the cooler (wayne kramer, 2003)
because there's no such thing as too much bruce

calypso

Harry Belafonte's 1956 album Calypso did not make the Rolling Stone Top 500, and it wouldn't have occurred to me that this was odd if I hadn't played the album last night. Here you have an album with two long-remembered classic songs ("Day-O" and "Jamaica Farewell"). The other nine songs on the brief album are far better than filler ... this was an actual album, not just the usual 50s hits-and-filler. The album gets the highest 5-star rating at All Music Guide:

this landmark album ... had a revolutionary effect on folk music in the 1950s and 60s.... the first million-selling album by a single artist, spending an incredible 31 weeks at the top of the Billboard album charts, remaining on the charts for 99 weeks. It triggered a veritable tidal wave of imitators, parodists, and artists wishing to capitalize on its success. Years later, it remains a record of inestimable influence.
So what am I missing, that this wouldn't make the RS500? It's not rock and roll, but then, neither are (to pick examples off the top of my head) Miles Davis, John Coltrane, or Ornette Coleman, all of whom are represented.

There's two things I want to note about Calypso. First, I wonder how many albums recorded in 1956 are still so fresh? Granted, there's an element of nostalgia for those of us boomers who grew up listening to one of those million copies that sold in the 50s, but Robin's family didn't listen to it when she was growing up, and yet she found it entertaining. My sense is that you could play this album for most people, not just old folks or calypso fans but also for kids listening to hip hop, and they'd find Calypso at least tolerable, and probably more than that. If nothing else, "Day-O" is pretty much timeless.

The other question I had (and Neal and Sara, among others, are welcome to chime in here via the comment function): do people of Neal and Sara's generation know who Harry Belafonte is? They know "Day-O" for sure ... Beetlejuice and endless "day-o" chants at ballgames ensure that. But do they know that's Harry Belafonte? Do they know who Harry Belafonte is? I can't decide, which is why I'm asking ... I feel like the most visible thing Belafonte has done the last 20 years is "We Are the World."

Comments

Hello No!

Some Berkeley kids might know, and others might know from his activism but not as a hole in the bucket. Although some in the local hip-hop community might do some research on Harry as "Forty Fonzarelli" became "Charlie Hustle" then "Forty Soprano" onto his current moniker
FORTY BELAFONTE

twenty-something

Harry Belafonte is a name and face I have always known.
Why I know his name and face I couldn't tell you.

another twenty-somethings says...

Harry Belafonte is the sexiest singer in the world.

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