Brian Setzer Orchestra
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Tour
11/17/07 Turning Stone Casino Verona, NY 11/18/07 State Theatre Easton, PA 11/20/07 Count Basie Theatre Red Bank, NJ 11/21/07 Beacon Theatre New York, NY 11/23/07 Orpheum Theatre Boston, MA 11/24/07 North Fork Theatre Westbury, NY 11/29/07 Keswick Theatre Glenside, PA 11/30/07 Foxwoods Casino Mashantucket, CT 12/01/07 Foxwoods Casino Mashantucket, CT 12/03/07 Oneida Casino Oneida, WI 12/04/07 Potawatomi Casino Milwaukee, WI 12/05/07 Potawatomi Casino Milwaukee, WI 12/07/07 Fillmore Detroit Detroit, MI 12/08/07 Odawa Casino Resort Petoskey, MI 12/09/07 Paramount Theatre Aurora, IL 12/11/07 Fillmore Auditorium Denver, CO 12/12/07 Isleta Casino Showr Alburquerque, NM 12/14/07 Mesa Arts Center Mesa, AZ 12/16/07 Spotlight Casino Coachella, CA 12/18/07 Wells Fargo Center Santa Rosa, CA 12/19/07 Wells Fargo Center Santa Rosa, CA 12/21/07 Gibson Amph Universal City, CA 12/22/07 Gibson Amph Universal City, CA 12/23/07 Joint at the Hard Rock Las Vegas, NV 12/27/07 Chumash Casino Santa Ynez, CA 12/28/07 Table Mountain Casino Fresno, CA 12/29/07 Paramount Theatre Oakland, CA
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I was shopping around for some of my writers to review this CD for Brian Setzer Orchestra's Wolfgang's Big Night Out, but after listening to a few songs, I love it so much that I've decided to be greedy and write the review myself.
So, as you know, Brian Setzer made rockabilly cool with The Stray Cats (well some would argue that rockabilly has always been cool!). Then Setzer made Swing music cool with "Jump Jive 'n' Wail", with his new orchestra band.
This time, he's decided to transform classical music with a "big band" sound and make it accessible and hip.
Trust me when I tell you that you know ALL the songs. You might not happen to know all the song titles and who wrote what, but you've all heard these songs.
Despite knowing the music already, Setzer really modernize it and add his own twist and take in his adaptions of the songs.
All the titles are cleverly retitled. For instance, "Symphony No. 5" is renamed "Take the 5th", while my favorite "God Rest Ye Merry Men" is retitled "Take a Break Guys".
"Take a Break Guys" is easily the best reimagined song, with its clash of brass instruments, double bass, and an electric guitar. This traditional song is made fun again!
The other really good song is "For Lisa" (based on Beethoven's "Fur Elise"), with it's perky violins, flutes, and acoustic guitar. I've also decided to dedicate that song to Lisa :)
I think we will have to touch base with The Stray Cats in another entry for the future, since they have such a rich history and songs to choose from - it wouldn't be fair to devote half the article to them on a review of Wolfgang's Big Night Out.
But, as a special bonus, I am including some old Stray Cats favorites and that infamous swing song.
Wolfgang's Big Night Out is released last month (September 25th) by Surfdog Records, and can be purchased at most music retail stores.
10/28/2007 07:49:37
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Comments
No, I wouldn't give Brian Seltzer sole credit for that, nor would I really think of him when I think of rockabilly. I would think of Heart (late '70s with the album Dreamboat Annie, before they were eaten by the rock music business machine), Dire Straits ("Sultans of Swing", more specifically, which had a more bluesy and uptempo sound) and Johnny Cash.
What Brian Seltzer *did* bring back, in my opinion, is the old Texas swing that crossed over into rock 'n roll back in the day (Bill Haley and the Comets, Carl Perkins comes to mind). I haven't researched the exact musicology of "rockabilly" yet, so it may be an arbitrary term here.
i guess cool isn't the word, but more like he made it accessible personally to me and probably to a wide audience as well.