ARTIST: Kid Creole & the Coconuts
TITLE: Kid Creole Redux
YEAR RELEASED: Compilation
CHART ACTION: None
SINGLES: Charting: I’m a Wonderful Thing baby (#18 Club, #44 R&B, #4 UK), Stool Pigeon (#25 Club, #7 UK), Annie I’m Not Your Daddy (#18 Club, #2 UK), There’s Something Wrong in Paradise (#35 UK), The Lifeboat Party (#49 UK), Endicott (#21 Club, #80 UK)
OTHER SONGS YOU MAY KNOW: Yolanda, Animal Crackers
LINEUP: August Darnell, Coati Mundi, Adriana Kaegi and a huge cast of other characters
WHAT’S IT ALL ABOUT: Retrospective of fun 80’s band that mixed disco, tropical rhythms, and a cavalier attitude.
SOME WORDS, PHRASES AND CLAUSES ABOUT THIS RECORD: August Darnell formed Kid Creole and the Coconuts and became the persona of Kid Creole, a bon vivant ladies man with a slick tongue and a sartorial flair. They were New York and club favorites, and had some great success in the UK, and were always a party to see live.
Their albums weren’t always the hallmark of consistency, but there were fun live and in small doses a joy on the dance floor. This collects their most noteworthy songs on their albums (except it misses “Mister Softee” which they did on SNL).
It’s hard to explain a band like them, except to listen to “Stool Pigeon” or “I’m a Wonderful Thing, Baby” and you’ll get it. Morris Day owes Kid Creole something for his schtick.
NOTES & MINUTIAE: They never hit higher than #145 in the album charts, despite club play and fun videos.
IS THERE A DELUXE VERSION: No
GRADE: B: It’s a fun collection, but could be a bit longer and more in chronological order.