Mighty Sparrow -1974 - Hot and Sweet

Mighty Sparrow -1974 - Hot and Sweet

Mighty Sparrow first hit it big with the 1956 song “Jean and Dinah” and has continued recording and performing ever since. Sparrow has churned out a lot of albums over the years, but one of his most intriguing and unusual releases is 1973’s Hot and Sweet. It’s not like anything else I’ve heard: the combination of sounds, styles, and words is so singular and yet I know very few who are familiar with it — which only makes me want to sing its praises louder.

Similar to jazz standards, Calypsonians often cover each other’s songs and re-record their own, playing with the instrumentation and arrangements. Hot and Sweet consists entirely of songs that had previously been recorded on other albums, but they’re given an eccentric twist courtesy of producer Van Dyke Parks (Beach Boys, Joanna Newsom, Randy Newman).

With a solid bedrock of great songwriting from Mighty Sparrow, Parks helps give the record a more lush, hi-fi sound than most calypso, and he supplements just about every song with a quirky instrumental breakdown. Compare the version of “More Cock” found on Hot and Sweet to the first recorded version. The song is fundamentally the same, but it’s been fleshed out and given a gorgeous horn break in the middle. The overall effect is something like Fela Kuti crossed with Little Feat doing old jazz big band standards with lyrics written by The Pharcyde. (Medium)

ANDY