I got this LP and a few others for 50 cents a piece at my neighbourhood record store. It's by a group I had never heard of before, The Merrymen. I found it kinda amusing that the liner notes refer to the Carribean as "our" (as in The British Crown's) "islands of the West Indies", but mostly it was the idea of these guys from Barbados posing with a backdrop of palm trees playing the "exotic" Greek tune "Never On Sunday" (Actually the original name of the song translates as "The Kids of Piraeus", but it featured in a 1960 movie called Never On Sunday). Around the same period Harry Belafonte also recorded many Hadjidakis tunes, including a different song from the same movie, for a successful duets album with Nana Mouskouri, so it seems that something about Greek music resonated with "West Indians". Well, it turns out the Hadjidakis connection had led me to one of the Caribbean's best hidden (to me, that is) "secrets". Apparently Emile Straker and The Merrymen are one of the region's best loved bands, have recorded a score of albums and even had a "hit" in Europe and the UK with "Caribbean Treasure Chest" (also in the ¢50 pile, presented here). So what did these guys do to deserve the title of "the Barbados Beatles"? Well, first of all, they're a boy band of the 60's: four loveable guys with a sunny disposition (no Lennon among them, then). Secondly, they have a knack for pleasant melodies and, thirdly, an ease in appropriating elements from different styles (Mexican ballads in "Rosita", Mediterranean music in "Never On Sunday", blues in "Corina", American folk in "Folk Medley" and the rockin' "Freight Train"). Truth be told, their blueprint seems to be not the Beatles but The Kingston Trio with a dash of Harry Belafonte. And even if they can't beat the latter with their renditions of "Scarlet Ribbons" and "Yellow Bird", Emile Straker can easily out-whistle anyone in pop music - which is what he's most memorable for in his country, apparently. For all their aforementioned diversity though, the record's highlights come when the Merrymen delve into their country's traditional calypso tunes like "Diddley Bops" and the "Merry Medley". Enjoy them with an ice-cold rum cocktail, one of their island's specialties...
**** for Diddley Bops, Merry Medley (Nobody's Business/Brown Skin Girl/Matilda/My Bucket's Got A Hole)
*** for Rosita, Freight Train, Yellow Bird, Never On Sunday, Corina, Folk Medley (My Lord, What A Morning/When The Saints/Gotta Travel On/Lonesome Me)
** for Scarlet Ribbons, Just Walk On By
P.S. Regarding the specific release date, there's no info either on the LP itself or in wikipedia, discogs, allmusic and other online databases. One relatively detailed history of the band is rather hazy with the timeline, but mentions in passing "...back in Barbados in May 1965, the Merrymen recorded another album with George Benson which spun off the song Diddly Bops" - unless they included it in more LP's (not unheard of in the 60's) this should be it. Apparently there are just two (contemporary) pressings on the WIRL label, one from Barbados and a Jamaican one, while the album has never been re-released either on vinyl or CD.
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