Flamenco
used to be a love it or hate hit kind of genre. If you had a flair for the Spanish
gypsy passion flamenco was the perfect stimulation into musical euphoria. I've
talked to many though who think its right up there with nails on a chalkboard
or worse yet being stuck in an elevator with Celine Dion. Ok maybe not that bad.
The simple truth? It can rattle the old cage- it simply wakes people up and that's
just too much excitement for some. A lot of Flamenco also sounds redundant Robert
Michaels says "It is true a lot of them start to sound very much the same,
you know very homogenized and very bland" Michaels and other 'A' list flamenco
guitarist like Jesse Cook and Ottmar
Leibert have escaped this common trap by stirring up the pot a little bit.
The traditionalist's lament that they've gone pop but the new fans seem to be
saying "thanks for meeting us half way". The top selling Flamenco boys
have realized the nature of the beast and catered to the mainstream audience
by releasing tunes that are easy on the palette but also musically complicated
enough not to sound like a sell out. Allegro fits the bill, mostly instrumental
it features three vocals Holding On, the first single a haunt-ing breezy treat
featuring Michaels on lead vocals. The other two are worthy of note and not your
logical choice for a Flamenco album first there's a lazy, loose rendition of Phil
Collin's 'In the Air Tonight with Shelley Hamilton on vocals. Roberts says the
original idea was to use a big name guest vocalist but Hamilton did such great
job it seems foolish to hire anyone else - good call. Michaels whiskey soaked
voice is perfect on the other vocal surprise the Doors Riders on the Storm brought
up a few speeds and fitting flawlessly in its new Flamenco home. This next one
I wasn't so sure about -Classical Gas? It can't be covered even Mason Williams
tried to re-do his own hit in 1988 with Mannheim Steamroller and the result was
as flat as a hot prairie highway. Classical Gas has served as a template for guitarist
trying to get a handle on their instrument. Michaels says it was one of the first
songs he learnt as a kid and as an adult he tweaks it perfectly to fit the frame
work of this album. It's not an overhaul but a great tune-up that I'm sure you'll
find refreshing. Michaels wanted to make sure his cover had a new essence, "I
really can't stand it when an artist will cover a song and mimic the same production
sound and the same vibes". He adds "I just find that it's not adding
to or giving the song any compliments it's just trying to take what's already
been done and just reuse it." Desert Chase is another stand out with its
eastern contemplative mysterious feel, sort of the modern man's flamenco ditty.
On his fourth album Robert Michaels has fine-tune his whole bag of tricks, there's
a new look with longer locks, vocal segues for radio and overall a much more enjoyable
catchy package. - by John Beaudin
Want
to volunteer for 'Smooth Jazz Now' email us here
