S AT U R D AY, J U LY 2 2 , 2 0 0 6Smokey Sings The StandardsMy friends at NYCD urged me to give a listen to "Timeless Love," a newalbum of standards by Smokey Robinson.</p><p> After the Rod Stewartnightmare, it's hard to approach any aging pop star who unexpectedlytackles the Great American Songbook.</p><p> But this one is good, theyinsisted.</p><p> So I listened.</p><p> I always try just to watch a movie or read a bookor listen to a CD or watch a show as simply as possible.</p><p> I don't spendmy time listening for lines to quote, I never take notes -- I'm not acritic.</p><p> Just a fan who hopes what I'm experiencing is good.</p><p> On the otherhand, I'm not an automaton, and music more than most art let's youmake song-by-song snap judgments.</p><p> I had an insight, I thought, duringthe first tune, "You Go To My Head." Smokey sang a phrase or two --"You go to my head/ My head/ My head" -- in a way that sounded tome like a pop song.</p><p> He wasn't going for jazz phrasing, I imagined, butjust treating these tunes as great pop songs, which they obviously werebefore being enshrined as standards.</p><p> And of course, Smokey isattentive to the lyrics (like most great singers) so it wasn't a dumbingdown of the songs, just an approach that fitted his style.</p><p> That thoughtfaded from my mind as the album went along.</p><p> The arrangements weretasteful, acoustic and jazz-y with some strings.</p><p> The songs were wellsung, though in the middle I grew a tad impatient with one too manyballads.</p><p> Things picked up again with (ironically) a very slowed downtake on Cyndi Lauper's "Time After Time" that helped me hear thelyrics again, followed by a finger-snapping "I Can't Give You AnythingBut Love (Baby)." So just as I accepted the album for a pleasing, jazz-ytake on the standards with happily unembellished vocals, Smokeybegan "I've Got You Under My Skin" with a wicked bassline.</p><p> Then camesome nifty keyboards that created a distinctive early 70s soul vibe.Here was a jazz standard recast as a soul tune so effectively I wasthrilled.</p><p> Now it wasn't just the vocal approach of that first tune, it wasthe arrangement, the instrumentation, EVERYTHING combining toturn this standard into a classic soul number.</p><p> That was followed by thefinale -- a Slow Jam take on "Tea For Two" that was similarly daring inits musical approach.</p><p> It's got to be the most radical approach to thattune since Anita O'Day swung it at the Newport Jazz Festival.</p><p> So wehave a fine, mellow album of standards that finishes off with a flourish-- and those final two numbers are frustrating, because they point inthe direction Smokey might have gone.</p><p> He might have done a trulyNext Blog»sal1mineo@hotmail.comSEARCH BLOG FLAG BLOGFOLLOW BLOGP O P S U R F I N G .</p><p> C O MS U R F I N G T H E WAV E S O F P O P U L A R C U LT U R EB Y M I C H A E L G I LT Z & F R I E N D SPOPSURFING.COM: Smokey Sings The Standardshttp://popsurfing.blogspot.com/2006/07/smokey-sings-standards... 1 of 37/28/09 11:39 PMFAV O R I T E L I N K SAmericablogFive O'Clock Lightning baseball blogDeep Pop -- Lori Lakin's BlogThe Back Page -- Jason Page on ESPNRadioCine-Blog -- George Robinson's BlogDocuments On Art & Cinema - DarylChin's BlogBrucie G's Wondrous Blog OfAdventure and Mystery -- BruceGreenspan's BlogB L O G A R C H I V E▼ 2009 (17)▼ July (3)1939 -- The Greatest Year ForMoviesSwimming Bans Those Hi-TechSuits!Best Movies Of The Year -- TheMaster List► June (3)► May (1)► March (2)► February (1)► January (7)► 2008 (86)► 2007 (781)► 2006 (2412)► 2005 (5)C O N T R I B U TO R SBiboyMichael in New YorkAaron POPSURFING.COM: Smokey Sings The Standardshttp://popsurfing.blogspot.com/2006/07/smokey-sings-standards... 2 of 37/28/09 11:39 PMPOPSURFING.COM: Smokey Sings The Standardshttp://popsurfing.blogspot.com/2006/07/smokey-sings-standards... 3 of 37/28/09 11:39 PM
