He's a little bit country, he's a little bit rock and roll..
I found this tape (...) and gave it to my husband for christmas one year, as he is a huge parrothead.
It's found it's way to my car, so I have been listening to it alot lately. This is a great find and is certainly worth more than what I paid for it! Usually when you buy a tape that cheap there is maybe one good song on the whole album.
This is chock full of good songs, some of them being staples at his concerts now. Like, "Love song(why don't we get drunk)" and "He went to Paris" .. Then you have the more country sounded songs like, "Peanutbutter conspiracy". He seems like he was more of a country singer in his early days, but went way of the carribean sounds("Cuban Crime of Passion") after this album.
I think true Parrotheads will appreciate this album if they don't have it already. It came out in 1973, so it must be one of the first.
Buffett has a sound like no other performer, being a bit country and rock and roll. I'm not sure how to classify this album, I guess I'll just say it's BUFFETT.
Worth buying!!!
Jimmy The Storyteller
After recording two albums for the obscure Barnaby label, Jimmy Buffett made his major label debut with A White Sport Coat & A Pink Crustacean. The album's title shows the humor that courses throughout the album as it is a take off on the old Marty Robbins' hit A White Sport Coat & A Pink Carnation. Mr. Buffett is a pre-eminate storyteller and the songs on the album sound like you could be sitting at a bar listening to him hold court. The album starts off with the hilarious "Great Filling Station Holdup" which tells of a small-time robbery gone wrong. "Railroad Lady" is a great country song that has been covered by Lefty Drizzel & Willie Nelson. "He Went To Paris" is a beautifully sad song while "Grapefruit (Juicy Fruit)" is a fun and goofy song. "Cuban Crime Of Passion" is one of his first songs to incorporate the Caribbean sounds that would become his signature sound. "Why Don't We Get Drunk" has become a staple in his concerts and has become an audience singalong. "Peanut Butter Conspiracy" tells of a struggling musician who may or may not be Mr. Buffett himself. "They Don't Dance Like Carmen No More" is a slight song and the only weak link on the album. "I Have Found Me A Home" and "My Lovely Lady" are two nice ballads. "Death Of An Unpopular Poet" is one of his most underrated songs and a vivid tale of a poet and his dog. This was his first album that he recorded after he went to Key West for the first time and although it is mostly a country-folk album, there are glimpses of the sound he would become famous for.
the lyrics are the thing
it's the lyrics that make me love this album. Buffett's later albums all have songs on them I want to skip. the early ones, like this one, I love them all. I bought a double cassette years ago of this with Havana Daydreaming and about went ballistic when I got it home to discover that they'd CUT "peanut Butter Consipracy" from the album for "length". AAAAAAAARGH. this is one of my all time favorites as far as lyrics. "We all swore if we ever got rich, we would pay the mini mart back" it's fun and it's silly and it's why I like Buffett.
If You're Only Going to Buy One...
If I had to pick one Buffett album to own, this would be it. I don't want to invite the wrath of the Parrotheads, but once Buffett found his comfortable persona, his songwriting grew a little more predictable. Success will do that to you. On this album, there's still a "making it up as I go along" feel and a huge variety of moods and attitudes. For me, standout cuts include "The Great Filling Station Holdup," about as funny and rueful a portrait of cognitively impaired criminality as you'll ever find ("we're wanted men, we'll strike again, but first let's have a beer!"), "He Went to Paris," a song of great feeling and compassion that makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up, and "Cuban Crime of Passion," with its great lyrics and sardonic take on hispanic stereotypes.And then there's "Why Don't We Get Drunk," about which nothing more needs to be said.
I know Buffett has occasionally commented negatively on the musical chops of the Coral Reefers of this era, but their loose, good time C&W seems absolutely perfect for the material to me.
"Classic Buffett"
This is arguably the first of three of Jimmy's best CD's. Why most people know Mr. Buffett for Margaritaville, Cheeseburger, etc., this CD probably has some of his best music, music that die hard fans and Jimmy himself have ranked among the best. Among those "best" are songs such as "He Went to Paris"; a tale of wanderlust, loss, and what I would call "a little sad island rejuvenation" with almost Hemingway, Islands In The Stream undertones.
Another great song on this CD is "Death of an Unpopular Poet" a song about a poet who seems to only achieve fame and recognition after his death. I believe the song is based after an actual poet Jimmy knew, but I am writing a review and not a novel so I'll leave that for inquisitive fans.
Also included are , " I Have Found Me a Home" a tribute to simple life in the islands/tropics as well as "Railroad Lady" a distinctively "country" sounding song that has been covered by the likes of Willie Nelson. There are several other great songs; classic Jimmy tunes like "Grapefruit-Juicy Fruit", as well as "Why Don't We Get Drunk and Screw" to the not so well known, vintage tunes such as "Peanut Butter Conspiracy"; a song about the sometime "hard times" that are associated with a budding (or whatever you call it) Caribbean/Southern/Country/Rock and Roll musicians musical career. This is a must for any die hard Buffett fan, and a good CD for anyone that enjoys his music
When Jimmy Buffett recorded this, his major-label debut, he was neither a country artist nor a Los Angeles-style folk rocker, and he hadn't yet happened upon the beach-bum persona that has sustained him through the last quarter century of his career. Yet White Sport Coat contains forays in all these directions. It features some of his most enduring songs, such as the sweet, sentimental "He Went to Paris," "I Have Found Me a Home," and the outrageous "Why Don't We Get Drunk (and Screw)." There's a pleasant island breeze blowing on "Cuban Crime of Passion," while "The Great Filling Station Holdup" and "Peanut Butter Conspiracy" offer early evidence of Buffett's humorous storytelling abilities. It's a compelling, unpretentious disc and one of Buffett's best. --Daniel Durchholz
