Strictly Soca 7

Review

For several years there’s been an informal battle of the carnival collections between Crosby’s (the famous record store in St James, immortalised in Bally’s calypso line, “If I sing on Robbie do you stop by Crosby?”), and the Rituals record label. This year Rituals was a bit late getting copies of its Caribbean Party Rhythms 8 on the street, which gave the race to Crosby’s Strictly Soca collection. Crosby’s might have won anyway, given this powerhouse anthology featuring Preacher’s Dulahin, Blackie’s risqué Wark Easy, Strongy’s amiable addition to the long hit parade in appreciation of women’s bottoms, Bum Bum Party, Oscar B’s irresistible, ragga-soca Maccoing, and DeFosto’s panyard hit Firestorm. The other 13 tracks range from tedious to amusing, but even the least amusing will remind you what a great time you had (or could have had) at Trinidad Carnival 2002. [MG – Caribbean Beat]