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| The "Souvenir Album" attributed to Montego Beach Hotel Calypsonians is actually a collection of Jamaican mento recordings by Lord Lebby cut in the early 50s. |
The Souvenir Album by Montego Beach Hotel Calypsonians
At first glance, what might appear to be a corny calypso album recorded at a Montego Bay resort to make a quick buck off clueless American tourists is neither a live recording nor calypso. The target audience was definitely foreign visitors but the Souvenir Album attributed to the Montego Beach Hotel Calypsonians is actually a collection of Jamaican recordings made by Lord Lebby and his mento band, most of which had been previously released on 78s during the early to mid 50s by Stanley Motta's MRS label (Motta's Recording Service).
When Motta got into the record business in 1951, Ken Khouri at Federal (who was issuing 78s on Times Records and Kalypso Records) was his only real competition in Jamaica. There were no record manufacturing plants active on the island so the entrepreneurial Motta would cut acetates of local artists performing in his tiny makeshift studio at 93 Hanover St. in Kingston – a few blocks from Motta's cameras, electronics & appliances store – and send them to the UK to create the metal parts, run off a pressing and have the sleeved records shipped back to Jamaica to sell to wealthy tourists.
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| Lord Lebby |
Although Motta began releasing music on 78s, the brittle shellac was far from ideal for overseas shipping and he soon switched to vinyl 45s and LPs. Today, Motta's best remembered for his five-volume "Authentic Jamaican Calypsos" series of 10" mini-compilation EPs which were intended to serve as tourist souvenirs. As a member of the Jamaican Tourist Board from 1955 to 1962, Motta well understood the value of the Yankee dollar but also recognized the untapped potential of Jamaica's singers, musicians and folkloric music.
The Souvenir Album, credited to the Montego Beach Hotel Calypsonians and sold at the Montego Bay Hotel Gift Shop – just like it says right on the label – seems to be a variation on the concept of his Authentic Jamaican Calypsos. But instead of various singers and bands performing a selection of Jamaican folk songs in a mento style, it's just Lord Lebby belting out renditions of "Limbo," "Hold 'im Joe (Me Donkey Want Water)" "Back To Back, Belly To Belly (Zombie Jamboree)" along with R&B faves like the Wynonie Harris hit "Bloodshot Eyes" with an enjoyably rough 'n' raucous backing by different groupings of uncredited musicians, not the ones posing for the photo on the back of the sleeve.
Since most copies of the LP were sold to sun-seekers and either discarded or left to languish in the basement rec-room after returning home from holiday, there aren't many copies of Stanley Motta's Souvenir Album in circulation today. As yet, it hasn't been reissued in full although three tracks from it appear on Mike "Big Mikey Dread" Murphy's excellent 2CD compilation Mento, Not Calypso! The Original Sound Of Jamaica for the Fantastic Voyage label from 2013.
Listen to the Souvenir Album below followed by Lord Lebby's crazy version of Louis Jordan's jump blues classic "Caldonia" recorded for Chris Blackwell's R&B label in 1960.
