"I pay no attention whatever to anybody’s praise or blame. I simply follow my own feelings."
~ Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
I've said it before, and I'll say it again, Brian Setzer is the best guitar player in the world. His latest, "Wolfgang's Big Night Out" cements him in this place. "Wolfgang" is swinging classical music done as only Setzer can. His revitalization of rockabilly in the 1980s flew in the face of synthesizer pop and the "heavy metal" rock of the time. In the 1990s Setzer led a swing revival at the height of the grunge rock movement. He is the ultimate musical rebel.
While his revivals have brought praise and adoration from both rockabilly and swing fans, Setzer has never been a mere nostalgia act simply redoing classics. Setzer has added original works to the classics in both genres and reworked the classics, "Setzerizing" them. It is this reworking of the classics that has often brought criticism from rockabilly and swing purists. Setzer ridiculed his purist critics from the rockabilly subculture in his song, "Really Rockabilly," where the song's subject even sports 1956 underwear. Swing purists were outraged at Setzer's version of "In the Mood," made famous by Glenn Miller, which included lyrics and a "rap" by one his orchestra members in the persona "Big Daddy Fun." Purists in the classical world may well be outraged at Setzer's latest; the rest of the world will love it.
"Wolfgang's Big Night Out" is high-energy romp that combines intense virtuosity with moments of unexpected whimsy. The whimsical tone is set by the titles of the adaptations, Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 becomes "Take the Fifth," the William Tell Overture of Rossini becomes "Swingin' Willie," the Blue Danube Waltz by Strauss is "Some River in Europe," and so on.
"Take the Fifth" has the opening "duh, di, di, da" played on guitar with a little whammy bar vibrato and just keeps smoking right to the end. "One More Night With You," adapted from Grieg's "Hall of the Mountain King" features cool lyrics in an otherwise pretty straightforward version. Setzer pays tribute to one of his influences, hot jazzman Django Reinhardt, in "For Lisa" from Beethoven's "Fur Elise" with a rich sounding acoustic guitar version that also features a sweet sounding fiddle. "For Lisa" is sparsely orchestrated but it is powerful. My favorite track is based on Rimsky-Korsakov's "Flight of the Bumblebee." "Honey Man" of course features Setzer playing the lightning fast part we all know and love on the guitar but also has lyrics sung by Setzer and a great female voice. "Swingin' Willie" starts very conventionally and settles into a groovy swing vibe that seems strange at first and then almost profound the more you hear it. Also scoring high on my list are "Yes We Can Can" based on Offenbach's "The Can Can" with Setzer's banjo giving it a real Dixieland feel and the manic "Saber Dance," which sounds so cool on an electric guitar.
If any track will really rankle the purists, "Take a Break Guys" adapted from "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" is the one. Setzer starts out playing it pretty straight and then goes on to some wild soloing with some 60s-style wah pedal effects even. At first I wasn't sure if I liked it but the more I listened to it the more it grew on me.
Once again Setzer is doing something that seems crazy, making a classical big band album. But once again Setzer seems to be on to something. Classical music is enjoying a bit of a renaissance and this album should please music lovers of all ages. My daughters, aged 8 and 6, love it, especially "Honey Man." It is a fun way to hear some of the all-time greatest pieces of music.
October 26, 2007
