Rock Swings

Paul Anka

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 7, 2005)
• Original Release Date: June 7, 2005
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Verve
• ASIN: B0009A1BXG
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (154 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #5,252 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

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Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Sonically amazing, musically impeccable, vocally superb, this album swings hard from start to finish. Crank it loud on a great stereo. Crank it loud in your car with the windows open and the top down. This is fun music, this is music to drink cocktails to, this is a seriously fun album that seriously swings hard!

Beginning his career by entering amateur contests and sneaking into clubs, Paul Anka has gone on to become one of the most prolific, successful songwriters in history. This year marks his 47th Anniversary in show business, which he celebrates with the June 7th Global release of his latest album, "Rock Swings." It is a concept that takes rock hits from the 80's and adds a swing arrangement to give them a completely different, and fresh new sound. Songs like "Jump" by Van Halen, "Smells like Teen Spirit" by Nirvana, "Wonderwall" by Oasis.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

82 of 102 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Album Of The Year!, June 7, 2005

By	MilesColtrane "milescoltrane" (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews

This is the kind of album you can't simply hear about, you MUST actually hear it to appreciate it. I wish Amazon's sound clips were a higher quality. anyway - Anka the songwriter slays on this album filled with covers.

This is impeccably recorded, brilliantly performed, and Anka sings & swings his heart out. The arrangements are so well done that we may see some kids trying to sign up to play trombone at their local high school band room. ok well. maybe not.... but these charts swing their Butt off!

Anka the songwiter chose great songs to completely re-arrange for big band. The saving grace here is that these versions sound nothing at all like the original and somehow they all work completely in this new form....

I never ever thought i would be singing the praises of Mr. Paul Anka, yet he deserves these accolades and more for putting together such a great record. Buy 3 and give one away to your dad and one away to your younger brother....they'll love you for it!

31 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Rock Swings has very interesting song selections, June 8, 2005

By	Robert G Yokoyama (Mililani, Hawaii) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

I bought Rock Swings, because I wanted to see how a legend like Paul Anka would sing these rock and pop and songs from the 80s and 90s. I loved the song selection on this album.

My favorite track is his cover of the Eric Clapton's song Tears in Heaven. I think he sings this song about pain and loss beautifully. Another highlight track on this CD is BlackHole Sun. The piano playing by Mike Lang on this track are so good. The bass guitar playing on the track Hello is so smooth and subtle. It gives the song a very romantic tone. His vocals on the song Everybody Hurts is very soothing. I really liked it. Smells like Teen Spirit is another one of my favorites on this CD. I can finally understand the words to this song now. The trumpet playing by Charlie Davis and trombone playing by Steve Higgins are very good on this track. They give this song a very upbeat sound that I really liked. Anka's cover of Van's Halen's Jump sounds pretty good. I liked the saxophone and drum playing on this track. Another standout on this album is Anka's cover of the song Wonderwall. All of the instruments are featured on this track, and they sound groovy. Rock Swings is truly a pleasure to listen to.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Fine Collection, January 20, 2006

By	C. S. Killgore (St. Joseph, MO USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I really enjoy this CD. I realize these arrangements may be jolting to those who are familiar with the originals. I was jolted a bit, too. However, I also enjoy this style of music and if you can allow yourself to disconnect from memories of the originals and let these arrangements stand on their own, they really are quite good. The band and orchestra provide a solid background to Anka's voice. There's a nice mix of up-tempo and ballad. Bridging musical styles is not new for Paul Anka, of course. At the same time he was enjoying success as a "Top-40" singer in the 60's, he was composing such pieces as The Tonight Show Theme, the big-band tune that was heard at the beginning of the Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson. If you enjoy the style of music usually referred to as "standards," you'll enjoy this collection. I would suggest that it's a testimony to the strength of these songs that they can be done well in more than one style. This is a very nice collection of music.