"Beautiful Boy " type of music?
February 15, 2008 2:37 PM   Subscribe

What type of music is Lennon's "Beautiful Boy" - it's sounds half oriental half, half hawaiian ... know any style names? artists? instrumental music?
posted by mrmarley to Media & Arts (4 answers total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
What you're probably hearing in that song is the steel drum, an instrument that comes from the Carribbean. Wikipedia has a good page on steel drums (or "steel pan").
posted by barefoot at 2:49 PM on February 15, 2008


I meant to add: Calypso music typically features the steel drums.
posted by barefoot at 2:50 PM on February 15, 2008


It's a pretty standard pop song in arrangement, but yes, the steel drum is there, and some conga drums or bongos, which give it a little added island flavor.

You might like some later-period Harry Nilsson - he actually made a record with John Lennon, and Lennon's "Beautiful Boy" could be accurately described as an homage to one aspect of the Nilsson sound.

The 25th Anniversary of Nilsson & Lennon's "Pussycats" has some good songs, and some of them, such as "Mucho Mungo / Mt Elga," will let you know exactly where "Beautiful Boy" got its sound. Sadly, the album isn't Nilsson's best (it's certainly worth owning, though.) A double CD compilation called "Personal Best," collects a lot of Nilsson's best later stuff (which was spotty; his earlier material is consistently great) and it's worth having for unknown classics such as "Down By The Sea," which has that same "Beautiful Boy" sound.

I suspect that much of this sound in records of the time comes from Van Dyke Parks, the collaborator on the Beach Boys' / Brian Wilson's "Smile" opus, highly-touted arranger and maker of wonderfully idiosyncratic pop records, who had a deep love for the steel drum sound and incorporated it into all sorts of unexpected places. His "Discover America" album - like many of his albums, is somewhat "conceptual" and oddball, but it's got that sound all over it and is the sort of album that sinks in slowly and then stays forever.

Van Dyke Parks also arranged for the release of the self-titled "Esso Trinidad Steel Drum Band" album, which (like everything I'm mentioning) is now on CD. It's a fun album without feelng like a novelty - they do fine versions of the Kinks' "Apeman" and Ronnie Dyson's "If You Make Love To Me (Then Why Can't I Touch You)" and Harper's Bizarre's "Come To The Sunshine" in all-steel drum instrumental versions. You (or anyone) would surely love it.

Trojan Records has a great compilation called "Sand & Steel: The Classic Sound Of Jamaican Steel Drums" which is quite nice.

And I've got to champion fine songs by the Beat ("Soleil Trop Chaud," a calypso cover) and the Clash ("Let's Go Crazy.")

And the label Honest Jons has a series of CDs called "London Is The Place For Me," which compile London-made calypso from a variety of artists - interesting not just for the fine music, but for the lyrics, which tend to deal with issues in being a Caribbean immigrant in post-war Britain - not necessarily with steel drums, but worth mentioning.
posted by Dee Xtrovert at 3:42 PM on February 15, 2008 [3 favorites]


Rita Lee, the lead singer of Os Mutantes, has a faux-exotic tune called "Hulla Hulla" that fits what you're asking. You can listen to it here (scroll down and click on Hulla Hulla).
posted by umbĂș at 6:40 PM on February 15, 2008


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