Customer Reviews

White Sport Coat & Pink Crustacean

5 star:		(27)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

After recording two albums for the obscure Barnaby label, Jimmy Buffett made his major label debut with A White Sport Coat & A Pink Crustacean. The album's title shows the humor that courses throughout the album as it is a take off on the old Marty Robbins' hit A White Sport Coat & A Pink Carnation. Mr. Buffett is a pre-eminate storyteller and the songs on the album sound like you could be sitting at a bar listening to him hold court. The album starts off with the hilarious "Great Filling Station Holdup" which tells of a small-time robbery gone wrong. "Railroad Lady" is a great country song that has been covered by Lefty Drizzel & Willie Nelson. "He Went To Paris" is a beautifully sad song while "Grapefruit (Juicy Fruit)" is a fun and goofy song. "Cuban Crime Of Passion" is one of his first songs to incorporate the Caribbean sounds that would become his signature sound. "Why Don't We Get Drunk" has become a staple in his concerts and has become an audience singalong. "Peanut Butter Conspiracy" tells of a struggling musician who may or may not be Mr. Buffett himself. "They Don't Dance Like Carmen No More" is a slight song and the only weak link on the album. "I Have Found Me A Home" and "My Lovely Lady" are two nice ballads. "Death Of An Unpopular Poet" is one of his most underrated songs and a vivid tale of a poet and his dog. This was his first album that he recorded after he went to Key West for the first time and although it is mostly a country-folk album, there are glimpses of the sound he would become famous for.

I just can't put it any better than Tom McGuane did in the liner notes to this album. Among other descriptions of the album, he states that "What Jimmy Buffett knows is that our personal musical history lies at the curious hinterland where Hank Williams and Xavier Cugat meet...."

Wow. There's no way I could come even close to something that erudite, and McGuane nails it about as good as anyone ever has in describing Buffett's music from those days over 30 years ago.

Hell, it hurts to even think about all that time gone by, but there it is. Still, this music holds up pretty well, even if it is somewhat dated. Especially so when you consider that Buffett, the starving, hard-partying singer/songwriter would become the megastar, businessman, author, salesman, pilot, diver, fisherman, jewel thief, surfer, master chef, lion tamer, environmental activist, palm reader, etc. etc. that he became. With all that going on, it's a wonder he's found the time to write any tunes at all...

What the hell, I digress.

The music on this album has a pretty strong country flavor, as Buffett had been trying to make it in that genre. Don Gant, the producer of the first four albums did a good job on this album and the musicians used were top-drawer Nashville studio people. It made a big difference, no question about it. Michael Utley and Fingers Taylor appeared on this album, and have been with him for the most part, ever since. On the early material, Taylor's harp and the steel guitar work of Doyle Gresham were very influential in defining his sound -- almost equal to Buffett's singing voice and lyrics.

The tunes are clever, occasionally poignant, interesting and in the case of "He Went to Paris," "Grapefruit Juicyfruit," and "Why Don't We Get Drunk (and Screw)," absolutely essential classic Buffett.

He really does find the spot fairly close to Hank Sr. and Cugat in tunes like "Cuban Crime of Passion," and "They Don't Dance like Carmen (Miranda) No More." "The Great Filling Station Holdup," is a silly uptempo country flavored tune about failure at crime among starving musicians, and the similar "Peanut Butter Conspiracy" is an autobiographical tome about petty larceny. Sounds to me like Buffett might've been low on cash in those early days, but it lent for some good material in any case.

All in all, this album is another essential early-years Buffett opus. You should own it as you should own all of his first six or seven major-label albums. After that, it gets to be something of a crapshoot, because they all started sounding the same, more or less. In general, the post-70s material is okay, but more formula than from the heart. You might even want to put down your hard earned money on some of it, but the early stuff is by far the best. He was doing great work, building his act, honing his songwriting ability and he wasn't yet the big shot. He had ambition, no question about it and he was smart. In the end, I think he decided to go for the gold first (subconsciously?) and the art would take care of itself -- as it always would -- and did.

Oh well, hell, in the beginning, he probably figured if he could sell a few records and get a steady gig, he could maybe even be able to buy a boat of some kind. Maybe travel some. Meet all kinds of women. Wow!

Five stars. The boy earned 'em.

I own have this one on CD and I have the original album. It is Buffet's best work. "Death of an Unpopular Poet" is the best Buffet song. This is a great CD that every Parrothead should own.

I have owned this as an album, cassette tape and now as a CD. To me it is his best. Every song tells a little bit about Jimmy Buffet. From "He went to Paris" to "Death of an Unpopular Poet." Every song is great. If you are a Parrot Head but do not own this then you are missing some of his best work. If you are not a Parrot Head and want a CD to learn about Jimmy Buffet then get his one. While I like almost all of his music I always go back to this CD to relive my youth, and dream about eating my own weight up in crabmeat.

If I had to pick one Buffett album to own, this would be it. I don't want to invite the wrath of the Parrotheads, but once Buffett found his comfortable persona, his songwriting grew a little more predictable. Success will do that to you. On this album, there's still a "making it up as I go along" feel and a huge variety of moods and attitudes. For me, standout cuts include "The Great Filling Station Holdup," about as funny and rueful a portrait of cognitively impaired criminality as you'll ever find ("we're wanted men, we'll strike again, but first let's have a beer!"), "He Went to Paris," a song of great feeling and compassion that makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up, and "Cuban Crime of Passion," with its great lyrics and sardonic take on hispanic stereotypes.

And then there's "Why Don't We Get Drunk," about which nothing more needs to be said.

I know Buffett has occasionally commented negatively on the musical chops of the Coral Reefers of this era, but their loose, good time C&W seems absolutely perfect for the material to me.

Jimmy still wears some of his Nashville influences on White Sport Coat, but looking at his stoned gaze on the cover, you know he's ready to party. Only Jimmy could make petty theft (Peanut Butter Conspiracy) seem like a fun thing to do. His flirtation with Carribean sounds starts to show up here with Cuban Crime of Passion. This was the beginning of his "core albums" That also include A1A, Havana Daydreaming, and 3/4 Time. It's all right there on "I Have Found Me a Home" He certainly did.

Okay, okay this isn't Jimmy's first album, but it is often considered his first, and it is an album that should be bought, if for no other reason than it has three songs that are the definitive songs of their genre.

This is where most people will tell you about "He Went To Paris", "Death of an Unpopular Poet", and "Cuban Crime of Passion" While these are probably some of the best ballads Buffett ever wrote, I'd rather point out three other excellent songs.

Great Filling Station Holdup is the definitve going to jail song. Buffett has taken all the songs such and Folsum Prison Blues, and every other been in jail, bad guy songs and tore them apart with this simple parody which pokes fun at all of those singers who make being an ex-con such an important part of their life.

The Great Peanut Butter Conspiracy is yet another song which destroys the whole "desparado attitude" in so many songs, reducing the bad guy singer to simple pick-pocket. Both songs are a work of pure genius.

Of course that one song, Why Don't We Get Drunk... takes all those bar pick up C&W songs to new heights and once again is the pinacle of success. In many ways you can see why Buffett fails to get the air play he deserves. He has found the formula used in so many C&W genres, took 'em apart and exposed them for what they are.

Many people consider, Steve Goodman's City of New Orleans to be the definitve railroad song. The song tells the tale of the decline of the great American Railroads. The one thing lacking in "CONO" is the story behind the story. Jerry Jeff Walker's Railroad Lady is that missing chapter of the decline of the rails. It is an excellent story about a prostitute and how her life came and went with the rails. Buffett has included a beautiful version of this excellent ballad which should not be missed.

Now strange as it may seem, the songs discussed are not even the best songs on the album. This album should be bought simply because it has Cuban Crime Of Passion and Death Of An Unpopular Poet (not to mention He Went To Paris) These songs are Buffett at his best.

With the Exception of Cuban Crime of Passion, a song about a murder/suicide in Havana most of the album has a country/folk flavor to it. Buffett had just moved to Key West and Nashville still had a strong influence in his musical stylings. Don't let the country twang scare you away. The album will appeal to fans of folk music.

On a side note, most of the acoustic guitar work on the album is done by Steve Goodman, who is known as one of the best folk guitarists of the seventies.

This is arguably the first of three of Jimmy's best CD's. Why most people know Mr. Buffett for Margaritaville, Cheeseburger, etc., this CD probably has some of his best music, music that die hard fans and Jimmy himself have ranked among the best. Among those "best" are songs such as "He Went to Paris"; a tale of wanderlust, loss, and what I would call "a little sad island rejuvenation" with almost Hemingway, Islands In The Stream undertones.
Another great song on this CD is "Death of an Unpopular Poet" a song about a poet who seems to only achieve fame and recognition after his death. I believe the song is based after an actual poet Jimmy knew, but I am writing a review and not a novel so I'll leave that for inquisitive fans.
Also included are , " I Have Found Me a Home" a tribute to simple life in the islands/tropics as well as "Railroad Lady" a distinctively "country" sounding song that has been covered by the likes of Willie Nelson. There are several other great songs; classic Jimmy tunes like "Grapefruit-Juicy Fruit", as well as "Why Don't We Get Drunk and Screw" to the not so well known, vintage tunes such as "Peanut Butter Conspiracy"; a song about the sometime "hard times" that are associated with a budding (or whatever you call it) Caribbean/Southern/Country/Rock and Roll musicians musical career. This is a must for any die hard Buffett fan, and a good CD for anyone that enjoys his music

I found this tape (...) and gave it to my husband for christmas one year, as he is a huge parrothead.
It's found it's way to my car, so I have been listening to it alot lately. This is a great find and is certainly worth more than what I paid for it! Usually when you buy a tape that cheap there is maybe one good song on the whole album.
This is chock full of good songs, some of them being staples at his concerts now. Like, "Love song(why don't we get drunk)" and "He went to Paris" .. Then you have the more country sounded songs like, "Peanutbutter conspiracy". He seems like he was more of a country singer in his early days, but went way of the carribean sounds("Cuban Crime of Passion") after this album.
I think true Parrotheads will appreciate this album if they don't have it already. It came out in 1973, so it must be one of the first.
Buffett has a sound like no other performer, being a bit country and rock and roll. I'm not sure how to classify this album, I guess I'll just say it's BUFFETT.
Worth buying!!!

Jimmy had made some 20+ albums but this one has always remained one of my favorites. It isn't over produced, the lyrics are understated and each song is distinct and can live on its own. This album more than any other reminds me of growing up on a Florida beach with too many goodtimes and not realizing when things were bad.