ONCE UPON A TIME.....Discover America

 

VAN DYKE PARKS  Discover America  (WB, 1972) - Progressive pop, Calypso

     On paper, Discover America is a calypso record, with Parks remodelling traditional songs in a celebration of Trinidadian culture. It does that, and it sounds joyous. But it’s not all sunlight. Hidden behind the breezy rhythms, he’s also making a sly comment about post-colonial Trinidad and, by implication, race relations in the US. That sounds grim, but it’s largely playful, and sometimes straightforwardly funny (see “G-Man Hoover”, which tirelessly mocks the fabled FBI chief). Little Feat provide the salty atmospherics on “FDR in Trinidad”, and the gangster theme is continued on the lazy, tropical-sounding “John Jones”. Ry Cooder is an obvious point of reference, but, really, it’s not too much of a stretch to suggest that The Clash colonised this territory a decade later in their pan-global phase (though Parks is slower to anger, and has superior table manners).

TRACKLIST: Jack Palance

                        Introduction

                        Bing Crosby

                        Steelband Music

                        The Four Mills Brothers

                        Be Careful

                        John Jones

                        FDR In Trinidad

                        Sweet Trinidad

                        Occapella

                        Sailin' Shoes

                        Riverboat

                        Ode To Tobago

                        Your Own Comes First

                        G-Man Hoover

                        Stars And Stripes Forever

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