Customer Reviews

Ghost Train

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I saw this band in Chicago at the 2004 American Music Festival at Fitzgerald's (my favorite cultural event of the year). They blew me away with their charm, energy, and virtuosity. I picked up this CD on the spot, and immediately fell in love. Elana's vocals are sublime, and her fiddling ranges from sweet to incendiary; Whit's vocals are sly - my wife said it's the verbal equivalent of "bedroom eyes," and he's a wonderful guitarist; and Jake's bass playing is charismatic and a joy to watch in concert.

The originals here are every bit as good as the classic songs they do so well. In fact, I'd encourage them to write more!

A few months after buying this CD and listening to it many times, I had to drive a long way through bad rush-hour traffic to a wake. Normally, this would be a presciption to guarantee a foul mood. But when I popped this CD into my player... all was well in my world. It really has that kind of effect on me.

I now own all of their CDs available here - I just went to their website and see they have a few Japanese releases. I think this is their best, followed by Continental Stomp. And if they ever come to your town for a show, drop everything you're doing and make sure you get out to see them. You'll have a joyful time.

For their fourth long-player, this jazz and western swing trio has penned their largest yet helping of originals. The band's stripped-down mix of fiddle, guitar and bass, augmented only by Joe Kerr's piano, is a sly mix of hot licks and cool vocals, equally hill-driven by the twang of Texas roadhouses as the gypsy string jazz of Reinhardt and Grappelli.

Producer Gurf Morlix continues the direction taken by Lloyd Maines on the band's previous album, focussing on studio tracking and delivering a polished, constructed album. It's not without swing (Jake Erwin's propulsive upright bass makes sure of that), but the finish is that of a studio album, rather than the live stage, and the lack of guest players creates a much more intimate sound than the band has previously laid down on wax.

The original songs give violinist Elana Fremerman and guitarist Whit Smith a chance to coin their own vocals. Smith often employs a somnambulistic style that finely matches tales of insomnia ("Sleep") and shady film noir circumstance ("It Stops With me"). Fremerman tries out several different styles, including the sort of overdubbed close-harmonies Les Paul constructed around Mary Ford ("Forget-Me-Nots," with Smith adding fluid instrumental embroidery), and winsome ballads like "Home."

The band shows itself to be increasingly immersed in their chosen style, rather than merely imitative of it. Covers of traditional gypsy and fiddle tunes ("Fuli Tschai" and "Cherokee Shuffle," respectively), minstrel songs ("Pray for the Lights to Go Out"), Tin Pan Alley (Rodgers & Hart's "You Took Advantage of Me") and Aerosmith's "Chip Away the Stone" all mingle effortlessly with the originals.

The focus on the band's three players and the extra time spent in the studio (in which they are obviously more comfortable than ever) has resulted in the most refined and focussed album of Hot Club's career. One can just imagine these tunes spinning from the speaker of your family's tube radio.

The Hot Club of Cowtown is a wonderful new group. This is their best CD, although all of them are great. They are innovative, but have respect for some of the more standard tunes. They obviously love the music they play. I have seen them twice and they are a joy to watch, lively, energetic, yet laid back. If you can't spend an evening with them, Ghost Train is the next best thing!

I have seen this band several times and
always enjoy the music. This CD is well
worth having.

I have to admit that I bought this solely for "Cherokee Shuffle", which is probably my favorite fiddle tune; the only thing wrong with their version of it on here is that it's too short. The rest of the CD is musically very good, especially the two violin instrumentals, and remarkably in keeping with swing style even though many of the songs are recently-composed. The songs themselves are not necessarily the most interesting, although they are well-performed.

Everything about "Hot Club of Cowtown" is implied in the band's name. Their music is a combination of Django Reinhardt's string jazz and Bob Wills' western swing. Other bands have been down this street before, such as Dan Hicks and His Hot Licks or Martin, Bogan and Armstrong, and the "neo-swing" groups that sprung up during the 90's.

In contrast to the previous "Tall Tales" which emphasized western swing, this cd tilts toward the jazzy side, and it seems a little lackadaisical. Whit Smith and Elana Fremerman both have voices that are kind of homespun in their appeal. When Fremerman attempts subtle jazz phrasings, she isn't on the level of somebody like Diana Krall. On a waltz time tune like "Before You", or negotiating a halting melody like "Home", she isn't shown at her best.

On "Sleep", and particularly with"It Stops With Me", Whit's matter-of-fact voice works well with the film noir style lyrics. But most of the album seems to lack energy. I'd go with "Tall Tales". which has a lot more spring in the playing, and some nice horn work in spots, too. It has the jolt that "Ghost Train" needs and sorely lacks.

You would be hard pressed to find a more upbeat and lively CD. If listen to this CD and don't enjoy it, you don't like western swing. "It stops with me" I think is the best song on the album, but every song is very good.