Sold Date: October 8, 2020
Start Date: October 8, 2020
Final Price: $20.00 (USD)
Seller Feedback: 9524
Buyer Feedback: 0

ULTRA RARE CALYPSO FROM ROLAND 'SPIDER' JAMES (1948-2005), ALSO KNOWN AS MIGHTY SPIDER.  This 45 RPM was produced by Trex Records in Barbados of the West Indies in 1978, Trex B 654.  The B side has Sachey Ferdinand.  The original sleeve by West Indies Records (Barbados) Limited has light wear, some very light soiling, no splits.  The record LOOKS PLAYABLE with light scratches over clean vinyl, it's likely in the range of VG+ to VG++, but I'll grade VG+ to be conservative.
On Mighty Spider and the song, Leo Law, from an online blog:
"Roland ‘Spider’ James (1948-2005), is laid to rest today, July 13. His was the first Calypso Funeral celebrated in Dominica – a celebration of the dead in Calypso...Then the powerful voice of Ossie Lewis, rang out in eulogy tracing Spider’s contribution to the Art of  Calypso placing his social commentary over and above the political. Thanks to Ossie Lewis, I remembered two of Spider’s Calypsos – – Sanki Song – and – Leo Law -. Leo Austin was the Attorney General who managed drafting of the Prohibited And Unlawful Societies and Associations Act (1974) –known among the masses as The Dread Act. I hear reverberations of Spider: ‘psalm of David/Psalm of David/draw me as you draw Parillon/Psalm of David/Psalm of David/cannot live under Leo law’. In the heat of crisis, Ferdinand Parillon, a minister in the John Administration abandoned the government. Its worth remembering how Spider’s first verse began.’ The zodiac say and still say/Leo represents the Lion/he can also be an egoistic politician’. Spider was not as masked as Chubby and Midnight Groovers when they asked ‘o li yo/o ti mama nou/o ti papa nou/o li yo’. I bounced to Spider’s ‘I singing Sanki for OJ and John/I singing Sanki until homage come/Said I singing Sanki all over town/Labor Party days are done/I singing Sanki Song’. Amazingly, he was also singing Sanki ‘until freedom come’. He won the Calypso Crown that year in 1980."