St. Thomas native son Jon Lucien had two albums released in 1999 and several songs are the same on both – what’’s up with that?
We don’t know if it was a coincidence or not, but both CDs were released in the same month and at first glance looked almost the same. But, in fact they are very different. Sweet Contol/The Best of Jon Lucien was released on the Razor and Tie label and contains material from Jon’s albums recorded for RCA in the early 70s. Two songs, Sweet Control and Mother Nature’ s Son come from Jon’ s work for Mercury in the early 90’s. If Dindi, Hello Like before, Lady Love, Rashida and Listen Love were the soundtrack of your love life, these recordings will flash you back – not a bad idea.
The second CD is called By Request on the Shanachie label. This album features new versions of Jon's most famous songs. As the review in JazzTimes said: "These beautiful arrangements of classic and original Lucien lyrics are powerful, joyously romantic and captivating."
But there is more to the story. Jon’s life in between these two albums has not been easy. The loss of his children and family members and other issues, have served to give his voice and lyrics more resonance.
These two albums give us a unique opportunity to listen to songs recorded at the height of the artists youthful power and again through the introspection of middle age. In the early recordings his voice is vibrant and sexy. In the latter, his voice is like aged scotch; warm, smokey and mellow.
For a full range of Caribbean music, check out www.parrotfishmusic.com.
Mr. Fish
