Tropical Gangsters [Import, Original recording remastered]

Kid Creole & The Coconuts | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 19, 2002)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import, Original recording remastered
• Label: Polygram UK
• ASIN: B0000647HY
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Vinyl
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #188,535 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Annie (I'm Not Your Daddy)

2. I'm A Wonderful Thing, Baby

3. Imitation

4. I'm Corrupt

5. Loving You Made A Fool Out Of Me

6. Stool Pigeon

7. The Love We Have

8. No Fish Today

9. Christmas On Riverside Drive

10. You Had No Intention

11. Annie I'm Not Your Daddy (Remix)

12. I'm A Wonderful Thing (Original 12 Inch Mix)

13. Stool Pigeon (12 Inch Mix)

14. Double On Back (B Side Of Stool Pigeon 12 Inch)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars pure tropical genius..., May 23, 2003

By 

Dejan Kovacevic (New York, New York United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Tropical Gangsters (Audio CD)

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!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars 20 Years Too Soon!, May 29, 2005

By 

Tall Paul (San Diego, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Tropical Gangsters (Audio CD)

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.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A disco cruise around the Caribbean, September 19, 2003

By 

Pieter "Toypom" (Johannesburg) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Tropical Gangsters (Audio CD)

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.