Can't for the life of me find our chart talk thread, so I apologize for the audacity to create something solely for the sake of my own new list, but I'd like to share—
Doubles & Conch is my ode to the Caribbean, bar Jamaica—
In this heat of summer's soundtrack, echoing calypso, soca, merengue & rumba, the roots of Caribbean music run deep, with classic cuts from 30s and 40s shellac through digital dembow and reggaeton, the islands have vibrant, varied scenes that lack the unnecessary competitive edge we so often find in music— there's a recreational enjoyment, and sometimes true hilarity, you find in so few corners of this world, and it's within that comfort it shines— Trinidad & Haiti are unique, deep, music powerhouses, and gems from the Bahamas & Cuba shine among what I think are the best albums ever recorded— it's a pocket of the world perhaps overshadowed by neighbouring scenes, but deserves it's spotlight all the same—
Countries considered: Cuba, Haiti, Trinidad & Tobago, Bahamas, Guadeloupe, Puerto Rico, Barbados, Grenada, Dominica, Curacao, St. Lucia, Antigua and Barbuda, Dominican Republic, Aruba, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Virgin Islands, Sint Maarten, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines & Martinique
& to the poets— Brathwaite, Guillén, Walcott, Frankétienne, Morejon, Cesaire & Marti — who stared towards shades of blue and thought to describe them with something as simple as words— I applaud, urge others to discover, and offer this upturned shot-glass run with a single drop of rum— _________________ Doubles & Conch
Can't for the life of me find our chart talk thread, so I apologize for the audacity to create something solely for the sake of my own new list, but I'd like to share—
(thread got buried in the depths 🫢 so just stickied as quite a popular thread..)
Looks a great chart, big fan of Caribbean music, definitely be checking a few of those out (not too familiar with early period so looks very interesting).
(thread got buried in the depths 🫢 so just stickied as quite a popular thread..)
Looks a great chart, big fan of Caribbean music, definitely be checking a few of those out (not too familiar with early period so looks very interesting).
Thanks AM, spotted the pin— I'd dug to about page 35 and gave up 😨 ... couldn't even seem to Google it up for some reason—
And definitely check out the early Caribbean period 😄 — there's a surprising amount of music from Trinidad and Cuba on shellac, acetate, early 45s, etc — calypso, samba and rhumba appeared on wax long before reggae — Lionel Belasco was cutting stuff in the 1910s in Port of Spain, and Miguelito Valdés has some recordings from the late 40s that stack up to 60s standards — what I'm hoping to dive into next is finding some of the harder to find calypso 45s from the 30s and 40s... I mean, stuff is being reissued all the time, but there's tonnes to still discover. Not to mention the irreplaceable vibe the early recordings had... it's like old photographs— we can try to edit stuff digitally to recreate the aesthetic, but it'll never be true—
Now, the recording quality isn't great, but here's a solid Cuban single from 1918—
Recording technology hit the Caribbean earlier than a lot of other pockets of the world, and it left future generations with plenty to discover. By the time full-length calypso records were being cut in the 40s, it was old hat—
Lyrically, I think early calypso might have some modern listeners going 😲😮🙄 — early singers had some zingers, and songs could get quite raunchy and comedic. It's fun. Weird that the genre died out around the same time as reggae— _________________ Doubles & Conch
II
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Age: 100
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Caribbean music is unique and has uplifting rhythms, melodies, instruments and vocals, so this chart has made me interested in discovering more of that music.
It seems to me a lot effort went into making this chart by digging through as many albums of the Caribbean as possible, listening to them and then rate them by a personal preference. So it deserved the win and II thank you for making it 🙏
II'm glad a chart like this has been made and have won the 15th "Get To Know A Top 10: Revival Poll" as II was one of the users who voted for it, since before discovering it, II had listened to several albums from the Bahamas and a few from Trinidad and Tobago but A Second Album Of Bahamian Songs (1952) by Blind Blake And His Royal Victoria Calypsos [/url] has been one which has clicked with me, that currently is one of my top-favorite albums.
It seems to me a lot effort went into making this chart by digging through as many albums of the Caribbean as possible, listening to them and then rate them by a personal preference. So it deserved the win and II thank you for making it 🙏
Thanks II 😄 — as much as it's 'effort', I think it leans more towards a mixture of fun and education— it's fantastic to just dive into a specific geographical region and explore the different sounds from different eras and why those sounds exist and how they evolved— and yeah, it's hit-and-miss when you're digging, there's duds, course, but when you stumble across something you aren't expecting anything from and it hits way above expectation (Suffering (2018) by Midnight Groovers, Gwo Ka Modènn (1988) by Gérard Lockel, Guerilla (1975) by Guerilla), it kinda makes you question why some albums are classics and some are forgotten.
I'm planning on putting on a slight new coat of paint before the thread discussion opens, but it'll probably just be a swap of 7-8 albums and a bit of juggling—
Haiti is truly a fascinating place when it comes to art and culture (primarily when it comes to powerhouses)— whatever harsh, bold, uniqueness stemmed from that French-colonial/Caribbean/voodoo mix— and the country's musical output from the early 50s to early-70s doesn't quite sound like anywhere else— sometimes you could say to yourself it has New Orleans vibes, sometimes Trinidadian vibes, sometimes even European jazz, but it's always very stark and raw (and often, like in the cases of Fabre Duroseau and Frantz Casseus), imperfect. Of course, recording in Haiti declined rapidly after that era, but there's been some noteworthy albums in recent years. I imagine tonnes has been lost, so it's worth appreciating what we have—
Interestingly, the 3 'non-Caribbean' nationalities for that chart (on BEA) are all from recording artists who recorded Haitian music. I think it's fascinated a lot of people for a long time—
I hadn't heard of Arthur Duroseau, and enjoyed giving the rec a spin— fun record, super riverboat-esque— who knows, might make the cut on the update—
& yeah, that Blind Blake record is like... one of the best. Unreplicateable sound. Early Bahamian album covers were oddly similar to each other (George Symonette's output comes to mind)— Blind Blake's first few albums all had at design (as much as I prefer the alternative (and possibly more well-known) album cover (which came from whoknowswhere), there is something charming about the original)— this design was also used by Lou Adams for his record on the chart too—
It's an album I remember clicking with me on first listen to, so I'm glad you enjoyed it II 😄 — hope you enjoy digging through the rest of the chart too— _________________ Doubles & Conch
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and a few from Trinidad and Tobago 
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), it kinda makes you question why some albums are classics and some are forgotten.
