Coming Soon: Soca Gold 2010

1. ‘Barman’ by Rikki Jai

2. ‘Party Hard’ by Donae’o

3. ‘Gimme De Juk Juk’ by Alison Hinds

4. ‘Work It’ by Patrice Roberts

5. ‘Wooeeii Gal Wooeeii’ featuring Machel Montano by Busy Signal

6. ‘Carnival On My Mind’ by Edwin Yearwood

7. ‘Hold Yuh [Soca Refix]’ by Gyptian

8. ‘Huntin’ by Blaxx

9. ‘Ants In Yuh Sugar Pan’ by Jamesy P

10. ‘Staggerah’ by Fadda Fox

11. ‘Tattoo Farm’ by Peter Ram

12. ‘Ah Drinka’ by Ravi B & Problem Child

13. ‘Puncheon’ by Hunter & Skinny Fabulous

14. ‘Looking To Wine’ by Farmer Nappy & General Grant

15. ‘All Over De Gyal’ by Lyrikal

16. ‘Deputy Woman’ by Da Mastamind

So it’s that time of the year again when we see the release of arguably my single favourite compilation, regardless of genre, drop again Soca Gold from industry leader VP Records. The album is THE dominant compilation of music in the flammable genre and almost immediately becomes the face of the music on the international level as soon as it drops. This year, in retrospect, the music was quite good in my opinion (and with the way the album is done, you typically have the opportunity to have some of the biggest releases from TnT Carnival from that same year and most of the big tunes from the other islands from the previous year), so that bodes well for SG2010 and it also puts the pressure on the album to bring together some of the biggest tunes as well. While some of the biggest names definitely do make an appearance on SG2010, it seems as if they were more focused on pushing a few lesser known lights actually. The album itself is pretty good actually (of course I don’t have as of yet, but I’m pretty familiar with every tune here except one, more on that in a second), although it doesn’t have many of the tunes you might’ve expected.

But as for what’s here, I have to say I was most happy to see Jamesy P’s ’Ants In Yuh Sugar Pan’, out of all the tunes. I was also pretty pleased to see Rikki Jai back with what ultimately became a big tune in ‘Barman’ and definitely two artists who have pretty much become staples now of the series, Blaxx and Patrice Roberts. Patrice’s ‘Work It’ is the biggest song on the album in my opinion, with Blaxx’ infectious ‘Huntin’ as second. Also, this is the very first time that Alison Hinds has had a tune on SG in a loooooooooong time (how long? I’m going to count it off for you right now - It’s her first appearance since ‘Wave Wid Me’ on SG2002, by my count), her tune here ‘Gimme De Juk Juk’ [bka ‘Wine To Deh Back’ I THINK], is excellent and I’m just glad to see her here. Unsurprisingly, Machel and Busy’s combination ‘Wooeeii Gyal Wooeeii’ makes an appearance on the album, as does the socafied version of Gyptian’s hit ‘Hold Yuh’ (which I believe is just his tune mixed with Machel’s tune ‘Hold You Tonight’ alongside Vybz Kartel). And certainly you also shouldn’t be too surprised to see Soca Gold poster boy, Bajan star Edwin Yearwood, also present with ‘Carnival On My Mind’ (which is outstanding by the way).

Now, I most certainly was surprised to see someone named Donae’o, with ‘Party Hard’. The name is familiar actually, but the song itself . . . I don’t even really consider it to be Soca actually. But apparently someone at VP has become quite interested in the tune and here it is. Judge for yourself:

Hardcore Soca heads will undoubtedly be miffed by the absence of stars like Bunji Garlin, Fay-Ann Lyons (for the second year in a row), the tune Palance, probably Buffy (who I think would have been PURRRRRFECT on this album) and a whole heap of others (like the song you might’ve expected from Skinny and Zoelah), but just judging this one on what is actually here and it isn’t too bad actually in my opinion. And again, it seemed like there was a real intention this year to try and go after artists who weren’t as well known. Placing them on an album like Soca Gold 2010 will certainly help people like Donae’o, Fadda Fox, Da Mastamind (as an artist) and even someone like Farmer Nappy as well. So judge it on what it is and not what it isn’t (although when I write the review, I most certainly will do both, hypocritical, I know). And of course there’s always the DVD which is always entertaining.

{Note: I’ve seen two different tracklists for the album. The one you see here, I received actually straight from VP Records. The other features seventeen tracks with the tunes ‘Pipe’ by Denise Belfon and that dude and ‘Wicked Jab’ by Tallpree, and is sans the ‘Hold Yuh’ remix}

{note 2: That cover! . . . Yeah}