Artist.......: Kid Creole And The Coconuts
Album........: I, Too, Have Seen the Woods
Label........: Wounded Bird
Genre........: Disco
Catnr........: 5579
source.......: CDDA
rip.date.....: Feb-26-2006
str.date.....: Aug-02-2005
quality......: VBR/44,1Hz/Joint-Stereo
Url..........: n/a
track title time
01. Buttermilk Channel 02:09
02. Part of My Design 03:30
03. Agony...Ecstasy 03:22
04. Dancin' at the Bains Douches 05:26
05. El Hijo 04:17
06. Cold Wave 00:44
07. So Far, So Good 04:46
08. Midsummer Madness 04:21
09. Consider Me 03:35
10. Boxed Out 03:38
11. Call It a Day 04:01
Runtime 39:49 min
Size 55,3 MB
Release Notes:
Review by Vince Ripol
After nearly a decade of globetrotting genre
flirtations, Kid Creole & the Coconuts seem
artistically stranded on their 1987 release, I,
Too, Have Seen the Woods. While still capable of
brilliant moments, the album lacks the focused
direction of prior efforts like Fresh Fruit in
Foreign Places and the group's tour de force, Wise
Guy. Part of the problem is leader August Darnell's
overindulgent literateness, which results in
excessive name-dropping on "Part of My Design" and
"So Far, So Good." Much more noteworthy are the
references to historical landmarks on the album's
highlight, "Dancin' at the Bains Douches."
Reverting to his earlier appreciation of club life,
Darnell frets about the possibility of a global
divide that might force everyone to choose between
such world-famous structures as the Parthenon and
Westminster Abbey, then shrugs it off by claiming
he'd select his favorite nightclub over all of
them. After all, as he notes in his description of
the discotheque, "There'd be no violence
there/There'd be loads of nationalities/Lots of
atmosphere." That statement summarizes the
sociopolitical aspirations of the best Kid Creole
lyrics, while the mixture of energetic horns,
sparkling vibes, elastic bass, and chanted
background vocals symbolizes the group's musical
mission at its finest. "Dancin' at the Bains
Douches" sets a standard that the surrounding
material fails to meet, although "Agony...Ecstasy"
and "Call It a Day" are close runners-up. Most of
the time, when the lyrics aren't too clever for
their own good, the cross-cultural blend of diverse
musical styles is less harmonious than previous Kid
Creole hybrids. I, Too, Have Seen the Woods is
occasionally admirable yet ultimately misguided,
suggesting that Darnell might not be able to see
the forest for the trees.