Cool
and Strange Music Magazine
|
 She
Could Be A SpyNobody likes a spy. They appear in your house without knocking, drink the all of best liquor, and woo the garters off your girlfriend (or the socks off your boyfriend) with witty double entendres, while, without the slightest effort, you reveal your top secret plan for world domination. But then again, it's easy to succumb to the irresistible. Like "She Could be a Spy." Swing's poster boy and prodigy Michael Andrew's swank musical outfit's second release is, without the slightest flinch, one of the most creative and diverse CDs to emerge from the ranks of modern spy/lounge. The whole hi-fi gamut is run here: from a fantasy resonating in the in some Les Baxterish dreamscape ("Mary Ann") to the bumping and grinding of cheeky cha-cha "She Just Wants to Cha Cha " (a brilliant conception to which you can both twist and cha cha). Some of the songs on this album ("Swing Out" and "Pick up the Phone") are real swingers. The luxuriant "Let's Rendezvous" is sexy and sultry enough to provide the atmosphere for any romantic distraction (making it perfect for emptying the contents of your hollow ring into the cocktail of your enemy). Capitulate: at the end of the last track, you'll confess that you'll like this album - Giancarlo Davis |
 A
Swingerhead ChristmasFrom the unlikely locale of the State of Florida comes one of the best of the bunch of Christmas CDs I've heard in a long, long time. I've always had a "thing" for Christmas records, so I picked this up with a jaundiced eye, but after a few quick skips around it with the old CD player, I was immediately won over. This ain't your usual Christmas fare. True, most of the songs are the "usual suspects,""Santa Claus is Comin' to Town," "White Christmas," etc., but they are presented in glistening, new, big band arrangements, and every track hits its mark. Frontman Michael Andrew is a virtual powerhousesongwriter, producer, arranger, leader and lead vocalist. And he does them all extremely well. Very much in the Harry Connick-style of slick, Sinatra-influenced vocals, Andrew's singing is top-notchand he's totally convincing in his enthusiasm for the music of Christmas. And as much as I admire Connick, I'd say that this CD is better than Harry's own Christmas CD. Andrew's rearrangement of "We Three Kings" is a sort of Miles Davis meets the Rat Pack, with guest vocalists Eddie Nichols from Royal Crown Revue and Broccoli Rob Cittadino from Dem Brooklyn Bums Big Band, sharing finger-poppin' vocal chores in kingly three-part harmony. "Mistletoe Mambo" is an Andrew original, and it's a fun track, with a definite Perez Prado-feel to it. "I'll Be Home for Christmas" is arranged with an Esquivel flavor to it, then quickly segues into an incredible rocked-up version with wild drums, twangy surf guitars and bongos flailing away at warp speed. Then, the mood comes down to a mellow glow with Andrew's beautiful original "Christmas Day, My Favorite Day," tenderly sung with just a solo piano. This one is so sincerely touching that it almost makes me cry every time I hear it. With its adventurous arrangements, great vocals and top-notch production, this is a CD that I plan to play around our house this Christmas. Like I said, I'm a hard sell, but Andrew and company won me over. I welcome a new musical tradition to our house at Christmastime. - Dave Peterson |
 Mickey
Swingerhead and the EarthgirlsSo you think you live in a world devoid of musical expression? You ought to feel fortunate you're not living in the galaxy of Mickey Swingerhead, where jazz has been banned by the authorities and replaced with the state-sanctioned waltz (enforced by the chief of Jazz Police Marvin Welk and his Laurel and Hardy like minions). "Mickey Swingerhead and the Earth Girls" is the soundtrack to Michael Andrew's "Hi-Fi Sci-Fi Musical Comedy." Set in the future, Mickey Swingerhead rebels against the status quo, running an underground space station (where jazz is played at frequencies more refined than those that the government can pick up), avoiding the jazz police and rakishly entertaining young space lovelies with his slam-bang-tang wit and charm in his revolving bachelor pad. Andrew and his clique also know how to laugh at the overindulgent lounge and swing scenes, of which they are musical mainstays. At the end of the musical tribute of the playboy's den "It's my bachelor pad," the protagonist (oh, so subtly) thanks his Dad for setting up the accommodations around which the bachelor's lifestyle revolves. But the band never sacrifices their musical sophistication for the cause of self-effacing humor. Furthermore, the music and lyrics on "Mickey Swingerhead and the Earth Girls" are good enough that the listener doesn't need to sit through musical and not enjoy the recording. www.swingerhead.com - Giancarlo Davis |
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