Kid Creole & The Coconuts - The Conquest Of You (1997)

Review by William Ruhlmann
Recorded in Hamburg, Germany, Kid Creole and the Coconuts' The Conquest of You has more of a Euro-disco sound than the group's earlier Caribbean-styled recordings. Arranger/producer Frank Loncar, who handles keyboards, bass, and drums, is the dominant musical force, and he provides musical tracks imbued with familiar-sounding synthesizer-based dance rhythms. On top of them, August "Kid Creole" Darnell sings typically romantic -- or at least lustful -- lyrics with only a little of his usual humor. True, "Too Fat," on which Darnell comes on like a deep-voiced Jamaican toaster, is an amusing attack on obesity, and the Hi-NRG "Girl" a clever travelogue tribute to females. But for the most part, Darnell is overwhelmed by the driving dance music, and he doesn't seem inspired. "Heart of Gold" borrows the tune of Simon and Garfunkel's "El Condor Pasa" and the lyrical concept of their "I Am a Rock," while "Edelweiss" (though not credited as such) is the Richard Rodgers-Oscar Hammerstein II song from The Sound of Music. Such material is not likely to resurrect Kid Creole and the Coconuts' recording career.