| "This is sheer, absolute class from beginning to end."~ So wrote Dave about Four Piece Suit's debut Ready To Where? in Pipeline 31. It's been a long time coming, but their second album is every bit as classy as their first - and perhaps even more accessible through its variety and quality of material. For a four piece band they sure make a lot of sounds, the sophisticated sax of David Sholl sharing the limelight with Milt Reder on guitars, Hammond B3 organ and piano. Superb production and great arrangements give the impression of a much larger outfit at times, and Tom West joins them to add more B3 to five of the tracks. It's an intoxicating mix and their highball is a mix of sea foam soaked guitar and squalling tenor sax, shaken - not stirred - with Finnish surf |
tangos, Battista era mambos, depression swing, Slavic hoe-downs, spaghetti westerns, beach blanket boppers, spy music, crime jazz and movie themes. Just the thing for audiences thirsty for a shot of rock & roll with a twist of romance in their cocktail music. If you're thinking this music is hard to describe you've got the picture, there really are no obvious comparisons to be made. Overall it has such a great feeling: it swings, it has rhythm, and most of all it has the kind of smooth cohesion that simply makes you feel comfortable with it. Lounge music for the musically aware perhaps? If Sounds lncorporated were still operating then maybe we would have some comparisons to make. -AT (Swang Records, 25 Dwight Street, Brookline, MA O2446, USA Fax: 617 730 56ll)
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