Exuma II 1970 Album

Exuma

The follow-up to the rather apocalyptic-sounding debut album reflects more of a carnival-type sound, even though in quite a few places the creepy, droning feel is still present. “Damn Fool” is definitely on the humorous side of the fence, set to a rollicking junkanoo beat, while the man himself serenades the listener with a tale of an unfortunate soul who married what he thought was a woman, but turned into a “a big, black bird”. Another track, “Paul Simon Nontooth”, is more like a running dialogue and has barely anything to do with structured music. And the doomsayers still rear their ugly heads, on tracks like “Baal”, and the heavily ironic “A Place Called Earth”. But a funny thing happens later in the album – McKay’s pop instincts make an appearance. Take the hardcore island rhythms out of “We Got to Go”, “African Rhythm”, and “Zandoo”, and you might have some music that could make a Top 40 station or two. Well, OK…maybe not, but you can tell the man was not adverse to good pop craft. So, in the end, maybe a slight drop-off is in the cards, but worth hearing the entire way through, because he gives us a moderately different take on the debut.