Various
London Is The Place For Me 7
'CALYPSO, MENTO, JOROPO, STEEL & STRING BAND' - Still deeper forays into the musical landscape of the Windrush generation. A dazzling range of calypso, mento, joropo, steelband, palm-wine and r'n'b. Expert revivals of stringband music, from way back, alongside proto-Afro-funk. An uproarious selection of songs about the H-Bomb and modern phones, prostitution and Haile Selassie, mid-life crisis and the London Underground, racism and solidarity, the Highway Code and a 100% West Indian Royal Wedding. For example some frantic British-Guianan joropo music-hall about Eatwell Brown from Clapham, who starts out biting off a piece of his mother-in-law's face at a party, then devours everything in his path... a chunk of Brixton Prison, a Union Jack, a policeman's uniform. Or Marie Bryant, collaborator of Lester Young and Duke Ellington, taking time off from skewering the South African PM Daniel Malan at her West End revue, to contribute some arch, swinging filth about uber-genitalia. Superior sound, courtesy of Abbey Road, D&M and Pallas, lovely gatefold sleeve, full-size booklet, with full notes, and fabulous previously-unseen photographs, including a set from the family archive of Russ Henderson (who led the first, impromptu Notting Hill Carnival march, in 1966). SIDE 1: 1. Lord Beginner - Sons And Daughters Of Africa 2. The Lion- Royal Wedding 3. The Mighty Terror - The Hydrogen Bomb 4. Dai Dai Simba - Modern Telephone 5. Willie Payne & The Starlite Tempos -Wa Sise SIDE 2: 1. The Mighty Terror - The Emperor Of Africa 2. Louise Bennett -Bongo Man 3. Marie Bryant- My Handy Man 4. Nigerian Union Rhythm Group - Tortoise Mambo 5. Calypso Rhythm Kings- Boul Ve Se SIDE 3: 1. The Mighty Terror - Life Is Like A Puzzle 2. The Mighty Terror - Chinese Children 3. Bill Rogers - Hungry Man From Clapham 4. Lili Verona - Underground Train 5. The Lion - Highway Code SIDE 4: 1. Billy Sholanke -Kana Kana 2. Calypso Rhythm Kings- L'Année Passée 3. Lord Beginner, Lady Beginner- One Morning 4. West African Rhythm Brothers- Ema Foju Ana Woku 5. Trinidad Steel Band - Caroline