I’m going to run away and join their circus. This is wacky, wonderful fun, thinly disguised as great Italian Gypsy music. One minute you’re eating peanuts and dancing with the fat lady, the next minute the clown is making you cry. Don’t ask me to explain, just listen and play this, dammit. Wonderful vocals, an extremely talented band and lots of passion. A mix of Gypsy Swing and Italian folk with a whisper of darkness to even the happiest of tunes that makes this fascinating and sometimes unsettling. One of my favorite CDs of the year.

*1. Lively. Children’s chorus, strings, vox, it’s wild.
2. Beautiful fem vox, midtempo w/longing & emotion.
*3. Dark but bouncy w/great interludes of brass & vox.
4. Hyper-fast w/a frantic, almost surreal speed & energy.
*5. A bit of swing, a hint of tarantella…like Django meets Fellini.
6. Wailing male vox/accordion/clarinet. Dark, downtempo, cool.
7. Uptempo w/great strings & warm, bouncy fem vox.
*8. Slightly manic, great vox/per/strings.
*9. Slow at first, then picks up, then slow. A bit of Klezmer.
10. Fast & bouncy dance w/big chorus & lots of energy. Fun.
*11. Uptempo mix of vocals, swinging clarinet, perc, strings.
12. Basically a continuation of 11 though somehow it’s darker.
*13. Mouth harp, perc, vox. Wicked-scary fast.
14. Slow a capella. Sad, haunting, very powerful.
10/2004