Old, Gold and Still Bold

The Rough Guide to Calypso Gold  (World Music Network RGNET 1213, 2008)

I was okay with calypso morphing into soca back in the ‘80s, but in subsequent years the music got too hyper-charged (and mixed up with stuff like rap) for my ears. Maybe there’s been some improvement, but I’m admittedly out of touch and don’t know. So it’s refreshing to hear a compilation of good, early calypso of the sort that flowed from Trinidad to the world beginning in the early 20th century. Some of the most enduring songs of the genre- “Scandal in the Family,” “Rum and Coca Cola,” “Ugly Woman,” “M...