Coming Soon: Soca Gold 2009 by Various Artists

01.Handle Ya Bizniz by Edwin Yearwood

02.Bacchanal by Destra Garcia

03.Tusty by Blaxx

04.Head Bad [On De Spot] by Skinny Fabulous

05.Plenty Gal by Bunji Garlin & Beenie Man

06.Soca Daggering by Jamesy P

07.Tight by Peter Ram

08.Looking Hott by Patrice Roberts

09.Wine Up On Me by Zoelah

10.Jepp Sting Naina by Kes, Ravi B & Hunter

11.Yeast by KMC

12.She Sexy Now by Sean Caruth featuring Jamesy P

13.Put Some Wine On Me by Rita Jones

Maybe

14.Sexy Boo by Trini Jacobs

15.Wrong Gal by Red Plastic Bag

16.Bashment Winers by Lil' Rick

17.Radica by Kenneth Salick

18.Carnival Again by Biggie Irie

I took it upon myself to figure out that it was just about time that the new Soca Gold album from VP Records was released or, at the very least, had it's details released and going from site to site, I finally found it. The top thirteen tracks were tunes that I found on VP Records' own retail site [VP Reggae] and the final five I found on [ReggaePlanet.com | Your Source For All Things Reggae & More!]. I'm inclined to believe that the final five tracks are on the album because it also fits in with the promo that I read:

The annual release of Soca Gold brings the hottest new sounds of the Caribbean’s carnivals to the world! Soca Gold 2009 features new music from; Edwin Yearwood; the ‘People’s Monarch’ & Road March King of Barbados. Skinny Fabulous & Zoelah: the Road March King & Soca Monarch Queen of St.Vincent. Kenneth Salick; this year’s ‘Chutney Soca Monarch King of Trinidad, Bunji Garlin & Beenie Man; the all time Raga Soca King of Trinidad & the ‘King of the Dancehall’. Get your party started with Soca Gold 2009 today’s hottest Soca music compilation!

And, on top of that, Soca Gold, by my count, hasn't had less than seventeen tracks since SG2001 and NEVER less than sixteen at all.

The music?

Well the glaring absence this year is rather obviously (and shamefully, if you ask me) Faye-Ann Lyons' season champion Meet Super Blue. This ends three successive years where her tune has highlighted the SG album and this year's tune would have ESPECIALLY been crucial considering the work it did. Also missing, for the third album in a row, is Iwer George whose (annoying) tune We Like It would have seemed to be a perfect fit this year. Also absent would be some St. Lucian representation if I'm looking at it correctly (paging Ricky T) and Grenada also (Miney???).

The good points would be, of course, Destra, who was absent on 2008's SG2008 (after making her series debut on 2007's edition) and whose tune Bacchanal, in my opinion was the finest overall from TnT's Carnival 2009. Another very welcome edition and one which I HOPED would be present, despite the fact that I wasn't very optimistic, Skinny Fabulous' WICKED Head Gone. Skinny has a history with SG dating back to Soca Gold 2004 and 2009 is a WONDERFUL year for him to make his return. Also returning is veteran KMC with his tune Yeast and, perhaps more importantly, Zoelah makes her debut with her very well received Wine Up On Me. Series staples Blaxx, Edwin Yearwood and Peter Ram round out the tracklist as does the Plenty Gal remix featuring Bunji Garlin alongside the Doctor, Beenie Man. And I'm also happy to see Patrice Roberts back again as she SHOULD become a staple to this series and she SHOULD someday have an album release on VP.

I will say that with my lowest of hopes I am kind of neutral on this year's edition of Soca Gold. I didn't particularly think the music was so strong this year, so I honestly didn't expect much and although the miss of Faye-Ann Lyons is GREAT, they've done an OKAY job of pulling things together.

RATED Potential: 3.5/5 stars.

VP Records

Releases June 9, 2009