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A few years ago I became interested in blue-eyed 80s pop soul. Sade, Everything But the Girl, The Style Council, the Blow Monkey and stuff like that. There was a steady supply in charity shops and although a reasonable proportion didn't please me, some things did.
One day in a charity shop I came across a twelve inch of Kid Creole and the Coconuts' Annie I'm Not Your Daddy.
I have always had a soft spot for that track. The afro-cuban beat, the trio of backing singers, the silly costumes and the unashamed pop of it put it firmly in the blue-eyed pop soul category that I was looking for.
At the time of its release I vaguely remember seeing Kid Creole on TV. Zoot suit and huge fedora, long shoes and long key chain. I was too young to get any of the Cab Calloway, zoot suit riots or Harlem pimp references. At the time I was too into my indie to pay very much attention to something so obviously false and manufactured as Kid Creole.
I was, of course, missing the point.
If you've ever listened to the words of Annie I'm Not Your Daddy, you will soon reaslise what a nasty track it is. Not only is he telling a girl that he isn't her father but he is doing it in a cruel and deliberatly hurtful way. The basic message is very similar to Michael Jackson's Billie Jean. However, Jacko's track invites you to sympathise with the put upon singer while the Kid Creole track makes you recoil from the singer as a heartless swine. Kid Creole is not a nice person and is making no concessions to being nice.
In my travels it proved easy to pick up Kid Creole stuff. Some of it was amazing, some less so.
But it soon became clear that the Kid was not just paying homage to his musical heroes, although he was certainly doing that. His music was not just an updated version of the music for a new generation. His music was something very different.
With my interest piqued I looked a little further into the Kid, to try and find out what was behind the character and found that the answer was more characters.
All of the Kid's music is credited to August Darnell. Slowly I realised that I already owned records with his name on them - wasn't he in Dr Buzzards Original Savannah Band and didn't he write Machine's There But for the Grace of God Go I and Gichy Dan's Cowboys and Gangsters and didn't he remix James White and the Blacks' Contort Yourself? Yes he did. He worked with disco divas such as Fonda Rae, Cory Daye and Taania Gardiner.
Records written or co-written by August Darnell were classics at the Loft, the Gallery, the Paradise Garage, Danceteria, The Warehouse and the Music Box and he was a central figure in the New York disco and No-Wave scenes. But I had never heard of him. He hid behind various aliases and band names - Don Armando's 2nd Avenue Rhumba Band, Gichy Dan's Beachwood No. 9, Machine, Elbow Bones and Racketeers, Aural Exciters and most famously Dr Buzzards Original Savannah Band and finally Kid Creole and the Coconuts.
And then I discovered that even August Darnell is not his real name. In an interview he described Darnell in the third person as someone in the studio trying to make great records. He then went on to say that this was not the real him and it was just a character he put on to get what he wanted.
Darnell's music for me epitomises what disco should be all about. Anything can be disco. Classic tin-pan ally, lyrics with social commentry, jazz, calypso, samba, rock guitars, humour can all go into the mix and in the hands of August Darnell come out as happy danceable music. When disco was becoming stale and tired August Darnell and his collaborators continued to show that a great disco record need not be only about glitterballs and Studio 54. It could be about anything you wanted it to be and most importantly it could be about reinventing yourself.
In the case of August Darnell it could be about changing yourself from Thomas Bowder, an English teacher from the Bronx, ultimately into Kid Creole. Unfortunately the Kid began to take over and his commercial success meant that Darnell continued with him long after it was time to give him up and take on another identity. The Kid's early records carry on clearly from his earlier recordings. However, his new identity was not up to the task of making satisfying music into the 1980 and eventually his star faded. But what a legacy.
Everything in this chart is easy to find and dirt cheap. I hope that doesn't detract from the quality.
Recently, I played some of these tracks at a barbacue thinking that they were reasonably mainstream only to find that people found them too odd and the lyrics too strange. I hope you think the same.
1. Kid Creole and the Coconuts - Off the Coast of Me
DivShare File - Kid Creole and the Coconuts - Off the Coa.wav
From Kid Creole's first album and beautifully setting the tone of seedy, hot, tropical passion. Very slow and languid, this track mixes compelling lyrics with a exotic musical mix. Who would fall for such an obvious line? Maybe me?
The Kid himself is hidding on the album sleeve. Perhaps old habits were dying hard?
2. Gichy Dan's Beechwood No. 9 - Splendour in the Grass
DivShare File - Gichy Dan - Splendour in the Grass.wav
By a country mile my favourite Darnell outing.
Happy, blissful stuff that uses some disco elements, adds a dash of calypso, a dash of reggae and the stunning voice of Mr Gichy Dan himself.
The lyrics, as usual, are superb with happy sexual bragging of youthful conquests by a man who has no regrets.
3. Dr Buzzard's Orginal Savannah Band - Sunshower
DivShare File - Dr Buzzards Original Savannah Band - Suns.wav
Another lovely track. Full of happiness and joy. One of the many things that makes me wish I was at the Loft is hearing this and trying to imagine what it must have sounded like and what the reaction was.
Many of Darnell's songs have child singers but none are as effective as this.
I also particularly like the Hawaiian guitar throughtout. Perfect stuff.
4. Aural Exciters - Emile (Night Rate)
DivShare File - Aural Exciters - Emile _Night Rate_.wav
Rather dark and forbidding after the happy sunshower
The Aural Exciters were a collection of ZE Records people who put this album together after hours and after partying in Bob Blank's Blank Tapes Studio. James White, Ron Rogers, Tannia Gardner Carlos Franzetti and Andy Hernandez all do their bits.
The title track is a great disco stomper and Darnell contributes two tracks that would appear under the Don Armando and Kid Creole banners.
This is very deep and strange and deep. It's sexy but in a very harsh don't go down that passageway kinda way!
4. Dr Buzzard's Original Savannah Band - Italiano
DivShare File - Dr Buzzards Original Savannah Band - Ital.wav
The last Original Dr Buzzard's record. Darnell's brother made one more but dropped the original in the name.
As usual some stunning lyrics.
On the second track Cory Daye sings "If I choose/to sleep with you/ Don't mistake me for a whore". Wow! This is a lost classic in my view.
This is track is fun and I love the build up to the end with the band having a whale of a time in the studio.
6. Gichy Dan's Beechwood No. 9 - On A Day Like Today
DivShare File - Gicy Dan - On A Day Like Today.wav
I love this record so much I put another track on - go on tell me it doesn't make you feel better to listen to it.
7.
DivShare File - Dr Buzzards Original Savannah Band - Hard.wav
Same as above - another great track from a great record
The piano is lovely
8. Kid Creole and the Coconuts - I Am
DivShare File - Kid Creole and the Coconuts - I Am.wav
Back to the Kid and his second album.
The whole record is great.
This track starts as a slightly 80s reggae lite affair but takes in some funk and some eighties synth work
9. Coati Mundi - Que Pasa/ Me No Pop I
DivShare File - Coati Mundi - Me No Pop I.wav
Yes I know that this was in the charts.
But listen carefully and its mix of latin rhythms, bad rap and chessy backing vocals is impossible to resist.
As usual listen to the lyrics and laugh out loud
Coati Mundi - aka 'Sugar Coated' Andy Hernandez was with Darnell in most of his projects starting with Dr Buzzard's.
10. Cristina - La Poupee Qui Fait Non
DivShare File - cristina - la poupee qui fait non.wav
Completely different from the original Michael Poulnareff version.
And somewhat ironic as Cristina was the girlfriend of Ze Records owner and was given the chance to sing on his say so.
Darnell was given carte blanche with this record and he went to work to create a No-Wave, Mutant Disco masterpiece.
Some of the experiements don't work - but when they do......
11. Kid Creole and the Coconuts - Going Nowhere
DivShare File - Kid Creole and the Coconuts - Going Place.wav
"Belive me I know/When you leave New York/ You go - nowhere!"
Inspired stuff
Some nice choppy guitar and backing singing on this - "What kooky karma!"
Indeed
12. Coati Mundi - Rapalogue
DivShare File - Coati Mundi - Rapalogue.wav
From his solo album The Former Twelve Year Old Genius.
I have real trouble identifying the best track from this, usually, cheap as chips record.
Not sure why no one else likes it but I think its hilarious.
He is, of course, a terrible rapper.
13. Kid Creole and the Coconuts - Maladie D'Amour
DivShare File - Kid Creole and the Coconuts - Maladie D_A.wav
Orginally appearing on the Aural Exciter's album this remixed version is far better.
Cory Daye comes back for vocals and aces it.
Mixes forties style big band, latin rhythms and a great soul chorus.
14. Don Armando's 2nd Avenue Rumba Band - Going to a Showdown
Fonda Rae on vocal duties here
I am sure you'll have heard Deputy of Love and I'm An Indian Too
This is just as full of humour and is also great disco.
15. Kid Creole and the Coconuts - There's Somthing Wrong in Paradise - Larry Levan Mix
DivShare File - Kid Creole and the Coconuts - There_s Som.wav
I would never have believed that Levan would remix Kid Creole.
But here is is and a damn fine anything goes track it is too
16. James White and the Blacks -Contort Yourself - August Darnell mix
DivShare File - James White and the Blacks - Contort Your.wav
I wasn't going to put this in but its just too good to leave out
I've managed to get through without putting Anne I'm Not Your Daddy on - phew!
One day in a charity shop I came across a twelve inch of Kid Creole and the Coconuts' Annie I'm Not Your Daddy.
I have always had a soft spot for that track. The afro-cuban beat, the trio of backing singers, the silly costumes and the unashamed pop of it put it firmly in the blue-eyed pop soul category that I was looking for.
At the time of its release I vaguely remember seeing Kid Creole on TV. Zoot suit and huge fedora, long shoes and long key chain. I was too young to get any of the Cab Calloway, zoot suit riots or Harlem pimp references. At the time I was too into my indie to pay very much attention to something so obviously false and manufactured as Kid Creole.
I was, of course, missing the point.
If you've ever listened to the words of Annie I'm Not Your Daddy, you will soon reaslise what a nasty track it is. Not only is he telling a girl that he isn't her father but he is doing it in a cruel and deliberatly hurtful way. The basic message is very similar to Michael Jackson's Billie Jean. However, Jacko's track invites you to sympathise with the put upon singer while the Kid Creole track makes you recoil from the singer as a heartless swine. Kid Creole is not a nice person and is making no concessions to being nice.
In my travels it proved easy to pick up Kid Creole stuff. Some of it was amazing, some less so.
But it soon became clear that the Kid was not just paying homage to his musical heroes, although he was certainly doing that. His music was not just an updated version of the music for a new generation. His music was something very different.
With my interest piqued I looked a little further into the Kid, to try and find out what was behind the character and found that the answer was more characters.
All of the Kid's music is credited to August Darnell. Slowly I realised that I already owned records with his name on them - wasn't he in Dr Buzzards Original Savannah Band and didn't he write Machine's There But for the Grace of God Go I and Gichy Dan's Cowboys and Gangsters and didn't he remix James White and the Blacks' Contort Yourself? Yes he did. He worked with disco divas such as Fonda Rae, Cory Daye and Taania Gardiner.
Records written or co-written by August Darnell were classics at the Loft, the Gallery, the Paradise Garage, Danceteria, The Warehouse and the Music Box and he was a central figure in the New York disco and No-Wave scenes. But I had never heard of him. He hid behind various aliases and band names - Don Armando's 2nd Avenue Rhumba Band, Gichy Dan's Beachwood No. 9, Machine, Elbow Bones and Racketeers, Aural Exciters and most famously Dr Buzzards Original Savannah Band and finally Kid Creole and the Coconuts.
And then I discovered that even August Darnell is not his real name. In an interview he described Darnell in the third person as someone in the studio trying to make great records. He then went on to say that this was not the real him and it was just a character he put on to get what he wanted.
Darnell's music for me epitomises what disco should be all about. Anything can be disco. Classic tin-pan ally, lyrics with social commentry, jazz, calypso, samba, rock guitars, humour can all go into the mix and in the hands of August Darnell come out as happy danceable music. When disco was becoming stale and tired August Darnell and his collaborators continued to show that a great disco record need not be only about glitterballs and Studio 54. It could be about anything you wanted it to be and most importantly it could be about reinventing yourself.
In the case of August Darnell it could be about changing yourself from Thomas Bowder, an English teacher from the Bronx, ultimately into Kid Creole. Unfortunately the Kid began to take over and his commercial success meant that Darnell continued with him long after it was time to give him up and take on another identity. The Kid's early records carry on clearly from his earlier recordings. However, his new identity was not up to the task of making satisfying music into the 1980 and eventually his star faded. But what a legacy.
Everything in this chart is easy to find and dirt cheap. I hope that doesn't detract from the quality.
Recently, I played some of these tracks at a barbacue thinking that they were reasonably mainstream only to find that people found them too odd and the lyrics too strange. I hope you think the same.
1. Kid Creole and the Coconuts - Off the Coast of Me
DivShare File - Kid Creole and the Coconuts - Off the Coa.wav
From Kid Creole's first album and beautifully setting the tone of seedy, hot, tropical passion. Very slow and languid, this track mixes compelling lyrics with a exotic musical mix. Who would fall for such an obvious line? Maybe me?
The Kid himself is hidding on the album sleeve. Perhaps old habits were dying hard?
2. Gichy Dan's Beechwood No. 9 - Splendour in the Grass
DivShare File - Gichy Dan - Splendour in the Grass.wav
By a country mile my favourite Darnell outing.
Happy, blissful stuff that uses some disco elements, adds a dash of calypso, a dash of reggae and the stunning voice of Mr Gichy Dan himself.
The lyrics, as usual, are superb with happy sexual bragging of youthful conquests by a man who has no regrets.
3. Dr Buzzard's Orginal Savannah Band - Sunshower
DivShare File - Dr Buzzards Original Savannah Band - Suns.wav
Another lovely track. Full of happiness and joy. One of the many things that makes me wish I was at the Loft is hearing this and trying to imagine what it must have sounded like and what the reaction was.
Many of Darnell's songs have child singers but none are as effective as this.
I also particularly like the Hawaiian guitar throughtout. Perfect stuff.
4. Aural Exciters - Emile (Night Rate)
DivShare File - Aural Exciters - Emile _Night Rate_.wav
Rather dark and forbidding after the happy sunshower
The Aural Exciters were a collection of ZE Records people who put this album together after hours and after partying in Bob Blank's Blank Tapes Studio. James White, Ron Rogers, Tannia Gardner Carlos Franzetti and Andy Hernandez all do their bits.
The title track is a great disco stomper and Darnell contributes two tracks that would appear under the Don Armando and Kid Creole banners.
This is very deep and strange and deep. It's sexy but in a very harsh don't go down that passageway kinda way!
4. Dr Buzzard's Original Savannah Band - Italiano
DivShare File - Dr Buzzards Original Savannah Band - Ital.wav
The last Original Dr Buzzard's record. Darnell's brother made one more but dropped the original in the name.
As usual some stunning lyrics.
On the second track Cory Daye sings "If I choose/to sleep with you/ Don't mistake me for a whore". Wow! This is a lost classic in my view.
This is track is fun and I love the build up to the end with the band having a whale of a time in the studio.
6. Gichy Dan's Beechwood No. 9 - On A Day Like Today
DivShare File - Gicy Dan - On A Day Like Today.wav
I love this record so much I put another track on - go on tell me it doesn't make you feel better to listen to it.
7.
DivShare File - Dr Buzzards Original Savannah Band - Hard.wav
Same as above - another great track from a great record
The piano is lovely
8. Kid Creole and the Coconuts - I Am
DivShare File - Kid Creole and the Coconuts - I Am.wav
Back to the Kid and his second album.
The whole record is great.
This track starts as a slightly 80s reggae lite affair but takes in some funk and some eighties synth work
9. Coati Mundi - Que Pasa/ Me No Pop I
DivShare File - Coati Mundi - Me No Pop I.wav
Yes I know that this was in the charts.
But listen carefully and its mix of latin rhythms, bad rap and chessy backing vocals is impossible to resist.
As usual listen to the lyrics and laugh out loud
Coati Mundi - aka 'Sugar Coated' Andy Hernandez was with Darnell in most of his projects starting with Dr Buzzard's.
10. Cristina - La Poupee Qui Fait Non
DivShare File - cristina - la poupee qui fait non.wav
Completely different from the original Michael Poulnareff version.
And somewhat ironic as Cristina was the girlfriend of Ze Records owner and was given the chance to sing on his say so.
Darnell was given carte blanche with this record and he went to work to create a No-Wave, Mutant Disco masterpiece.
Some of the experiements don't work - but when they do......
11. Kid Creole and the Coconuts - Going Nowhere
DivShare File - Kid Creole and the Coconuts - Going Place.wav
"Belive me I know/When you leave New York/ You go - nowhere!"
Inspired stuff
Some nice choppy guitar and backing singing on this - "What kooky karma!"
Indeed
12. Coati Mundi - Rapalogue
DivShare File - Coati Mundi - Rapalogue.wav
From his solo album The Former Twelve Year Old Genius.
I have real trouble identifying the best track from this, usually, cheap as chips record.
Not sure why no one else likes it but I think its hilarious.
He is, of course, a terrible rapper.
13. Kid Creole and the Coconuts - Maladie D'Amour
DivShare File - Kid Creole and the Coconuts - Maladie D_A.wav
Orginally appearing on the Aural Exciter's album this remixed version is far better.
Cory Daye comes back for vocals and aces it.
Mixes forties style big band, latin rhythms and a great soul chorus.
14. Don Armando's 2nd Avenue Rumba Band - Going to a Showdown
Fonda Rae on vocal duties here
I am sure you'll have heard Deputy of Love and I'm An Indian Too
This is just as full of humour and is also great disco.
15. Kid Creole and the Coconuts - There's Somthing Wrong in Paradise - Larry Levan Mix
DivShare File - Kid Creole and the Coconuts - There_s Som.wav
I would never have believed that Levan would remix Kid Creole.
But here is is and a damn fine anything goes track it is too
16. James White and the Blacks -Contort Yourself - August Darnell mix
DivShare File - James White and the Blacks - Contort Your.wav
I wasn't going to put this in but its just too good to leave out
I've managed to get through without putting Anne I'm Not Your Daddy on - phew!
should give you a taste though :
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