Home » Music » Reggae » A Look at the VP Soca Revival

A Look at the VP Soca Revival

© Ryan A. MacMichael

It seems that VP had it well written in their marketing plan to help bring Soca music back to a worldwide audience after a recent lack of interest from outside the Carribean. Dancehall was doing extremely well in the States, but Soca and (even moreso) Calypso were forgotten about. Sure, VP put out a few Byron Lee and the Dragonaires releases and the Soca Gold series, but beyond that, the non-reggae music of the Carribean was simply underrepresented.

In late 1999, VP released a Byron Lee and the Dragonaires compilation titled Jump and Wave for Jesus, a collection of gospel music set to various Carribean music styles. Included are reggae, ska, Rock Steady, Ragga Soca (a dancehall/Soca blend), Calypso, Junkaroo, and Revival. It's succeeds as provided a decent variety of music, but it's unlikely that this album will do as well on the US charts as the other Soca revival albums will.

One of those that will likely do quite well is Machel Montano and Xtatik's Any Minute Now, a nicely varied collection of dancehall/Soca fusions that succeeds more often than not. I wasn't feeling this album the first time around, but it seemed to grow on me with each successive listen. I have a full-length review available on this disc.

Another disc likely to catch the ears of the younger dancehall crowd is Ronnie McIntosh's De Thing Now Start... 2000. The most successful tracks are the ones that have energy and that old jump up feel, like "You Ain't Going," a definite party track. "De Savannah" has a similar jump up appeal and incorporates a Queen melody for the opening hook. While there are only 11 original songs on this disc, three remixes and four instrumentals are also provided.

In a similar vein, but even more likely to get over with the young crowd, is KMC's 2000 Pieces of KMC. This is more of a Ragga Soca sound, but has the same energy and jump up groove as Ronnie McIntosh's disc. The two actually did collaborate on McIntosh's album, so the similarity makes sense. Nine original tracks here, plus a remix and an instrumental. I'm convinced that these guys would put on one hell of a live show.

While I think we have a little while to go before Soca reaches the point of popularity it hit earlier last decade, I think we're making some advances, and VP is helping the process along. Now if we can just bring 1930's Calypso back into the mainstream...

The copyright of the article A Look at the VP Soca Revival in Reggae is owned by . Permission to republish A Look at the VP Soca Revival in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.