THE ARISTOCRATS WITH PRIMUZ CHAMBER ORCHESTRA

To quote the liner notes... "This project began when we randomly stumbled upon a YouTube video of PRIMUZ CHAMBER ORCHESTRA performing one of our songs, as reimagined by composer/arranger Wojtek Lemanski. Their flawless execution of a highly challenging arrangement(which was startlingly inventive and yet remained entirely faithful to the spirit of the original composition!) inspired us to reach out and propose a collaboration."

Before I purchased this cd I did read that quote above which was enough for me to take a chance on this. I'm just not the biggest fan of orchestral music in my cereal. The band picked nine tracks, three compositions each from this trio, from earlier albums. Then they were given the makeover. "We are truly proud of the way this project turned out... and we're profoundly grateful that serendipity somehow brought us all together for this collaboration. Enjoy!"

There's an insert with a picture of Wojtek on his keyboard composing, as well as Lukasz Blaszczyk the orchestra director. Then photos of 22 string players, both male and female all looking like students. Wearing black and holding their instruments. Plus a separate picture of an oboe player, and some pictures of them performing in the studio. A project like this just makes me smile. Like the collaboration of two different musical worlds. Still, the question is, is this any good?

Well I checked five of the nine songs as being outstanding, so yes! I'm not big on the 69 minute running time, but minor flaws aside this really worked out well. In my mind I was hoping that THE ARISTOCRATS would be themselves here, and that the orchestra would match their intensity blow for blow. I was thinking what if the string players from RATIONAL DIET'S "At Work" album played with this trio. Imagine the fire! The intensity would be off the charts. No this doesn't live up to that dream, but it gets close at times.

My top five includes the two closing songs pus tracks three to five. The opening two along with tracks six and seven are good, but not on the same level in my opinion of the five. I really enjoyed this, this past week. In fact I played it back to back a couple of times. I think the pig likes it too! I was surprised to see Darran Charles mentioned in the thankyou section. It's the only name I recognized, and he's the lead guitarist for GODSTICKS, and he has collaborated with THE PINEAPPLE THIEF.

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