Typically Tropical
| Typically Tropical | |
|---|---|
| Origin | England |
| Genres | Pop |
| Years active | 1974–1981 |
| Labels | Gull Records |
| Past members |
|
Typically Tropical were a British band, best known for their number one hit record "Barbados".
Typically Tropical had a 1975 number one hit single "Barbados". Jeff Calvert and Max West recorded together for another six years, although not always under the name Typically Tropical.
After hearing the demo version of "Barbados", recorded in the spring of 1974, David Howell of Gull Records wanted to hear more, but instead Jeff and Max asked for £1500 to finish both "Barbados" and another track they'd written, "The Ghost Song", and to record "Barbados"' B-side, "Sandy". Having agreed, Gull then signed them up for three singles. "Barbados" was finished at the end of 1974, but Gull decided to wait until May 1975 to release it. In August that year it reached number one, and the duo, having performed it on Top Of The Pops, decided to write another nine songs for the album Barbados Sky, which was released at the same time as the follow-up single "Rocket Now" (backed with "Hole In The Sky"), and sold around 8000 copies.
Opening with "Barbados", the version on the album was slightly different. It began with an additional pre-take-off conversation between Captain Tobias Willcock and Air Traffic Control, whereas the single version begins with the Captain's welcome to his passengers. At the beginning of the single, but not on the album, is the unusual sound of grasshoppers chirruping (which also features at the end of Rocket Now), and a dog barking. The album version of the track curtails the single's original ending, fading out earlier.
"The Ghost Song" was released as a single in November under the names "Calvert & West" with "Eternity Isle" as the B-side, but as with all their subsequent singles, it didn't chart.
In May 1976 the third single from the album, "Everybody Plays The Fool", was released. Further singles were released under a variety of names, but also did not chart.
The duo's final original single was "Lady D", released in June 1981 on their own label, Whisper, which they'd originally set up to release songs by Sarah Brightman (having written the hit "I Lost My Heart To A Starship Trooper" in 1978).
"Barbados" was later successfully covered by the Vengaboys in 1999 as "We're Going to Ibiza".
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