Kid Creole's Fresh Fruit in Foreign Places: The Concept Album as Search for Identity
Timothy Sexton
April 22, 2007
The concept album is probably a thing of the past, what with the rise of internet downloading of songs you like in the order you like rather than albums where the songs are in a particular order. It is generally agreed that The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper was the first rock concept album. Pink Floyd is the band most associated with the idea of the concept album. And The Who's Tommy is generally considered the zenith of the concept album concept. Most of those are pretty well known, but my favorite concept album is actually Fresh Fruit in Foreign Places by Kid Creole and the Coconuts.
Kid Creole was actually a multitalented musician named August Darnell. Kid Creole was a tough act to sell even in the anything goes radio scene of the early 80s. The band seamlessly combined elements of African and Caribbean music to create a rock-jazz-calypso blend that radio programmers had trouble defining. Was it rock? Jazz? New Wave? As a result, Fresh Fruit in Foreign Places fell beneath the radar of audiences. What makes an album a concept album? Well, to put it in the simplest terms possible, a concept album goes beyond being merely a collection of songs; the songs are all interconnected to pursue either a story-such as Pink Floyd's The Wall-or a theme-such as Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon. In the case of Fresh Fruit in Foreign Places, the album offers up both a narrative, an obvious theme, and a very subtle subtext.
The story of Fresh Fruit in Foreign Places is presented as more of a musical soundtrack. In fact, at one point Kid Creole and the songwriters from Squeeze hoped to flesh the story out and mount it as a Broadway musical. More recently, Fresh Fruit in Foreign Places has been mounted as the "first rap musical." The LP came with an inner sleeve that presented missives from the leading character detailing his odyssey around the world in search of his beloved Mimi. Fresh Fruit in Foreign Places, you see, is a concept album that can be viewed as a modern updating of the story of The Odyssey. The album begins with the Kid catching a ride on a boat intent on finding his beloved Mimi. Along the way he and his troupe are arrested for singing on island in which singing has been banned, discover themselves in the middle of a revolution over what kind of music should be allowed to be played on the radio, sing a song of being lost in the middle of a jungle, wind up in a kind of Aryan civilization that has never seen a person with brown skin before, and even meet up with a certain species of cannibal.
As you may be able to tell from this simple description, Kid Creole has a lot more on his mind than a simple concept album story. In fact, Fresh Fruit in Foreign Places tackles issues of racism both as it applies to the color of one's skin and the color of one's money. The fact that Kid Creole predicted his album would not get much airplay is touched upon throughout the album. Along the way the music ranges from the gorgeous ballad "I Stand Accused" to the infectious "Going Places" to my favorite, the African-influenced jungle rock of "In the Jungle." In many ways, of course, the concept of Fresh Fruit in Foreign Places is immediately apparent. But what I love most about it is the subtext. Keep in mind that the Kid sets off on his journey to track down his beloved Mimi. But if you separate those two syllables, you get Me-Me. My preference is to Fresh Fruit in Foreign Places as a concept album about the search for identity and meaning. In my view, Mimi doesn't exist as an actual flesh and blood entity, but is rather is an abstraction; a philosophical concept who stands as a symbol for a mystery far greater than whether Paul McCartney is really dead. Fresh Fruit in Foreign Places is an overlooked masterpiece.
Kid Creole was actually a multitalented musician named August Darnell. Kid Creole was a tough act to sell even in the anything goes radio scene of the early 80s. The band seamlessly combined elements of African and Caribbean music to create a rock-jazz-calypso blend that radio programmers had trouble defining. Was it rock? Jazz? New Wave? As a result, Fresh Fruit in Foreign Places fell beneath the radar of audiences. What makes an album a concept album? Well, to put it in the simplest terms possible, a concept album goes beyond being merely a collection of songs; the songs are all interconnected to pursue either a story-such as Pink Floyd's The Wall-or a theme-such as Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon. In the case of Fresh Fruit in Foreign Places, the album offers up both a narrative, an obvious theme, and a very subtle subtext.
The story of Fresh Fruit in Foreign Places is presented as more of a musical soundtrack. In fact, at one point Kid Creole and the songwriters from Squeeze hoped to flesh the story out and mount it as a Broadway musical. More recently, Fresh Fruit in Foreign Places has been mounted as the "first rap musical." The LP came with an inner sleeve that presented missives from the leading character detailing his odyssey around the world in search of his beloved Mimi. Fresh Fruit in Foreign Places, you see, is a concept album that can be viewed as a modern updating of the story of The Odyssey. The album begins with the Kid catching a ride on a boat intent on finding his beloved Mimi. Along the way he and his troupe are arrested for singing on island in which singing has been banned, discover themselves in the middle of a revolution over what kind of music should be allowed to be played on the radio, sing a song of being lost in the middle of a jungle, wind up in a kind of Aryan civilization that has never seen a person with brown skin before, and even meet up with a certain species of cannibal.
As you may be able to tell from this simple description, Kid Creole has a lot more on his mind than a simple concept album story. In fact, Fresh Fruit in Foreign Places tackles issues of racism both as it applies to the color of one's skin and the color of one's money. The fact that Kid Creole predicted his album would not get much airplay is touched upon throughout the album. Along the way the music ranges from the gorgeous ballad "I Stand Accused" to the infectious "Going Places" to my favorite, the African-influenced jungle rock of "In the Jungle." In many ways, of course, the concept of Fresh Fruit in Foreign Places is immediately apparent. But what I love most about it is the subtext. Keep in mind that the Kid sets off on his journey to track down his beloved Mimi. But if you separate those two syllables, you get Me-Me. My preference is to Fresh Fruit in Foreign Places as a concept album about the search for identity and meaning. In my view, Mimi doesn't exist as an actual flesh and blood entity, but is rather is an abstraction; a philosophical concept who stands as a symbol for a mystery far greater than whether Paul McCartney is really dead. Fresh Fruit in Foreign Places is an overlooked masterpiece.
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