Track Listing

1. I'll Play the Fool
2. Hard Times
3. Cherchez la Femme/Se Si Bon
4. Sunshower
5. We Got It Made/Night and Day
6. You've Got Something/Betcha' the Love Bug Bitcha'
7. Sour & Sweet/Lemon in the Honey

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #115184 in Music
• Released on: 1999-12-23
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Dimensions: .20 pounds

From Amazon.com
Disco rarely got more musically or lyrically sophisticated than on this self-titled debut album. Long before he took up the role of Kid Creole with the Coconuts, wordsmith August Darnell cushioned small, perfect truths--singer Cory Daye promises to get her "equivalency diploma" in love in "I'll Play the Fool"--in knowingly retro sounds. Stylish, honest, and completely one of a kind. --Rickey Wright

Customer Reviews

As Stylish and Funky today as it was 25 years ago
I was part of the New York Disco era,in the late seventies and in Manchester at the time, there was nothing bigger than 'I'll play the fool' hitting the dance floors. August Darnell aka Kid Creole, has always been very under rated. Anyone listening to this Funky/Latin/Big Band sound would fail to be unmoved, with its horn arrangements and generous vocal talents of the lead singer Cory. In the early eighties, I too met Kid Creole, as he was a regular at Peter Stringfellows 'Millionaire Club' in Manchester. He was a genuinely nice fella, who, was amazed by his fan base. I play this compilation of tracks, time and again, and never tire. It sounds as Fresh, stylish and as Funky today, in 2004 as it did then. A must have!!

An almost forgotten masterpiece
In the summer of 1976 at the Manchester Ritz Alldayers and at other progressive Northern Soul/NY Disco venues a track hit the decks that I loved the first time I heard it and 21 years later loved for the thousandth time when I played it on my newly aquired US issue CD.That track was "I'll play the fool" which alongside "Cherchez la Femme" and "Sunshower" was the killer cut from this album. August Darnell later had great success as Kid Creole and to a lesser extent with Elbow Bones and the Racketeers, while Sunshower appeared in Boyz and the Hood. When I met him in 1997 he'd moved from his native New York to Sheffield, England and on showing him the cd he expressed astonishment that anyone remembered the album let alone owned a newly re-issued cd. If Mr Darnell had lived in the 1940's he would undoubtedly have been a great swing band leader but in the 1970's he along with Messrs Edwards and Rogers of Chic produced that unusual combination - Disco with class and style. Don't sit here reading buy this essential CD today only 27 years late !!

NEW YORK NEW YORK!
A happy blend of styles -- disco, jazz, Broadway musicals and Latin American infusions make this an exuberant listening experience. The lyrics are witty and streetwise and I love the female vocalist's understated delivery. My favourite track is Cherchez La Femme but the album is best enjoyed in one uninterrupted listening session. I suspect however, that this is an acquired taste, so listen before you buy.