Subscribe

RSS Feed (xml)

20090508

Brian Setzer Orchestra - Ultimate Collection Live









A wonderfully recorded live album by Brian Setzer and his Orchestra of two concerts. Lots of lounge, surf and straight out rock here. Who knew Brian was such a great arranger for his not tiny orchestra.

Review by Thom Jurek AMG

Say what you want about Brian Setzer and his cool retro-swing, but the man can not only play the hell out of a guitar, he can lead a big band like a pro, singing and playing sure, but he can write charts too. This set is rather ingenious. It contains two discs chock-full of the tunes that the Brian Setzer Orchestra has become (in)famous for.

Disc one is a show from the band's first tour, and disc two is live in Japan after all the hoopla and success in 2003. There are no overdubs or edits of any kind on either set. One gets both the raw and refined here, popping through the years. The first disc includes 15 goners, including "James Bond Theme," "Brand New Cadillac," "Good Rockin' Daddy," "That Mellow Saxophone," "Ghost Radio," "Route 66," "Rumble in Brighton," and "Rock This Town."

The way Setzer's guitar screams here is the sound fans were dying to hear on the studio records. Disc two has swaggering background vocalists and slicker arrangements, but there's no dearth of pure finger-poppin' rock here either. There's "Mystery Rain," "Hawaii Five-O," "Jump, Jive an' Wail," "Stray Cat Strut," "Caravan," "Gene & Eddie," "Sleepwalk," and a slew more. In all, this is a deeply satisfying collection capable of covering the "best-of" needs and giving punters who haven't experienced Setzer an opportunity to hear the excitement jumping out of the grooves his band cuts.

Link Part 1 Part 2 Part 3

4 comments:

Trustar said...

Sanderson!

Good to see the gems are still popping up here.

I'm sure you can keep us on the hook, waiting for more.

Thanks for sharing!

T

Anonymous said...

Hey Mano, thanks a bunch... I'm digging this deep!

Anonymous said...

Most Excellent post!

El Mucho Gracisiss. . .and stuff!

Paul Troon

Megan said...

Hi,
I’m writing from Surfdog Records. Thanks for posting about Brian on your blog, we really appreciate it! We’re gearing up to release a brand new Brian Setzer album this Fall and I’d love to add you on to our e-mail list so we can keep you in the loop. I did not see an e-mail address on your blog. Please send me an e-mail at megan@surfdog.com if you would like to be added to our list!
Best,
Megan