EAT

CHARMING HOSTESS burst onto the Oakland music scene with this their debut "Eat" from 1998. They would release four more albums with the last(so it seemed) in 2010. Then that surprise release in 2022 with John Zorn as the executive producer. Zorn fits in perfectly with this band considering their love of Klezmer music. The leader is Jewlia Eisenberg and she is incredible. She is the musical director and composer although there is a lot of traditional music that has been given the CHARMING HOSTESS makeover.

Jewlia is also the main vocalist but there are two more ladies helping out with that. A vocal dominated record where the complex vocal arrangements simply inspire. LE GRAND SBAM had to have heard of this band. The humour on here is off the charts. I'll quote the previous reviewer's quote "I'll smash you with my weight/ A skinny boy is dead". I mean look at the cover art and that title "Eat", this is too much fun. And yes as a kid I had to stay at the table until I ate.

The other very cool thing about this album and band is that it contains three key members of SLEEPYTIME GORILLA MUSEUM. Nils Frykdahl, Carla Kihistedt and Dan Rathburn. And while this comes across as a world music, vocal dominated album filled with humour, there is so much traditional music and words on here. Mostly Bulgarian, Israeli and Moroccon tunes but how awesome is it that they covered a THE RESIDENTS song called "Won't You Keep Us Working?". There's even a white gospel track from Virginia to close the album called "When Jesus Christ Was Here On Earth". How about that African American work song from Alabama called "Oh Julie".

An incredibly passionate album where the vocals are so impressive. Just flat out singing their hearts out, and those arrangements! I'm not in love with the traditional instrumental stuff on here, but it's all trumped by the singing. And I do prefer the LE GRAND SBAM debut to this debut by CHARMING HOSTESS.