Lost Vagueness

There are times when manna comes in buckets. Every day I find the manna that makes Eartaste what it is, but the wonderful meal I unwrapped today is a full 7 course meal, with the appetizer right up front – a dance beat vocal version of Peter Gunn. Might as well cover that – every song on here is a dance number, so I won’t keep repeating the obvious.

The appetizers continue with jalepeno-stuffed olives by Lemon, a bass-powered re-make of Suzi Q. Rather than tell you track by track what’s great about this album, I might as well just say – after listening through 4 times today, there’s simply not a clunker on here, otherwise I’d just pick out the highlights. There aren’t any because every song is shout-out worthy.

All the segues are well-done, but some are worthy of special mention. Pairing Amy Winehouse with Koko Taylor is a work of genius. The last four songs form a theme that keeps me rotfl – starting with Don't Try To Keep Up With The Joneses, followed by Bad Bernie, then A Boy Named Sue, followed by Bank Robber. Philosophy here is that we are a product of our environment, not our genes. Not 100% convinced by that philosophy, but the songs sure make it fun.

Some new names for me that I’ll try to dig out more of are Voodoo Trombone Quartet, De-Phazz, Ska Cubano, Balkan Beat Box, Amsterdam Klezmer Band, Puppini Sisters, Topcats, and Last Man Standing. If these are new names for you, then this 2 CD set is as good a place as any to start learning about them. Names you will already be familiar with are Screaming Jay Hawkins, Lou Reed, Chumbawamba, John Holt, Shirley Bassey and Willie Bobo.

You already know my philosophy here is that mixing different genres of music makes life fun, and the folks who put together this compilation are obviously true believers in that philosophy. Put this on at your next party and you’ll have your friends dancing tangos, mambos, and 39 other various forms of bodily movements through the clouds of rum-soaked fun. The dessert for this album is very simple – after two and a half hours, start all over again. Scrumptious. Lost Vagueness