"Jump" by Paul Anka from the album Rock Swings. 2005.
When this gets posted, I'll be on a business trip. The whole December month has been pre-scheduled to post, and hopefully will do so flawlessly. If I get some free time and internet though, I'll surely update with more details. For now, with my king-size time Crunch, I have at least a sentence of commentary when you
"Jump" was always my favorite Van Halen song. Some of you may laugh at that, but where the guitars were lacking in comparison to other Halen riffs, the synth picked up. Anka, though, has a few decades lead though with late 50s hits including "You Are My Destiny". So when it comes to him covering a hair-metal/new wave tune 30 years after his success and another 20 after the song's first release, you may be shaking your head. I know I did at first. On top of that, Paul Anka is associated with jazz, lounge, and that unsettling label "easy listening". So how good can he do a song by guitar gurus Van Halen? Simple. Be like Frankie, and do it his way.
Pat Boone, a similarly old time crooner, had the idea in '97. He released an album called "In a Metal Mood: No More Mr. Nice Guy" and covered rock songs in a jazzy manner. Honestly, though, it really does sound like a gimmick. It also upset many of his usual listeners, especially the religious ones who had no idea what to make of the semi-demonic lyrics of things like "Holy Diver", originally by Dio. When Paul Anka makes a jazz cover of a rock, however, he makes it sound like it was written as a jazz song. I mean, geez, the trumpets and saxes fill the synth role better than the synth in "Jump"! He makes the lyrics swing along, and just to prove how it works better than anything in Boone's dreams, here's Anka's version of "Smells Like Teen Spirit". I recommend the whole album. He does amazing work with the songs. It's almost like the big band style stayed popular!
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