| 1. Strike up the Band |
| 2. Hey |
| 3. Very Early |
| 4. Things Ain't What They Used to Be |
| 5. Scrapple from the Apple |
| 6. Embraceable You/Why Did I Choose You? |
| 7. Blue Serge Suit(e): Club Sirocco/Somnamblues/Blues Unblue - Rob McConnell |
Brassy and Sassy,Rob McConnell & The Boss Brass,Concord Records,Bop,Jazz,Jazz Music,Pop,Swing
Average customer rating: 
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Captain Swing
Michelle Shocked Manufacturer: Mighty Sound ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD  General
| Alternative Rock
| Styles
| Music
Urban Folk
| New Wave & Post-Punk
| Alternative Rock
| Styles
| Music
General
| Contemporary Folk
| Folk
| Styles
| Music
Singer-Songwriters
| Contemporary Folk
| Folk
| Styles
| Music
General
| Folk
| Styles
| Music
Singer-Songwriters
| Pop
| Styles
| Music
Pop Rock
| Pop
| Styles
| Music
General
| Rock
| Styles
| Music
Similar Items:
ASIN: B0001EFU64 Release Date: 2004-03-16 |
Tracks:
- God Is a Real Estate Developer
- On the Greener Side
- Silent Ways
- Sleep Keeps Me Awake
- Cement Lament
- My Little Sister
- Looks Like Mona Lisa (Smells Like Tuna Fish)
- Too Little, Too Late
- Streetcorner Ambassador
- Must Be Luff [Acoustic Demo]
- Russian Roulette [*]
- Must Be Luff [Acoustic Demo][*]
- Sleep Keeps Me Awake [Acoustic Demo][*]
- Cement Lament [Acoustic Demo][*]
- Silent Ways [Acoustic Demo][*]
- Streetcorner Ambassador [Acoustic Demo][*]
- Early Morning Saturday [Acoustic Demo][*]
- God Is a Real Estate Developer [Acoustic Demo][*]
- Too Little, Too Late [Acoustic Demo][*]
- Hepcat [Acoustic Demo]
- Barefootin' [Live][*] - Michelle Shocked, Tower of Power
- Garden Salad Diplomacy [Live][*]
- Poll Tax Song [Live][*]
- Titanic [*] - Dollar Bill, , Michelle Shocked
- Old Paint [*] - Dollar Bill, , Michelle Shocked
- Worth the Weight [Live][*]
- Fairy Tales [Live][*]
Customer Reviews:
A musical tour-de-style.......2004-06-06
Not every song on Michelle Shocked's Captain Swing has horns, but those that do are my favorite moments on this album and also responsible for making this my favorite Shocked album, although I also quite like Short Sharp Shocked and Arkansas Traveler. The inclusion of a brass section also underscores how much of a metamorphoses Shocked went through on her first three albums, from the recorded-on-a-Walkman (and basically released without her permission) The Texas Campfire Tapes to this multitrack, multi-instrument album. That first album, where one can even sometimes hear crickets in the background, was just Shocked's voice and her guitar, recorded live during the Kerrville Folk Festival. Her second album didn't add much in the way of instruments, but Short Sharp Shocked was made in a studio with multiple takes that smoothed out imperfections while maintaining her intimate style. For Captain Swing, the pendulum had swung all the way over into lush production although not so much that it overshadows Shocked's clever songwriting, but does transform her at least somewhat from the doyenne of the piney woods past the "skateboarding punk rocker" into a folky k.d. lang-inspired torch singer.
The theme is swing and Shocked is catholic in how she applies it to her songs. She transforms her earlier composition, "(Don't You Mess With) My Little Sister," into a hard-rocking set piece of Bakersfield that wouldn't be out of place on a Dwight Yoakam album. "It Must Be Luff" comes straight out of a dance hall of Basin Street, New Orleans with its combination of tuba bass rhythym, slightly out-of-tune jangly piano, and slide-and-muted trombone. Shocked anticipated the big band revival with "God is a Real Estate Developer," "Too Little Too Late" and "Sleep Keeps Me Awake," while "On the Greener Side" and "Silent Ways" highlight the fast and slow moods of Texas swing. The cool later jazz stylings that combined Glenn Miller with Duke Ellington can be found in "The Cement Lament," with some of the best clarinets you'll ever hear in a rock song; "Streetcorner Ambassador" even makes a play for a modified Miles Davis BeBop groove with its muted trumpet solo and cool jazz rhythm. Even "Looks Like Mona Lisa," where the horns are replaced by a plaintive string part, has at its core a swing bass rhythm part.
The subject of the songs match her earlier albums, though: concerns about the homeless and the inner city, memories of growing up in small towns, and satirical takes on life. But more than anything, these songs have a sense of fun to them that was sometimes missing in those first two albums. They are fast and bouncy and funny at times, sometimes so much that you miss the serious message of some of the lyrics. Shocked duplicated some of this chemistry in her next album, Arkansas Traveller, although the musical theme there was less interesting to me as it was based on bluegrass instead of swing.
Absolute Breezy Beauty.......2004-06-05
Standouts:
God Is A Real Estate Developer ("angels dancin' 'round with pinheads");
On The Greener Side ("send me a dozen long-stemmed roses... I'll bend them into a crown of thorns and send it right back to you");
Silent Ways (everything);
The Cement Lament ("It was that kind of misting rain, it was that kind of night...");
Looks Like Mona Lisa (melody);
Streetcorner Ambassador ("Those patronizing liberals took the words out of your mouth!");
Must Be Luff ("I'll drink the whiskey, don' drink no water, yeah!");
Russian Roulette (the 'mystery song,' "I say Russian Roulette is just a hole in one").
This reissue includes a bunch of pretty polished demos of many of the album songs (usually Michelle and a fiddle accompanist) and live performances. One unreleased demo in particular, "Early Saturday Morning," is beautiful... perfect lazy morning song, strong enough for an album cut, and worth getting the CD for.
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Brassy and Sassy
Rob McConnell & The Boss Brass Manufacturer: Concord Records ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD Bebop General
| Bebop
| Jazz
| Styles
| Music
General
| Jazz
| Styles
| Music
Swing General
| Swing Jazz
| Jazz
| Styles
| Music
Similar Items:
ASIN: B0000006KS Release Date: 1992-05-26 |
Tracks:
- Strike Up The Band
- Hey
- Very Early
- Things Ain't What They Used To Be
- Scrapple From The Apple
- Embraceable You/Why Did I Choose You?
- Blue Serge Suit(E): I. Club Sirocco/II. Somnamblues/III. Blues Unblue
Customer Reviews:
The REALLY Boss Brass.......2004-10-14
Average customer rating: 
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Melancholy Serenade
Kimberly Gordon Manufacturer: The Sirens Records ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD General
| Jazz
| Styles
| Music
General
| Jazz
| Indie Music
| Stores
| Music
ASIN: B00030MA0A Release Date: 2004-09-04 |
Tracks:
- I Got It Bad And That Aint Good
- As Long As I Live
- Mr. Sandman
- What Am I Here For
- In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning
- Too Close For Comfort
- I Aint Got Nothin But The Blues
- Melancholy Serenade
- Star Eyes
- Alfie
- Incurably Romantic
Album Description
Kimberly Gordon's voice is as sassy, sultry, and sensuous as the brassy tones of any tenor sax. Neil Tesser, author of Playboy's Guide to Jazz, wrote the following about Kimberly's voice "… if sapphires could sing, I imagine they'd have a similar sound…". Kimberly, the first jazz siren on The Sirens Records, sings Ellington and more. She is joined by Chris Foreman and Joe Policastro. Chris Foreman is a virtuoso keyboard player who has played with Kimberly for over fourteen years. Their long-time professional association allows them to tie the music and lyrics seamlessly together.Jazz Music: