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CD Reviews
by Charmin' Dee
with Stephane "Swing Bear" Gilbert and Maryse "Get Ready" Lebeau


Ghetto Swing Extreme
The Yalloppin' Hounds

3/4



Charmin' Dee

This album does really well on the arbitrary scale since the quality of the recording (yes it is neo-swing) is very good and the featured performers are more than up to par. For you dancers out there this is a CD that will not disappoint as 8 out of 10 tracks are danceable, featuring a variety of tempos that make this album accessible to both Jive/ECS and Lindy crowds.

The "Hit Potential" is definitely there as 3 of the 10 tracks have what it takes to make any DJ's regular rotation and still are able to draw out dancers 6 months down the line. The group debated heavily on whether "Oops my Bad" or "You ain't sh..." was THE song on this album, but we'll leave that one up to you.

The music is also highly original. Most songs are composed, arranged and mixed by their saxophone player G-Clef who did everything but sing on the album. Wait, he does that too. Only one cover, "Flat Foot Floogie", has made it onto the album; all others are originals. Finally there are 2 out of 10 songs that make it to "snooze" status and are definite skips on the CD.

Now on the more subjective side of things. Comments noted by all included the overall "jazziness" of the album as a whole, several featured musicians (excellent by the bye) on every track make the album quite long (64 minutes in all) and quite difficult to listen to from start to finish. If you don't like jazz to begin with you will have a tough time when you first listen to the album. In sum half the album would definitely make it on anyone's compilation tape but it might not seem that way after a first listen. Definitely worth discovering in its entirety if only for the hip hop combination swing that is "You ain't sh...", but you will need to do so over a period of time!!!

The best thing about the album, though, is reading the liner notes! These guys are a hoot, plus the "acknowledgement" section is like a who's who of the NYC scene: George "Ol' Buddha Bastard" Gee, Lindygirl, Janice & Paolo, Nath and Yuval, Michael "Fiftynites" Ingbar...even Spencer and Jennifer make the list as "Hound Haters". An album you will enjoy! (All Hail HepCat!)

All the Best!
Dee.

Previous reviews...

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.