10th Naval District Steel Band - Pandemonia

10th Naval District Steel Band - Pandemonia

Recorded at Headquarters of the Caribbean Sea Frontier, U. S. Naval Station, San Juan, Puerto Rico

I picked this one up from the recent library sale a couple of months ago. So far, I have been disappointed with the few steel band records I bought previously. However, this album is by far the best one of the bunch that I've picked up and heard. Whereas the other steel band records I bought tried too hard to cater to tourists resulting in the music being watered down, the 10th Naval District Steel Band (a band made up of members of the U.S. Navy) sounds more authentic. It is quite pleasurable to listen to. A few of the tracks are original compositions by the band's director, Charles Roeper. That tells you that these people really care about this music.

The liner notes provide some background: One of the newest and most exciting musical forms to appear on the Hi-Fi scene in some time, the Steel Band is a native product of the West Indies. The drums - fashioned by cutting down ordinary oil drums, tempering them, and marking out 'notes' on the drum head with a steel punch - are played in xylophonic style with rubber-ended sticks.
The smallest of the drums, decorated in Caribbean hues of pink, black, orange and green, are called ping pongs. There are also tune booms or cellos, guitar pans, bongos, and basses. To round out the ensemble, there are maracas (chit chats), scratch sticks, and a cutter (the brake drum from a Model T Ford). The assorted drums cover a range of four octaves, and, from this unusual conglomeration of odds and ends, the steel band elicits a haunting and delightfully melodic sound ... a sound that has already captivated the Caribbean area; its popularity promising to spread throughout the world.
The 10th Naval District Steel Band - under the direction of Chief Musician Charles A. Roeper - is made up of 14 sailors from San Juan, Puerto Rico. Rear Admiral D. V. (Dan) Gallery, who formed the band, got his first taste of steel band music at a carnival in Trinidad. "It just got inside of me and shook me up", he said. The Admiral was so impressed, in fact, that he ordered a set of the unusual instruments and carted them back to headquarters in San Juan. The sailors in the band, who learned to play the drums in their spare time, took to them with immediate enthusiasm.



Tracklisting:

Side One

1. Steampipe Rhumba {3:17}

2. Merengue Universal {2:01}

3. Arrivederci Roma {3:09}

4. Over the Waves {2:19}

5. The Happy Wanderer {2:37}

6. Marianne {2:45}

Side Two

1. Lisbon Antigua {2:48}

2. Swab Handle Blues {2:48}

3. Moonia {2:36}

4. Trinidad Blue Basin {1:52}

5. Cindy, Oh Cindy {3:11}

6. Hawse Pipe Limbo {1:55}