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:


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

Pirsum Rishon* :: Overture • HASC 26

Just out! HASC 26. After 25 years, what do you do differently? You've explored plays and genres and duets, you've themed tributes to classical music, deceased performers and America among a dozen other themes. You've re-arranged your Overture 26 ways from Sunday. So what do you do?

Here's what you do. You fire the conductor and his 40-piece orchestra. Just send 'em all home. In their stead, you pick up the absolute best wedding band/Brooklyn College concert band. You throw Avraham Fried and MBD at the stage. You bring Abie Rotenberg on for the last song because it's in his kesuba with HASC. And you look in the phone book until you find a listing for one "Michoel Pruzansky" and hire him too for variety.

The result? An upbeat, enjoyable Avraham Fried/MBD concert with pretty good music, pretty shoddy mixing and a little voice backstage singing "The next stage of a Time for Music is deeeeeaaaaaad...."



Shmuel's review:

The orchestra warmed up after the first few songs, and was great thereafter. Cute shtick by AF to drop the mic for a little.  He was superb from his melody and onwards.

Pruz's lyrics were horrid. Time for some real Hafotzas Hamayanos, if only to prevent such songs from ever hitting the stage again.

I really liked MBD going through the oldies. To use a wine analogy: He has certainly peaked, but is still very drinkable. He compensated very well!

The highlight for me was Abie taking the mic and leading AF and MBD on a 20 minute journey through gan Eden. Kudos to Abie for actually singing in front of such an audience.

Not sure if AF's comment about/ to Sheya Meldolwiz was tactless or pure class. I think he could have left it out.

Yeedle has seen better days, Benny's best days are ahead if him. He badly needs another hit, Yesh Tikva ain't gonna last forever!

*The editors of SSY are grateful to the many talented, knowledgeable and thorough Jewsic bloggers, including but certainly not limited to BloginDM and Gruntig and JMR, including those who promote and/or comment on our posts or to us in person in shul. We are probably not as talented or knowledgeable and surely not as thorough as any of them and would not be surprised if this album has been reviewed in full by one or more blogs and all of their readers.