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DECCA
VICTORIA HART/Whatever Happened to Romance?: Ok, cool your jets, Chachi. You’re thinking of Veronica Hart. Of course, with this saucy teen’s taste for chiffon, satin bodices and 40’s glamour, it’s easy to see why your pulse is racing. The thing that sets this retro inspired vocalist apart from all the others digging into the classic songbag is that her svengali wrote all new retro inspired material for her rather than have her bang away at Cole Porter for another round. That’s the difference between her and say, Sophie Millman. Whether Geoff Gurd is a new pop genius with a vision or not doesn’t matter. As far as this set goes, some of the hottest sparks since Petula Clark and Tony Hatch got together have been lit. Damn, except for the two tracks where she’s blase about older guys hitting on her, I’m in love. Call me just as nutsed out as George Clooney was over her. With a little more of that something extra than the usual urbane music offer, this is the start of something big, and sexier than Pussycat Dolls to boot.
9762
EMI MUSIC MARKETING
BEST OF CHRISTMAS COCKTAILS/various: First came the three individual volumes, then came the box set, now comes the best of the series. Culling through the three sets of lounge Christmas, and still finding some unreleased Martin Denny to include, this is not as cheezy as the title might lead you to expect. For some reason, someone lost sight of the spirit of the series and it’s not cheezy at all, a good and bad thing, but actually more of a good thing. This collection certainly puts the spirit in the spirit of Christmas.
2498
DAVE KOZ/Memories of a Winter’s Night: Timed to go with the 10th anni of the Smooth Jazz Christmas tour, the smooth jazz Jewish kid celebrates the holiday in a saxy way and even uses the platform to throw in a tune for Chanukah. Other than that, it’s a nice take on Christmas classics. After more than proving his smooth jazz chops in bringing some special zip to the familiar, he pulls a repeat here doing for the holidays what he did for the movies.
5961
TRAIN WRECK
CHIP TAYLOR & CARRIE RODRIGUEZ/Live From the Ruhr Triennal: Recorded live in Germany at a song festival, this document comes from the middle days of the Taylor/Rodriguez collaboration when they were really lighting sparks around the time of their second album. Working within the dictates of the festival, their considerable charm comes through even in a program that wasn’t all of their making even if it was mostly of Taylor’s writing. One of those audio documents of a wish-you-were-there evening, the duo and their pals are in top form. If you liked their first two albums, you are going to find this right in the pocket as well.
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Volume 30/Number 330
September 26, 2007
MIDWEST RECORD
830 W. Route 22 #144
Lake Zurich, IL., 60047
CHRIS SPECTOR, Editor and Publisher
(c)2007 Midwest Record
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