Artiste: Swing Out Sister
Album: Beautiful MessI- Special Edition
Spotlight Track: Heaven Only Knows (Live)
Label: Avex Trax
Catalog: AVCD-23785/6
Lead Vocals – Corinne Drewery
Producer, Keyboards, Backing Vocals – Andy Connell
Bass Guitar – Juneroy Johnson
Congas, Percussion, Kalimba – Jody Linscott
Drums – Chris Bailey
Guitar, Backing Vocals – Tim Cansfield
Vocals [Additional] – Delores Clay
Sup Sup folks!
It’s been along time since we boys at H4U have done any Zao Gng reviews but good news is.. we’re back! It’s been a real hectic few months for us but we’re really happy to be back in da zone ;)
For this Zao Gng installment, I would like to review one of the camp’s all-time fave acts, yes yes yes, you’ve guessed it – Swing Out Sister yo! They’ll be in town this week and we will be there to soak in the jazziness under the coconut tree. No doubt the SOS gig at East Coast is gonna be rockin’ but to whet your appetite before the gig, I thought it might be a good idea to shed some light on their latest release, Beautiful Mess. It’s really damn shiok. It’s not so straight forward and takes a while to fully slap you in the face but it will no doubt be giving you one nice tight slap if you concentrate hard enough.
Tracks to look out for in this LP are “My State of Mind”, “Time Tracks You Down”, “Butterfly”, “Beautiful Mess”, many many lah. Just go get the album, it’s like Guinness man, the more you listen the more you steam kodok. Satisfaction guaranteed from Andy and Corinne!
For the Spotlight Track, I decided to review a track from the bonus CD which comes with the Special Edition version of this album release. This bonus CD is basically a live audio recording of their Tokyo concert, so confirm STEAM TO DA BRIM!! Anyway, back to the Spotlight Track – Heaven Only Knows (which blows my mind everytime I listen to it) – is a super stylo mylo tangkap track with strong songwriting influences from jazzy maestros like Michel Legrand, Cole Porter, etc. Have a listen folks, the melody, the instrumental jazz stylings, the vocal nuances, mad shit all the way! You will really feel like pouring yourself a glass of single malt to savour the full flavours of this song. Serious business.
Also check out YouTube for an ol’ skool performance of this cut at Tower Records Tokyo. Classico Madrid y’all! And last but not least, make sure you go to the concert at East Coast! This is a once in a lifetime opportunity people!
Tangkap This!!!
-Crispian
