CD Reviews
by Charmin' Dee
with Jérôme Chapdelaine, bassist extraordinaire for "Element 115" and Benjamin Ricard, chief organiser for Swing Québec

What is going on here... are there any bad tracks on this album...? On the arbitrary scale, something like 15 tracks without one dud will get you high marks for sure! Plus the fact that the mastering has been well done and the sound quality is quite clear doesn't hinder things either, thank-you very much. For the dancer in you, unless you are a slow vs. fast extremist, this CD is a mix night with your friends waiting to happen: pop it in, press play, and dance! In this sense it's kinda hard to pick out a clear hit from the album, what I can say however is that "Central Park Stomp" did get noticed by the panel. Finally "You snooze you lose"...none here!

Now what about subjective comments. This album is very accessible to anyone, and the tracks are full of energy, comedy and predictable breaks and chords. All this makes it a very good album, but also the exact opposite of a Royal Crown Revue album where you never know what to expect. This seemed to be the consensus between all reviewers this time around -- that this album falls victim somehow to its own constancy. Simply put, if you don't want to hear a standard blues look out!!! This is why we said that this album was more accessible than original.

That said however, there are several original tracks on the album written by arranger/guitarist Mark McCarron and Peggy Cone, including the high scoring "Central Park Stomp". Mr McCarron's arrangements and Ms. Cone's singing energy (and occasional little squeaks and screams) are strong aspects on the album. My panel enjoyed some of the featured solos very much (the muted trumpet on "Not like Other Girls" got noticed by 2/3 of us) and the instrumental "It's Sand Man" also got the nods going. The worst parts of the album? We didn't agree if the "Material Girl" remake worked but we all agreed that they should really have found a better intro to "Quick Slick Pickup Artist" (which is not a bad song itself but the intro IS Needless to say you'll miss that couple of ticks when I'm playing DJ)! Overall a very good album -- easy on the ears and on the feet. A recommended buy? Definitely!

You gotta' head online if you want this one though...I haven't seen it in Montreal and there is no local info on distribution. However, you might want to check out peggycone.com, a nice site with online ordering info!!! Also available through Amazon.com or CDNow.

All the Best!
Dee.

If you have questions, comments, would like to join the next review panel or have your album reviewed, e-mail Dee!

THE 5-MARTINI RATING SYSTEM Each song on the album is evaluated for each criteria and the total number of martinis is then divided by the number of songs to arrive at an average for the album. Up to five martinis are awarded to each song based on the following criteria:
Recording Quality	Can you actually hear the music on the album? Is it well mastered, etc.
Skip/Snooze Potential	Is this song a definite skip on the CD or are you prone to fall asleep during this song? Obviously the martini is given if this IS NOT THE CASE!!!
Danceability	Since we swingers are dancers this is an important one. Whether it be Jive, ECS, Lindy who cares, as long as you can shake a limb!!!
Musicality	It's a cover of a well known song that brings something new to the table; the band/vocalists are great; the material is original, be it with regards to composition, style, sound etc.
Hit Potential	Is this song one that would at best find it's way to a home compilation CD or is it a definite HIT waiting to happen.