Customer Reviews

On The Rocks: Part One

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

 

 

These recordings date from 1964 to 1971. During this time period, there were two kinds of "pop" music. There was the kind for teenagers, which featured the likes of the Beatles, the Doors and the Strawberry Alarm Clock. And then there was pop music for the parents of teenagers, featuring the likes of Julie London, the Letterman and the Hollyridge Strings. This CD features teenage pop songs as performed by pop artists for the older folks. Boy, talk about a style clash! Can you imagine Mel Torme singing "Sunshine Superman", or Julie London singing "Mighty Quinn"? Well, you don't have to imagine it, you can get this CD and hear it for yourself. There are some strange renditions of songs that will be familiar to anyone who ever turned on an oldies radio station. Most of the songs are instumentals, although I wouldn't call it "elevator music", for the most part. I have to make special mention of the orchestral version of "Heartbreak Hotel", which is downright spooky! Fans of "kitsch" should dig this CD.

Mel Torme singing 'Sunshine Superman'? Julie London warbling 'Quinn, The Eskimo'? Exotica Supremo Martin Denny taking on 'Incense & Peppermints'? No, you haven't gone insane, you're just listening to the ultimate curveball CD from 'Ultra-Lounge' This may be one of the most mind-warping albums I have ever heard; extremly tasteless and misguided takes on your favorite 60's pop hits by desperate loungeurs trying to be 'relevant' to 'the kids'. They miss the boat entirely, but the result is this strange hybrid; not quite lounge music, not quite rock, not really muzak...but it is (in the words of The Firesign Theatre) 'weirdly cool' . On first listening I didn't know WHAT I was hearing, but this disc has become strangely addictive...

Particular faves are a kinda science-fictiony sounding 'Shaft', Lord Sitar(!) doing a faux Indian take on 'Daydream Believer', Zacharias & his spooky violin on 'Light My Fire', and what must be the strangest 'Heartbreak Hotel' since Dread Zeppelin's...plus the vocal numbers mentioned above. If you are an auditory adventurer, and you 'get' the whole 'lounge' vibe...bend your head around this one!

The British Invasion, it should be noted, contained Miss Peggy Lee. That's right, the Peggy Lee of "Fever". Peggy Lee, you see, was the 5th Beatle. This disc is evidence of that, as you hear Peggy belt out "A Hard Day's Night". Yeah, baby! Oh, and you also get a special version of "Light My Fire"--a version that I think Ed Sullivan would have approved. Come on baby, light my fire. Mel Torme, Wayne Newton--now THAT's counter-culture, man. So put on your fringe vest, those rose-colored Lennon specs, and take a step back in time to some real anit-Establishment venom!

On The Rocks / Volume One / Ultra-Lounge series: The whole Ultra-Lounge series has been great, but the "on the rocks" CD(s) takes the series beyond the realm of `lounge' and into true `elevator music' with these Rock songs from the 1960's (and even 70's) that have been re-imagined in these ultimate `easy listening' versions. Beware: Listening to the Lettermen version of "Hello, I love you" may cause insanity!
This is a Four Star album

I'm pretty much a fan of the entire Ultra-Lounge series, and this might be the best of the lot. There's a built-in assumption that the target audience for the cover versions on this CD also constitutes fans of the originals, and for me, that's true. I know every song on this CD like the back of my hand, and to hear the Easy Listening / Lounge / Vegas interpretations on "On The Rocks, Pt. 1" is a non-stop joy from start to finish.

This is the kind of CD you pop in when you want to "turn that frown upside down." Seriously...I defy anyone to remain in a bad mood after the first few tracks of this CD kick in.

Highlights? Every...single...TRACK. Trust me. The genius behind this CD is the thought that went into assembling its various parts.

It kicks off with Helmut Zacharias' version of "Light My Fire." The Lizard King, filtered through a fine cocktail and mood lighting? Why not!

And the late, legendary "Velvet Fog" himself, confessing that he could have "tripped out easy" but he's "changed his ways?"

The Lettermen tackle a truly intimidating medley of "Hello I Love You / Touch Me"...it's a yin / yang blend that brings to mind the relationship of Charles Manson and the Beach Boys' Dennis Wilson...oil and water...but ultimately, it mixes. Whether it sould or it shouldn;t, it does...deal with it!

The biggest surprise was John Tartaglia's medley of "A Day In The Life / I Am The Walrus"...it starts off in a reasonably low-key easy listening kind of way, but it just keeps amping up...getting tougher and tougher...this isn;t your dad's elevator music. By the time it reaches the "oke up, got out of bed, dragged a comb across my head," we are ROCKIN'...albeit in an easy listening kind of way...but it makes you want to hear more John Tartaglia.

If ONE track from this compilation intrigues you...ONE track makes you want to check it out...rest assured that you'll be rewarded with 23 of the finest off-the-wall classic rock easy listening mash-ups of all time.

My highest possible recommendation. It's that good.

Oh Man, This cd is so cool! I loved every ineterpretation and rendering! Hey I'm young , but I realize this is lounge and not mean't to usurp or dinegrate the original, so some of you peeps lighten-up! It's fab! These songs do make you think of times when cars were sleek and clothes actually fit people! The 60's were a mixed bag and that's what I love about this music, you could have hard rock, pop and lounge and they all co-existed...what an awesome world to have lived in. I would give this cd 10 stars if possible!

The 1960s was the most tumultuous decade of the 20th Century. There were a great many events to commend it and condemn it. It produced the Apollo space program to put American astronauts on the Moon and some of the best original popular music as just two commendable events. Assassinations and the divisive Vietnam War were events certainly to condemn the sixties.

Listening to Capital Records' "On The Rocks, Part 1"-part of the Ultra Lounge series-- has convinced me there is something else that gave the sixties a black eye. It spawned some of the worst rendition music ever to waste valuable recording studio time.

As I mentioned before, the sixties produced some of the best popular music, and always sounded best when released by the original artists. However, this left the door open for others deluded into thinking they could take a top 40 hit and resuscitate their lagging career, or take a perfectly successful recording career and sending it into the ground.

The On The Rocks Part 1 (& Part 2) CD is a compilation of some of the worst the 1960s and 1970s had to offer in rendition music. Better examples of a total lack of judgment probably cannot be found. Take, for example, Mel Torme singing Sunshine Superman, or Peggy Lee singing "Hard Day's Night"-please! Even Julie London took leave of her senses to record "Mighty Quinn'. Most painful to listen to.

The indignities don't end there. Imagine the Hollyridge Strings performing the Theme from Shaft, or the Lettermen mis-performing the Doors tunes "Hello I Love You" and "Touch Me." Even the impeccable Nelson Riddle can step on the proverbial wet bar of soap, musically speaking of course, and produce their sad rendition of "Winchester Cathedral."

If you have a morbid curiosity or want a great gag gift for your fellow Loungers, this is definitely the disc to get.