American Standard

Thelonious Moog – American Standard
Reviewed by Sadie O., 8/3/07
Absolutely mad renditions of American standards – lots of jazz, also 60’s lounge. There’s considerable synth, but plenty of analog instruments, enormous talent, and utter and complete daftness. If this doesn’t make you happy, you are destined to remain a bitter old f*ck forever. Play it long and often, and get some spring back in your step.
No FCCs – basically no vocals. I like 9 and 11 best, but consider everything to have at least 2 or 3 extra invisible stars…
1. ***train sounds intro, then very upbeat 4/4 country romp with steel guitar and looned out synth – crazy insane fun! Stops dead in middle and starts as jazzy midtempo sax bop. Ooop, here comes the country train again!
2. **starts with chimes and groovy little riff on the snare, then piano, then … farts? (Yes, it is recognizably Tea For Two, with swing horns and… farts?)
3. ***folky guitar briefly, then a sprightly orchestral rock & organ romp with a tiny hint of spy movie, and smidge of… no, it’s gone, now there’s hard rock electric guitar.
4. **squeeze box and moaning… then uptempo twist cover of the Duke Ellington classic
5. **HYPER-cool downbeat jazzy drums and bass, and flutes bossa nova. Mellow and swingy and James Bond style hip, with sitar. And slide whistle.
6. **I Got Rhythm, only dyslexic, on piano. Mad! Completely mad!
7. **demented circus monkeys playing the Bent Fabric hit and occasionally jumping on the record player. Hawaiian slack key guitar…
8. **ultra lounge, cool and relaxed cover of a Frank Zappa number. Lots of flutes, a bit of triangle – this one actually could pass for a normal and quite pretty instrumental…
9. ****a bit of Morricone, but something else I can’t figure out… Anyway, it’s drop dead bitchen!
10. ***bit of quirky noises, then midtempo swingy keyboards and sax stroll. Ooh, more quirky stuff. Happy and burbly!
11. ****upbeat, happy as hell bloopy syncopated synthesizer version of what was a happy as heck tune to begin with. Yippee yippee yay!
12. **terribly dramatic rendition of yet another… American standard… Ooh, here come the horns, it’s SOOOOO slinky and Cyd Charisse-y!