Barbados – Typically Tropical (1975)

Description

Additional information about this, Typically Tropical vinyl art.

Typically Tropical- The Artist/s

Typically Tropical were a British band comprising two Trojan Records audio engineers, Jeff Calvert and Geraint Hughes (who performed under the stage name “Max West”). They are best known for their 1975 number one hit record “Barbados” and for writing the 1978 disco hit “I Lost My Heart to a Starship Trooper” performed by Sarah Brightman and Hot Gossip.

Barbados – The Song

“Barbados” is a song written and recorded by sound engineers Jeff Calvert and Geraint Hughes. The story of “Barbados” came after Calvert was asked by his father, a travelling musician who was doing a cruise tour of the Caribbean, if he wanted to come on the journey with him. After returning to the UK, Calvert decided to write the song “Barbados”, after he visited the country during the trip, and teamed up with Geraint Hughes to help him write the song, which was written in Ealing. Calvert and Hughes sneaked into a Trojan studio after hours to record the song. Calvert on guitar and Hughes on keys, the song has four chords, which at the time were the only four chords Jeff knew. Lyrically the song is about a bus driver who escapes Brixton, London for the tropical island of Barbados, where he’s going to see his girlfriend. “Barbados” was later successfully covered by the Vengaboys in 1999 as “We’re Going to Ibiza”. Typically Tropical sold 381,456 copies of “Barbados” (as of November 2019) compared to the cover, “We’re Going to Ibiza” by the Vengaboys which has sold 1,862,451 (as of November 2019).

Barbados, The Island – The Shape

This record has been modelled into a silhoutte of the Caribean Island, Barbados.

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