Kid Creole & the Coconuts: C o' D, S 'n' D

As Dirty Vicar pointed out recently, Search: Kid Creole's appearance on 'No Problem'.

I'll have to track down a comp of their stuff...Are they still around?

Actually, the best thing that August Darnell has been associated with is the very first Dr. Buzzard's Savannah Band LP. I believe De La Soul sampled some of this on "3 Feet High."

In my opinion, "Wise Guy" is the definitive Kid Creole record.

Coati Mundi's "Que Pasa/Me No Pop I" is incredible--on this Ze records comp, "Seize the Beat." I'm envious of the above poster who found Coati Mundi's LP with "Tropical Hot Dog Night."

Of the later stuff, I still like "You Shoulda Told Me You Were..." from '91--"Consequently" is a classic track, and it's a good album. The one before that, "Private Waters in the Great Divide," also has some cool shit.

I've had 'Stool Pigeon' in my head for a while and can't put my finger on which (90's probably) track sample the "upside down" part of the chorus. Anybody?

The Avalanches?

(To be fair, the trib acts doubled/trebled up on a day, KC was headline act a diff day)

http://www.ohwhatanight.com/

Ultimately Pierre became so embarassed he was forced to leave the academy. But of course, this is not a meaningless tale of sheer human degradation, the point, and what I learned from this, was that a ridiculous name begats ridicule.

This was Starfleet Academy, Captain Picard?

a much more complete website than i woulda expected

ahttp://www.kidcreole.com/

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51c61uB4kGL._SS500_.jpg

<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Going-Places-Kid-Creole-Coconuts/dp/B0013UL4G0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1205724090&sr=1-1";>New comp on Strut</a> soon. No tracklist yet though.

GOT DAMMIT BBCODE WHY YOU MAKE ME HURT YOU

(and don't ask how I remembered to use BBCode for the image but not the link, because I honestly don't know)

awesome! i love august darnell. there is such a playfulness in what he did ... "brilliant polyglot music and theatrical flair" is probably the best summation that i wouldn't ever have come up with.

one thing that i never hear people talk about is the coconuts' "solo" record. it's rad!

oh i just found this article about that comp:

"During the 80s, Kid Creole was the zoot-suited ‘Tropical Gangster’, a Latino Cab Calloway mixing pop, p-funk, big band swing and Latin rhythms for a series of global chart smashes, from ‘Stool Pidgeon’ and ‘Annie, I’m Not Your Daddy’ to ‘Endicott’.

Under his real name, August Darnell, Kid Creole had developed his feel for unusual music fusions and intelligent, acerbic life stories since 1974 through a series of projects as a prolific writer, musician and producer. Starting as a key member of Dr. Buzzard’s Savannah Band alongside his brother, Stony Browder Jr. in 1974, Darnell then masterminded Machine’s disco anthem ‘There But For The Grace Of God’ before becoming the in-house producer for Ze Records in New York. There, he helped fashion the grungy Ze sound through Cristina’s trash disco debut album and groundbreaking genre-bending work for Aural Exciters, James Chance and more.

Taking the name from the Elvis Presley film, Darnell created Kid Creole in 1980 and alongside his three female singers, The Coconuts, led by his Wife Addy, and a band including Dr. Buzzard’s Coati Mundi, he began honing his alter ego.

With today’s DJs consistently championing Darnell‘s early work, this exclusive Strut release covers 1974 to 1983 and features rare extended versions and album tracks released on CD for the first time. Compilation by DJ Guido of Paris DJs with extended sleeve notes by legendary New York journalist Vivien Goldman.

1. Dr. Buzzard’s Original Savannah Band – Sunshower
2. Don Armando’s Second Avenue Rumba Band – Goin’ To A Showdown
3. Kid Creole & The Coconuts – Going Places (Zemix version)
4. Cristina – Is That All There Is?
5. Gichy Dan’s Beachwood No. 9 – On A Day Like Today
6. Machine – There But For The Grace Of God Go I (LP version)
7. Don Armando’s Second Avenue Rumba Band - I’m An Indian Too (12” version)
8. Aural Exciters – Marathon Runner
9. Coati Mundi – Pharaoh (Can’t Take It To The Grave)
10. Aural Exciters – Emile (Night Rate)
11. Kid Creole – He’s Not Such A Bad Guy After All (12” version)
12. Ron Rogers – Don’t Play With My Emotions
13. Kid Creole & The Coconuts – Double On Back
14. Aural Exciters – Paradise
15. Kid Creole & The Coconuts - Off The Coast Of Me

- August Darnell has been a cult favourite with many different DJs over the last 10 years from leading names in disco (Danny Krivit, Muro, Dimitri, the D.I.R.T.Y. crew) to DJs as diverse as Prins Thomas, Trevor Jackson and Derrick Carter."

(or press release, rather)

wow cool. i put together a homemade version a couple years ago! i always thought something like that or a box set even was in order.

"grungy Ze sound"

excellent. strut back in bidness.

'New York Journalist' Vivien Goldman?

Saw KC yesterday - mid- afternoon slot at a fest in Dublin, rain threatening, muddy field, (not much of a) crowd waiting for Maximo Park/ N*E*R*D, and he was still cool; great players, and vision intact

i love "annie i'm not your daddy"

Odd, just played "Mr. Softee" this morning.

they're such a wonderful thing, baby.

Was just reading about the Cristina version of "Is That All There Is?" in the Franklin Bruno article about that song in the EMP book.

i love "annie i'm not your daddy"

-- the next grozart, Sunday, 24 August 2008 11:17 (4 hours ago) Link

because if i was in your blood
then you wouldn't be so ugly

Finally found a used copy of Tropical Gangsters, so now I have all first four of his albums. I had the compilation since 1990 or so and was so frustrated the individual albums weren't available. Overall none of them are very consistent, but it's still great to hear all the album tracks finally, filler and all, even if there's nothing that would replace the hits that have been included in my party mixes of the last 18 years.

That comp looks awesome.

Yes it does. So awesome I've just ordered it, along with the Strut Funky Nassau comp.

it is awesome

I found the Coati Mundi record thanks to this thread, I need to listen to that again.

my radio station got Funky Nassau, sounds really good on first listen.

Don Armando's Second Avenue Rhumba Band's 'Winter Love' is tremendously overlooked/underrated.

Easily one of the best.

I don't see this "Tropical Gangster" being a Chic ripoff thing. I mean, Chic, in their heyday were very puritans about using only "real" organic instruments, whereas Kid Creole used a lot of synths on that album.

I didn't know this existed.

I have no objectivity when it comes this clan. Especially Cory Daye.

Cory Daye & Coati Mundi

This has always been a gem I wish wasn't overlooked:

Cory Daye - City Nights / Manhattan Cafes

hearing 'me no pop i' followed by 'i'm an indian too' on a big system on the weekend was a bit of a "woah!!" moment, i gotta say.

Wish I had a time machine to go back and see them in 81, super tight band.

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/xd78z9🕸

sarahell otm, and these records are still great, instant party

Pulled out a Kid Creole cd for in-car listening yesterday, and I had forgotten how wonderful “I’m a Wonderful Thing, Baby” is. So much going on musically and lyrically, such an odd groove.

Utopia Parkway was Amplifier’s best album of 1999 – and deservedly so. For me, it’s almost a perfect record, the sound of growing up in the mid- to late-80s when there were no helicopter parents and kids wandered the suburbs aimlessly, observing their parents and their weird traditions while never really connecting with them, and hardly a thought about their future beyond how to land a pretty girl.

With hindsight, it’s basically a concept record about how we idealize youth and exaggerate its trappings and small victories to justify the choices we make in adulthood. It could have been a recipe for snark. But what makes Schlesinger and Collingwood’s collaboration work is that they genuinely love the characters they write about and take no pride in escaping this life for themselves. That it ends on a song like The Senator’s Daughter—marrying your way into success as the ultimate way out—

I loooove this, buried in soundtrack rights limbo

📹

was listening to dr. buzzard's debut the other day. still sounds great, too. it's the only one i've heard. anybody rep for either of their other 2?

They did three more, but the only one of those I've heard is James Monroe H.S. Presents Dr. Buzzard's Original Savannah Band Goes to Washington---does not sound like a marching band, just another left field joek I guess---enjoyed it when it first came out, in the late 70s, enjoyed the sounds without quite putting the whole thing together, then got distracted by well you know it was the late 70s, lots of compelling music, without so much of the in-crowd insinuations having to gradually sink in---but not s= much stiff competition these days, so maybe I should try it again. It was good, far as I got with it!
Going forward, I was more of a Kid Creole fan, up through You Shoulda Told Me You Were in '90 or '91, don't think I heard any after that.
For related, more on the relatively straight-fwd atmospheric art pop side check Gichy Dan, Gichy Dan's Beachwood No. 9, and Cory Daye's Cory and Me That Going Places mentioned upthread, pulling together lots of Darnell side trips, should be good too, from the tracks I know.

thx for the tips, dow. found gichy dan on spotify and didn't make too much of an impression on cursory listen. maybe it was my mood. maybe i shouldn't've been looking for great songs a la Dr. B or Kid C. listening to what i could find on youtube of the sophomore Buzzard's and it's really enjoyable. i'm more a Kid Creole fan too i guess i just have a soft spot for the Buzzard's weirdness fwiw

Hey! I have the Dr Buzzard debut, never knew it was a Kid Creole thing. Gonna have to relisten.

yeah stony browder, leader of dr. buzzard, was august darnell's brother. august was their lyricist, iirc.

kid creole were a treat in concert. even when they swung through in 2015 it was a party, with cory daye in the house for the ny show.

Sure I wish I could have seen that---will check youtube etc.
xxp yeah no showstoppers on the Gichy Dan, it's more about slowly stirring the colors in an old movie on Ted Turner's Atlanta Superstation, in the early days of (mostly purloined) cable---back then, past a hard day's night at the Southern Collegetown arty dive bar, then afterparties blasting B-52s, Pylon, Ramones, James White & The Blacks---Gichy Dan was part of the Sunday hangover cure.

Not that those weren't some dream colors too (weed was also part of the Sunday hangover cure).

“Cowboys & Gangsters” is a showstopper if there ever was one

They're such a wonderful thing, baby!

swap out one of the Cherchez La Femmes with Caroline Was a Dropout

They were fun live when I saw 'em in DC way back when ('81 I think)...

Watched Downtown 81 again recently and Kid is in that .

Excellent list – I would def. add Schweinerei which, as noted upthread, is a fave (I also apparently posted some legacy shit from another topic from my Zing app, apologies).

I’m having a hard time believing my revival of this thread was only six weeks ago. Feels like six months.

I forgot to mention that the Downtown 81 soundtrack has some reemarkable KC rarities: haven't found these performances of "K-Pasa-Bop" (with Coati Mundi) and "Mr. Softee" (also Coati Mundi's own "Palabras Con Ritmo") anywhere else, though it's been a while since I checked. May have been recorded just for this movie, as xgau says the excellent (live?) DNA tracks were. I like most of the rest better than he does, though yeah some I could live without, but overall quite the lively time trip. Oh, and who the hell is Pablo Calogero? Another KC associate? His "Tangita" is even more furnace room Downtown Latin rock etc.

oooh

Yeah, and his site has two reviews; here's the more informative and relatively less neg:
DOWNTOWN 81
Recall

3 Stars

New York post-punk compilation unearths treasures along with garbage

With its Deborah Harry intro and Rammellzee envoi, this soundtrack to a quasi-documentary starring the late painter Jean-Michel Basquiat makes as if to encompass all the NYC music of its title's post-punk moment. Unfortunately, that moment was oft full of shit, as Walter Steding, Lydia Lunch, Japan's Plastics and a Basquiat band called Gray demonstrate. But sometimes it was anything but, and here you will hear not just all you need of Liquid Liquid, Suicide and graffitist Rammellzee (the indelible rap one-off "Beat Bop"), but--improbably--specially recorded versions that top the hard-to-find originals. The secretly funky avant-noise trio DNA sound more muscular on this "Blonde Redhead" and "Detached" than on the 2004 CD believed to contain all their recorded works. And the two numbers by August Darnell's suavely articulate Kid Creole and the Coconuts rock and/or disco harder than anything in their catalog.

Rolling Stone, Dec. 13, 2007 Do not agree re Liquid Liquid or several others, but duh do re rare KC and related (ditto DNA).

Total mood lifter, this guy and his Coconuts.

^this

hey coconuts!

Not to be overlooked
https://i.discogs.com/zf9f2X2-hAgNa2tE37vVbfa5dCE7bT3fXr34NofROS4/rs:fit/g:sm/q:90/h:501/w:498/czM6Ly9kaXNjb2dz/LWRhdGFiYXNlLWlt/YWdlcy9SLTE1Mzgw/NzMtMTI5NzExODk4/MC5qcGVn.jpeg

these LPs can be had for like $5 still, some of the most fun for your money there is

Since it's Prince's birthday today, everyone should listen to this song that he wrote for Kid Creole and The Coconuts. A totally amazing, hilarious composition that never saw the light of day. One of those things that Prince never intended for himself but put !00% into the demo. He loved August apparently.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0T5PuF7foY

I guess August wasn't into it and only included it on the album on the insistence of the label. The Kid version not as good.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8XC15JlgIY

the hell?

https://t2conline.com/unexpected-unanticipated-unparalleded-nothin-left-but-the-rest-a-new-album-from-kid-creole-and-the-coconuts/

Anybody heard this? I noticed that Spotify has finally gotten the recent remasters/deluxe versions.

oho--several KC etc. tracks stashed here on label page: https://soundcloud.com/2c2cmusic
Also--not strictly nec., but it's an opp:

We are very excited to announce this newly remastered release!
Dr. Buzzard's Original Savannah Band is releasing the first single from the remastered third studio album!
R.S.V.P., recorded and originally released in 1979, hails from the 'James Monroe H.S. presents Dr Buzzard's Original Savannah Band Goes to Washington' album.
The single was written by Stony Browder Jr. and August Darnell. Lead vocals by the inimitable and unique songstress Cory Daye and band leader Stony Browder Jr.
The album was originally released on Elektra Records in 1979.
2C2C is proud to present this single ahead of the newly remastered album set for release later this year.
We're giving all our subscribers EXCLUSIVE EARLY ACCESS to the HD DOWNLOAD of R.S.V.P. ahead of its release on Feb 14.
Click the link below to instantly download the single from 2C2C Music for just $1.29!
The single is being released on all Digital Service Providers (Spotify, Amazon Music, iTunes etc) in the U.S. only but here you can download the single from anywhere in the world!
https://www.2c2cmusic.com/buy-music/dr-buzzards-original-savannah-bands-rsvp

Ah...Thanks

over the past few years he's released just an absolute ton of stuff from his archives under the title "Once Upon a Cassette" -- they're up under the name "August Darnell," not Kid Creole, and they span his entire career -- there's at least 12 volumes of them, you can buy them from his webstore but they're also on the streaming services. Over the years I've come to think of him as one of the best ever, his catalog is amazing, he was great from the minute his feet touched the ground -- albums I've been revisiting for almost twenty years continue to delight, the first four are really the main menu but there's just so much. for real if you ever loved this guy look up those once upon a cassette comps. 2nd song on the first one, "cry baby cry," is minimal funk at such a high level -- kid creole rules imo just rules

duly noted, thanks for the tip. when I started picking up the LPs I was also amazed at the quality of that 80s run

Killer tip. Thank you!

Yeah, this looks great, thanks!

Been listening all morning.

I have had “My Male Curiosity” in my head since this thread was revived.

we're having a moment in my drive-the-kids-to-school CD player with Fresh Fruit -- this is sort of technically his first album, since the actual debut, Off the Coast of Me, was intended as a demo. (It's still great though imo.) The opening track, "Going Places"...like, this is the best, best music to me, the absolute best, just shockingly fresh and wonderful, so much character it's like a feast, and that chorus...like...you can never have set foot in NY in your entire life, and when he sings "Believe me, I know / when you leave New York, you go / nowhere" you'd still be like "You're right, Kid Creole, you're right."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIPfRdZmxl0

and then three songs later you get a ballad this wonderful, this rich, this dense? this thing that sounds like a Rufus Wainwright ballad from 1982?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zzsMmC7N0t8

like I'm not young any more but when he sings "If I choose to live my life / loving you / it's my right to" I am so young.

Wow -- that vinyl edition sounds thick.

Bill Caprenter’s exceptional AMG review:

Musical gumbo of esoteric lilting, jazzy, laid-back disco, an acquired taste.

Nice work, Bill Carpenter.

the strut compilation is one of my favorite compilations ever:

https://www.discogs.com/release/1730975-Kid-Creole-Going-Places-The-August-Darnell-Years-1974-1983

Almost kind of a Chic thing happening on the unrelenting unappreciated greatness front (prolly not by now really but like as of uh, 10? + years ago) both in the rhythm section and the arrangements. Like the consistent airtight snap of the piano/rhythm guitar/background vox parts alone, just unimpeachable and fully singular

This is not to elude the songwriting which goes w/o saying imo

-elide

looks like addy is starting a patreon account.

https://www.patreon.com/kidcreoleandthecoconutsarchives?fbclid=IwAR2K2QR7rfnU4lsUlRg3k-hrL6DJcnrHNAOS4SW47pDkYGT7kKp64MwLndQ