Five and a Half
Original Songs

©1996 Toucans

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At last! The Toucans have recorded their own original songs just for you! At just over 30 minutes, this CD-EP will knock your lucky socks off! The Toucans' span the musical range of Soca, Funk, Reggae, and Disco to bring you the absolute finest in hardcore Steel Drumming!

The stunning disco bonus track of Lipps, Inc.'s Funkytown features an actual appearance by live robots! You will be happy to lean that no robots were harmed in the making of this album.

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Excerpted here are the Toucans' notes about the origins of the songs on this fine album. Two songs have audio clips available. To make the clips more easily downloadable, sound quality was sacrificed, but the CD itself sounds completely fantastic! Two weeks of wholly digital mastering ensures that you get nothing but the finest in all-acoustic Pan sound reproduction!

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Ice Cream Maker

This song is a salute to the brave men and women who serve in the name of ice cream. It also celebrates the massive cement umbrella stands (molded from cardboard ice cream buckets) which help to keep the Toucans in a good humor during the scorching summer season.

 

The Bell

Barnyard is back! The original Cartoon Horse Reggae groove popularized by the Toucans sends this little ditty clip-clopping out into the pasture. So mosey on down and join the rest of the animals for some farmyard fun with The Bell! Cow bell, that is. Moo music.

 

Take A Chance 179k

Originally written for the pilot of a slick, over-produced TV series about shady casino operators and hard-talkin' undercover vice cops with gigantic firearms, this song once had lyrics which we've since forgotten. Be there!


 

Annie (Drop Your Gun) 288k

This high-energy stampede of soca and funk is one of the Toucans' favorite pieces. Written with a tip of the Stetson to gun-totin' Wild West heroine Annie Oakley. Listen for the patented "Wall of Wolves" sonic overdrive experience in the third act!


 

We Will Play

Inspired by actual events, this song was written to protest the banning of drums from Seattle's historic Pike Place Market. Kicked out by police and music-fearing lawyers, the Toucans nevertheless continue to win the hearts of audiences at outdoor street fairs and festivals throughout the Northwest.

 

Gloria Mundi

Languishing for years on the musical scrap heap, it was only recently that a Toucans excavation team turned up this forgotten relic. Although not on the album per se, it was stripped for parts and genetically fused to both "Ice Cream Maker" and "Annie (Drop Your Gun)" to create superhuman hybrid monsters of soca and funk. Gloria Mundi was originally written for a movie of the same name, produced long ago by actual members of the Toucans. Like Obi Wan Kenobi, this song is now more powerful than you can possibly imagine.

 

Funkytown Disco Bonus Track!

Although the Toucans didn't write this song, they wish they had! Lipps, Inc. mastermind Steven Greenberg must have been channelling the Toucans as he wrote this tune back in 1979; how else could he have written a tune that sound so good on the pans? Featuring actual analog droid dialogue, this song is sure to bring back the spirit of that glorious decade known as the '70s. Even though everything about the '70s has faded from our memories (except for Star Wars!), the Toucans can't resist the alluring beat of Disco, and neither can you!

Five and a Half Original Songs is no longer available directly from the Toucans. It can still be purchased on Amazon.com. Search for the Toucans and you'll find it waiting just for you!