Purchase Online: Please note: this release
has now sold out.


The album will be
released (without
the DVD) in the near
future, on CD as well
as Vinyl LP.


Van Dyke Parks Presents
The Esso Trinidad Steel Band

 

The legendary 1971 Warner Brothers album, produced by Van Dyke Parks, now with the original art!

The CD+DVD package includes the classic Calypso recording of the Jackson 5 tune 'I Want You Back' and Simon & Garfunkel's 'Cecilia', plus a bonus DVD... Please note this item is now out of stock!

The bonus DVD features the 30-minute 1971 self-titled documentary, a film by Van Dyke Parks and Bud Smith. The film follows the Grammy Award-winning Esso Trinidad Steel Drum Band from Carnival Trinidad through their historic 1971 American tour. Featuring live performances, interviews, and a travelogue from the sunny islands to the snowy American winterscape, follow a tour bus loaded with 23 panmen and 23 steel drums as they travel the roads of the USA.

"This is One Prime Example of Calypso's power. Totally High Octane! Running on Twelve Cylinders! The Esso Trinidad Steel Band is The GOLDEN AGE of Steel Band, a Wide Screen Technicolor." — Van Dyke Parks, from the sleevenotes

"Produced by Van Dyke Parks, the Esso Trinidad Steel Band's self-titled LP is a wonderfully funky collection of calypso-inspired renditions of pop hits like the Jackson 5's 'I Want You Back' and Simon & Garfunkel's 'Cecilia'. The sheer magnitude and intricacy of the steel drumming is astounding. The two-dozen percussionists are like cogs in a colossal machine, each working in perfect harmony with the others and all of them essential to the outcome. Parks' sun-kissed production contributes mightily to the overall party vibe. The music is the tropical fantasia of the collective unconscious."All Music Guide

"A celebration of the musical culture of the West Indies."Rolling Stone