Guybrush

Introduction :

Members on this album : James Mathus, Tom Maxwell, Katharine Whalen, Ken Mosher, Chris Phillips, Stuart Cole, Don Raleigh, Je Widenhouse (+ Andrew Bird as honorary member). James Mathus and Katharine Whalen (husband and wife) do the bulk of the vocals.

Squirrel Nut Zippers (named after a candy) formed in 1993 and is based in North Carolina. Although they play a mixture of styles and draw on many different influences, they are regarded as one of the bigger bands in the Swing Revival movement for their various takes on big-band-ish 1920s and 1930s sounding swing jazz. Their first album, The Inevitable, was released in 1995. After their debut, they released an album a year until in 1998 when they released their fourth album, Perennial Favorites.

The Swing Revival scene is riddled with bands of varying quality. Many seem mix nostalgia with modern influences and often a slightly parodic feeling. Squirrel Nut Zippers were never happy about being associated with that lot (they were certainly more than just swing) and come across as a bit more genuine and more varied than most of their hipster revival contemporaries such as Brian Setzer Orchestra and Cherry Poppin' Daddies. While it certainly sounds like they have a lot of fun with their works, you get the impression the music they make not only adheres to styles they like, but also their way of life.

I discovered Squirrel Nut Zippers just after the release of Perennial Favorites and I was very much looking forward to their sixth (and final) album Bedlam Ballroom. Still, after having made myself familiar with most of their work, in my opinion - their fourth album still stands a head and possibly a shoulder above the rest.


Song for Song Review :

While most of the songs on the album could be said to have a touch of swing jazz, the different songs draw from a range of influences and every song sounds different from the others. The album opens with the classic Suits are picking up the bill. Jim Mathus sings a somewhat cryptic but upbeat commentary on capitalism. The song is fun and catchy - definetly a good start! The next song slows things down a bit with a wonderful little intro on the piano before it opens up to you. Low Down Man is a beautiful, melancholic, country-bluesy ballad carried well by Katharine Whalen's wonderful vocals and a haunting steel pedal guitar. This is my girlfriend's all-time favourite SNZ track. The third track, Ghost of Stephen Foster opens up with Andrew Bird playing an eerie, suspense building intro on his violin before things suddenly spiral into a crazy, slightly eastern european sounding polkaish jazz with shouting chorus and a lot of hoompf!. The lyrics are cryptic but seem to deal with a meeting with the ghost of Stephen Foster and the things the ghost says.

If we were made of cellophane, we'd all get stinking drunk much faster, hahaha!

Enjoy the video if you want.

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Pallin' With Al is another upbeat song with a lot of violin and is certainly another potential album favourite. Fat Cat Keeps Getting Faster, a fast jazz-duet between Jimbo and his wife Katharine and Trou Macacq are are not among my favourite tracks on the album, but they're still good songs. My Drag is another intriguing, melancholic lament by Katharine Whalen which might just be about recurring depression. Soon brings back the hoompf! and sounds like a somewhat paranoid song about portents and bad omens. It includes quite a bit of shouting and some rather memorable lyrics

.. But if you draw a bow, draw the strongest! - Yeeahh!! - And if you use an arrow, use the longest! - OH YEAH!

Great stuff!

Evening at Lafittes is, for me, the album's brightest gem. It is my all-time faovurite SNZ song. I'm a bit scared of writing about it because I'm not sure how to describe this song to people who have not heard it before. It's a relatively uncomplicated song about a place called Lafittes, a great place for dancing and romancing. Katharine Whalen does wonderful, jazzy vocals and you can dance to it, especially if you have a partner. I don't think I want to say much more about it except - if you're only gonna listen to one song from this album, give this one a shot.

The Kraken is an intriguing, unpredictable song and differs quite a lot from the rest of the album with it's quirky weirdness. It's humpty-dumpty almost comical first half eventually gives way to the most haunting vocals on the album, a love song sung by the Kraken (aka Katharine). Being a norwegian, the Kraken is one of my favourite monsters, and I find the romantic take on the old squid to be quite intriguing - and a little captivating. Good song and a great curiosity!

That Fascinating Thing is a vulgar-bluesy-sounding jazz song and - one of the weaker tracks on the album, if not the weakest. It has it's moments, but it pales compared to the quality of the rest. It's Over is just that, a short song announcing the album's end.


Review Summary :

Perennial Favorites, although it has a couple of weak tracks, is an awesome and varied album. It has big band, polka, country, blues, eastern european, harlem, etc etc influences and I find it makes it quite hard to accurately describe this album to someone who has not yet listened to it. Lumping it in as another album from the hipster Swing Revival crowd does not do it justice. If you've read through the review up to here, I hope I've at least managed to make you curious enough to get your hands on this album. I think it's the finest they ever made and worthy a spot in anyone's collection.

Toretorden's Treasure Trove score : 5/6

Favourite tracks : Suits Are Picking up the Bill, Low Down Man, Ghost of Stephen Foster, Pallin' With Al, My Drag, Evening at Lafittes

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