 Background
Information The
gruff voiced Montego Bay-based Lord Antics
(St. Clair Powell) recorded a string of LPs and
singles
from the mid 1960s thru the early
1970s, on various Studio One imprint, most typically on the namesake Antics Disc
label.
As such, these records tend to attract the attention of both Studio One and mento
collectors.
Many were re-released in the late 1970s.
In 2007, I hard from Antic's niece, Almarie Maduro, who clarifies that
"Antics is originally from St. Kitts (St. Christopher) not Trinidad as
stated in some articles". In 2004, Dan Neely provided some information on this
artist:
The bands on these
records were Jamaican. Apparently Antics still lives in Montego Bay. He
released several albums and there was a lot of re-releasing going on
with these.
Discographies
Below is an LP discography courtesy of Olivier Albot of
France with additional information from
Dan Neely:
|
Lord Antics and The
Montegonians Band - Lucy's Garden |
Antics Disc |
1968 |
|
Lord Antics and The
Montegonians Band - Laziest Man (there may be two volumes) |
Antics Disc |
1969 |
|
Lord Antics & the Lyons
Band - Hotter Than Hot |
Antics Disc |
1970 |
|
Lord Antics & the Lyons
Band - Hotter Than Hot 2 (this may also be known as "Cool Lava") |
Antics Disc |
1970 |
|
Lord Antics and The Merry
Boys - Calypsos Too Hot To Hold |
Antics Disc |
?? |
Re-releases:
Lord Antics and The Montegonians Band - Lucy's Garden
(re-release) |
Antics Disc |
1978 |
|
Lord Antics - Calypsoes
(Lucy's Garden) (re-release) |
Antics Disc |
1978 |
|
Lord Antics and The Merry
Boys - Too Hot To Hold (re-release) |
Z.W .Disc |
?? |
|
Lord Antics - Hotter
Than Hot (re-release) |
Antics Disc |
1978 |
Additionally, Jaron Childs contacted me about
a Lord Antics LP he has that is not listed above. "Harder Than You"
by Lord
Antics and The Boys is seen below.
Several Lord Antics 45s
can be seen below. Again, courtesy of Olivier Albot, with
additional information from the publication Roots
Knotty Roots, as well as other sources, here are Lord Antic's 45 RPM singles:
| |
|
Released |
Re-Released |
|
One Kiss In The
Morning |
Studio One |
1964 |
-- |
|
You May Stray |
Coxsone |
1964 |
-- |
|
You May Stray |
Muzik City |
1965 |
-- |
|
Sell
The Pussy |
Hotter Than Hot |
1970 |
-- |
|
Fork She Garden" /"Spit Me
In Two |
Hotter Than Hot |
1970 |
-- |
|
Shame & Scandal
/ Doctor Kitch |
Antics Disc |
1965 |
1973 |
|
Sandra / Sauce
Pan |
Antics Disc |
1965 |
1974 |
|
Soul Chicks /
Work So |
Date Disc |
1965 |
1974 |
|
Keep The City
Clean / Bang Bang Lulu |
Antics Disc |
1965 |
1972 |
As you will see below, Lord Antics LPs have been released in different
sleeves and labels. Nick Johansen of Brooklyn, New York has provided
the
fourth edition of a picture-filled Microsoft Word document that
exhaustively catalogs these variations.
Lord Antics
LPs
|
 |
Lord Antics first LP, "Lucy's Garden"
consists mostly of familiar songs with The Montegonians Band providing a full, adroit rural mento backing of banjo, acoustic guitar,
rumba box, hand drums, maracas and, on some tracks, the addition of a
fiddle. As is the case with most Lord Antics LP jackets, this one is constructed of thin cardboard and tape with the
printed photo and text box pasted on. But the sound of the disc is great,
with, at least on the disc I bought used, no surface noise. The track "Candy
Man" is not the same song as the one by the same name popularized by Sammy
Davis Jr. |
 |
Here is "Harder Than You" by Lord
Antics and The Boys . It has the same front cover as "Lucy's Garden",
though some copies (but not the one above) have an additional strip of paper that says "Harder Than You" glued
onto the picture. It's released on the Antics Disc label and was recorded in Montego Bay by
Dynamic Sounds Studio. Though I have not heard this LP, the track listing is as follows:
Marjorie and Harry, Ah Got To Have You, November Wife, I Remember Every
Night, Come We Go Lu-Lu, Mathilda, Montego Ma-ma, Everything I Own, Black
and White. |
 |
Though the front cover seems to title this LP "Lord Antics, Volume 2,
Calypso Star", the back cover and label have it as "Laziest Man" by Lord
Antics and The Montegonians Band. The jacket lists the rural mento
instruments that are played, as if to offset any expectation of psychedelic
soul that Antic's wardrobe might create. And although the repertoire is
primarily from Antic's native island of Trinidad, the music is indeed rural
mento, with a dominant fiddle assuring a strong country feel. |
 |
Lord Antics and The Merry
Boys, "Calypsos Too Hot To Hold" is similar in sound (sans fiddle),
jacket construction and pressing to "Lucy's Garden". Familiar songs from
mento and calypso, including "Woop Wap Man",
a calypso and a rural version of "Belly Lick", a mento originally recorded
by Cecile Knot and the Joy Bell Orchestra.
"Obeah Version" is an instrumental mix of "Obeah Wedding".
Above is a variation of the same LP
with the front cover graphic in red, and a hand written list as the
back cover appliqué. The label of this variation is Z. W. Disc,
as seen in the LP below.
Below, courtesy
Olivier Albot (with an assist from Laurent Pfeiffer) is the same LP,
re-released on the Z. W. Disc label. A few of the songs are
re-titled on this version.
Below is yet another
cover variation for the "Too Hot To Hold" LP. This one is quite
nice, as it features two band photos on the front. (One of these
provides the photo at the top of this page.)
|
The cover is autographed
by St. Clair Powell, Antics real name, or
at least that of one of the band members.
The back cover has
the song listings written by the same hand as the autograph.
|
|
 |
|
Still another
cover variation for the
Lord Antics and The Merry Boys
"Calypsos Too Hot To Hold" LP, bringing the count to five. |
|
 |
The
Lord Antics and The Lyons Band LP, "Hotter Than Hot" is on the
Antics Disc, label, a Studio One imprint.
Rob Chapman's, excellent Studio One site,
Downbeat Special,
has information on this confusing double release. (The above jacket scan
comes from Rob's site, with permission. The label scans come courtesy of
Jurjen Borregaard of Amsterdam. Jurjen's label scans fill in the unknown
song titles on Rob's site. )
A few additional
observations: both versions of this release are rural mento with rumba box,
acoustic guitar, maracas and hand drum. As Rob points out, one version
features banjo, and the other, instead, a rustic fiddle, which adds a very
country feel to the music.
A few mid period
mento standards join a cover of Do-Rey-Mi. A number of the remaining
songs are not familiar and their lyrics are often on the raunchier side of
ribald. Not that they are explicit. It's still suggestive, but what's being
suggested is often a bit stronger than
the norm. These songs may have been written by Antics, or perhaps are
Trinidadian calypsos from his island of birth.
Thanks again to Rob for a recording of these LPs. Because
these LPs are not in print, here is a song clip of track with an
unknown title from the
second (fiddle-based) "Hotter Than Hot" LP.
[Click here for
notes About the Audio Clips On this Site.] |
| This just adds to
the confusion: The
Lord Antics and The Lyons Band LP, "Hotter Than Hot" on the
Antics Disc label, but not one of the two editions described
by Rob Chapman
above. Once again, a cut and paste jacket holds a collection of Antics'
mentos and calypsos, all played with banjo, rumba box, acoustic guitar and
hand percussion. |
Also on Antics Disc label
is the Lord Antics LP, "Cool Lava", along with an alternate
jacket.
Although I have not heard this LP, the hand
written song list reveals a large number of familiar mento songs, the
requisite review of Harry Belafonte
hits and other tracks. |
Courtesy of Alex of the German mail order house
call Copasetic, (http://www.copasetic.de)
here is an LP not listed in Olivier's list: "People Will Talk" by Lord
Antics & the Boys . It features the same sleeve as "Calypsos", but with
title sticker.
|
 |
Side One:
Jean and Dinah
Monica Doo-Doo
Julie
We Will Be Lovers
Everything I Own
|
|
Side Two:
You Can't Get
Sa-Sa Yea
People Will Talk
Things
Land Of The Sea And Sun
|
Courtesy again of Nick
Johansen, here is his 2011 discovery of
the rarest of all Lord Antics LPs, "Rake and Scrape":
Nick explains,
This is the
long-lost VOLUME ONE cover of Calypso Star that has puzzled everyone. It
was used for the album “Mr. Rake & Scrape” which I have classified as
number3a on my new, revised word document, which I shall send you soon.
This Calypso
Star cover has now been used for
VOLUME ONE Mr. Rake & Scrape
VOLUME TWO Laziest Man
VOLUME TWO Lucy’s Garden
I have all three
LPs with the corresponding black song lists pasted on the backs.
Two of the songs
Dr. Beckles and One Arm Man are featured on other albums and two songs
(No No) Stella and The Milk Man make up a 45rpm on the Calypso Star
label. Six other songs are undocumented anywhere.
The cover picture is
brown, not with the green color as on VOLUME TWO.
|
Lord Antics
Singles
Lord Antics recorded a number of singles,
some taken from the LPs above and some consisting of non-LP tracks. First,
here are three singles, scans courtesy of Matthias Münchow of Hamburg,
Germany.
 |
"Fork She Garden" backed with "Split Me In Two" is
a single drawn
from the "Hotter Than Hot" LP and appears on the label of
the same name. This
may be a harder to find single, as it does not initially appear in
Olivier's discography or in
Roots Knotty Roots. |
 |
"Big Bamboo" backed with "Sixty
Nine" is a another
single drawn from the "Hotter Than Hot" LP. Like the
single above, it is not listed in
Olivier's discography or in
Roots Knotty Roots, so may be harder to find. |
 |
"Sell The Pussy" is the third
single pictured on this site that is drawn from Lord Antic's 1970 LP, "Hotter Than Hot". Sorry, a larger version of this
image is not available.
|
 |
On the previously unseen Soul
More Soul label a Lord Antics 45 consisting of "Everything I Own" backed
with "Julie". Neither track appears on any Lord Antics LP that I am
aware of, nor are they documented in
Olivier's discography or in
Roots Knotty Roots. |
Matthias points out that "Everything I Own" was
originally recorded by US soft-rockers Bread and that Horace
Andy did his reggae version around the same time. He adds that Ken
Booth later recorded a well remembered version of this song.
 |
"You May Stray" was released in 1964 on the Coxsone
label and again in 1965 on Muzik City and (courtesy of Ed Turk of
the UK), Island in the UK. This
recording is flat out ska, not mento. The
A-side was "Coolie Boy" by Don Drummond.
|
 |
Here is another Antics/Skatalites pairing on the C&N
label (perhaps in 1963), when the Lord Antics track, "One Kiss In The
Morning" appears as the b-side of the Skatalites track "Ska
Laparisine". Surprisingly, the Antics track is a departure from mento, as
its a ska recording. Both sides are produced by Coxsone Dodd. |
 |
"Sauce Pan" b/w "Sandra" was released in 1964 and again
in 1974 on the Antics Disc label.
These tracks are drawn from the "Too Hot To Hold"
LP. The scans come from two different discs. Sorry, a larger version of these
images are not available. |
 |
"Woop Wap Man" b/w "Doctor Kitch" does not have a documented release date,
but it is probably drawn from the "Too Hot To Hold"
LP. (Sorry, a larger
version of "Doctor Kitch" is not available.) |
| |
 |
From 1965, on the Antics Disc
label
"Bang Bang Lulu" backed "Keep The City Clean". Both
tracks are drawn from the "Too Hot To Hold"
LP. The labels come from two different discs. One is stamped with the
additional legend, "Zodiac Pub, 3A Church Lane, Montego Bay, Prop. Tomas Thompson",
|
|
perhaps giving us an indication of where Antics
performed and who paid him. This specimen also includes a lot of what
collectors refer to as "WOL", or "writing on label". The other is stamped
"<?> Mart, 64 Barnett St, Montego Bay".
|
 |
On the
Date Disc label is the Lord Antics single, "Soul Chick".
The flip is "Work So Version". These tracks do not appear to be drawn from an LP.
Sorry, there is no larger version of this label. |
 |
On the
Calypso Star label is the Lord Antics single, "The Milk Man".
The flip is "Stella". These tracks do not appear to be drawn from an LP.
Sorry, there is no larger version of this label. |
 |
"Shame and
Scandal". The b-side is "Lulu" |
 |
One more
for the road, on the Laziest Man label, is Queen's Canary. |
|
