely make stars from the music as it puts copies of songs into the hands of people who would otherwise never have them. If you are going to buy one soca album a year, it will most likely be Soca Gold. For my opinion, the album is always pretty good in quality, although as I do get more and more acquainted with the music (and I'm pretty good now) I do tend to miss tunes on the album's roster more and more. This year is no exception on either front as SG2008 follows in a very solid line of albums from 2005 all of which, at least to me, have been very good. SG2k8 includes some of the BIGGEST (two in particular) tunes from the season and songs which really have defined what Carnival 2008 was and it also has a few glaring omissions. However, something I consider from the Soca Gold album is, much like it's sister album Reggae Gold, the album being so big has the ability to further turn people on to the vibes more and more. Thus, although you may have no idea the song existed, you just may enjoy Bunji Garlin's bit so much on Hunter's Bring It remix, that you might do a bit of research and discover that he himself won the season's biggest prize with his very own tune, Fiery (again, more on that in a minute). For me this year, looking from the outside to the inside, it was very easy to keep track of the vibes and I can full on say that I've been listening to a few of these tunes since last November! Perhaps due to the serious fun of the moment in being there (or perhaps due to my own COMPLETE lack of attention), but each and every time I've actually attended Carnival and then received the SG album, it is usually full of tunes which I just don't recognize at all! This year, I'm completely on point and thankfully, as coming from a PURELY MUSICAL standpoint, arguably 2008 has been the greatest season which I have had the fortune of experiencing on some level definitely! The songs from the top notch artists were really good as the typical cast of characters; Bunji Garlin, Machel Montano, Destra, Shurwayne Winchester and Fay-Ann Lyons definitely represented themselves well all scored with some of the biggest hits of the season. They were joined by the next tier of artists also doing themselves more than proud such as KMC, Dawg E Slaughter, Peter Ram, Biggie Irie and the likes and even the young and up and coming names this year such as NADIA BATSON, Ms Alysha, Patrice Roberts and the EXPLOSIVE Blaxx further continued their rise to eventual soca superstardom with big hits as well. I would also do well and respectful to mention the likes of Denise Belfon, Sean Caruth, Crazy and even SUPERBLUE as very well known artists who returned this year with strong vibes as well. Simply put, if you REALLY enjoy soca music then 2008 was your playground and you (like me) are probably still playing on it.
Soca Gold 2008 follows a SG2k7 album which was loaded and packed with hits and just impressed on so many levels. I'm not calling 2008's edition as strong as 2007, that would be VERY hard as that album was definitely one of my absolute favourites the series has ever produced, but it is still more than just solid and borderline excellent as expected. Were you to ask me for my opinion of the absolute biggest tunes of the season I could definitely narrow it down to as far as a top five and two of those tunes are present on SG2k7. They also happen to open the album in succession (and of course one of them is my absolute favourite tune from the album)! In a music so `segmented' and streaking as soca tends to be (due to the very fact that it actually has a season, can you imagine something like dancehall season, or hip-hop season?), its VERY difficult to call something the biggest hit of someone's career as, especially with the top artists, their entire career tends to be going from hit to hit to hit. HOWEVER, I have absolutely NO problem with declaring the MASSIVE Get On as the strongest piece Fay-Ann Lyons (now Alvarez) has EVER produced topping the mad Display. The tune single-handedly dethroned two time in a row winning and defending Machel Montano (who was representing with Blazin' D Trail) more than quadrupling Mr. HD himself and almost tripling the next closest competitor in points. The tune also single-handedly ended the male dominance on soca's greatest prize, Soca Monarch. . . Of course you wouldn't know that, however, because Fay-Ann was robbed and the crown was given to her husband, Bunji Garlin, who more than admitted defeat to his FIERY wife. Get On is the type of tune which separates soca from every other musical genre in the world. I have heard the song hundreds of times now and have yet to tire of it. From the ultra-cool intro all the way through it excites and just personifies a vibe which cannot be ignored. Get On is massive in every way and if you haven't seen the monarch `winning' performance then definitely do yourself a favour and track it down. Next up is the tune which won the runner up trophy to Get On in Road March and was my absolute favourite tune of the season and, thus, on Soca Gold 2008 as well, the SICKLY addictive Breathless by Blaxx representing Roy Cape All-Stars. Blaxx checked in on SG2k7 as well with Dutty which was a solid enough tune as I had never heard of Blaxx. But Breathless is seriously something else. The intro plays in on a children's like instrument and my ears literally standup every time I hear it (and it's my daughter's favourite song and it will probably be yours too!). Again, look for a song which is SPECIFICALLY soca, no part dancehall, no part hip-hop not diluted in the slightest bit. Breathless is MASSIVE! Closing the intro and calming things down (my heart says thank you) a bit is Gyal Farm by Kerwin Du Bois and Shal Marshall. The tune is interesting to me for no other reason than I recognize its strength, but to be perfectly honest, it was one of my least favourite hits of the season.
I was probably most interesting in the track selection this year as I mentioned that I had been paying so good of attention and as I looked down on the list prior to even receiving the album the song here which I was MOST happy to see was definitely Wukking Up by Patrice Roberts. Roberts is a very young veteran in the game and Machel Montano's most noteworthy protégé from his HD camp and she has SERIOUSLY shined throughout her career and definitely as of late. I though VP dropped the ball in 2007 as they missed out on arguably her biggest hit to date (not including her tunes with Machel, most notably the Road March winning Band of the Year and the only song which may have topped Breathless for me were it on this album this year, Rollin'). Playing on the same riddim which Machel scored with Wining Season this year Wukking Up is VERY impressive and they could have literally picked either of her tunes from the year (especially the Wukking Up remix with dancehall diva Macka Diamond) and been on point, she continues to impress. Secondly I was very...
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Soca Gold 2008, June 23, 2008
These compilations get better and better every year. I highly recommend for anyone who likes island music.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Soca at it's very best!, August 1, 2008
I am a Canadian living and working in Sherman TX,I miss my Soca and this year I will be missing my Caribana Jump Up in Toronto Aug 2,but this CD makes me feeling like I am there.I just found out I am a "Soca Junkie" too! Buy this CD and feel the Scoa Fever.Hey what has happened to Byron Lee's annual Soca CD?
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~ Various Artists
~ Various Artists
~ Various Artists
~ Various Artists
~ Various Artists
See all 17 tracks on this disc
- the new music site from IMDb and Amazon.
