Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Tuesday Try-before-you-buy Tune ::
Ah Mechayah! • Avraham Fried

This is not really a review and is not, strictly speaking, a TTT. As I only yesterday received this recording, it is unfair to comment too definitively, so I'll share my evolving experience with Ah Mechayeh!, and nominate a candidate for TTT:

Day one, Monday
10:00am: "Oh, this 'Arois' thing was on the preview. Cute."
10:06am: "Poop."
10:07am: "But kinda fun topic and song."
10:10am: "Poop and confusing."
10:13am: "Just poop."
...
...
10:37am: "How did Don Sami Rohr make it into these lyrics?"
...
...
10:48am: "Wow, that kid is REALLLLLY creepy!"
...
12:17pm: "Why are there nearly a dozen exclamation points in the song titles? This CD is a punctuation-happy music-lover's nightmare."
...
2:00pm: "Well, it's not all poop."
...
...
11:55pm: "Bentsh, bentsh noch a yid, noch a yid un noch a yid, bentsh bentsh aleh, mentshen... vet Hakadosh Boruch Hu, Boruch Hu, Boruch Hu, dir, dir, dir dir bentshen!"
_______________________________________

Day two, Tuesday
6:50am: "Bentsh, bentsh noch a yid, noch a yid un noch a yid, bentsh bentsh aleh, mentshen..." For sure a Lipa song, down to the warbling 80 year old in the background. (I have the recording from Amazon; no liner notes.)

So, there you have it. It's growing on me. I do think it is a little lyrically predictable, a little over animated (cross-talking, fourth-wall breaking), a little same-same from melody to melody, but a little enjoyable too.

Zei a Gute Yid
Probably TTT for the creepy kid saying "Yoh Tatte..." at the end:
Zei a Guter Yid by Avraham Fried on Grooveshark

Bentsh, Bentsh
Lotsa fun, catchy and uplifting, Hello Don Sami Rohr ע"ה at 3:30:

Bentsh! Bentsh! by Avraham Fried on Grooveshark

5 comments:

Avi said...

Why so much poop? Our 1.4 year old daughter did this review.

From the home office: "She would not let us finish the first song [Zei a Gute Yid]. She was swinging her hips to the second one [Bentsh] and signed 'More' when it finished."

Am I wrong?

Shmuel said...

Ahhh! for the review.

The Tisha B'av song is great. As is the Berditchver, and the last track is also nothing less than awesome. (Although I think its a knock off of a old Yom Tov Erlich routine which Peretz posted ages ago).

That being said, I think AF was trying to do something a little bit different here. I get the feeling that he was trying to push as much Chassidus (with an applicable message) on the masses, and getting certain ideas into their heads in the hopes of igniting a spark in even one Jew. I saw this very much in track #3, with the Kotzker message.

I think because you are listening to the lyrics, and then translating them in your head, you are already standing 5 steps before the start line in enjoying it. So one may ask, how come Yiddish Gems didn't have this issue. Iz der entfer, 1) Yaron Gershovsky 2) Yiddish Gems is in a league of its own.

Lastly, the kid is creepy!

Chanoch said...

I usually need to listen to an album several times before I start enjoying it...not in this case. To my surprise, I'm thoroughly enjoying this the first time around. Very listenable Geshmakeh songs with some chassidishe toichen. Yes, some of it is a bit fluffy...a little fluff never hurt anyone. No need to overthink the lyrics, just roll with it. IMO, Ah Mechayeh!

Ber said...

Interesting, you are the first person I have heard say that they liked this the first time round... or even later for that matter.

Hirshel Tzig - הירשל ציג said...

Bad. Just bad.

Avremel, you're not the Barry Sisters. You can't be. You're only one guy.