Hang On Little Tomato - Pink Martini

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~The Album~
Hang on Little Tomato is their second album, and although I prefer their first album, Symapthique, for its unbeatble classics such as "Amado Mio" and "Donde Estas Yolanda?", this is a great follow-up with plenty of new styles and sounds. A great thing about this album is that most of the songs were written by the band themselves, while the first album had quite a few covers, from when the band were starting ...
...fun.

3. Hang on Little Tomato (Abbey / Forbes / Lauderdale) 3:15
The title track has a funny story. The band were inspired by an ad they saw in the 1964 issue of Life magazine. The add was for ketchup and showed a little tomato hanging from it's branch, not quite ripe enough to go in the ketchup just yet. The resulting song is a cute and silly ode that is supposed to cheer up the tomato - but the lyrics are so good: "Somebody ... more

Pink Martini are a gem of a band. I discovered them totally by chance, as they were playing a concert near where I live. Seeing them live is an unbelievable experience - I immediately decided I wanted this band to play at my wedding. Turns out I was a few years too late...their website stated they no longer play for weddings! They are relatively unheard of in the UK, but are firmly established favourites to those people who have heard of them. In my opinion, their main appeal lies in the fact that they are unclassifiable, with a great variety of songs in different styles and languages. Generally, they might be described as 'eclectic retro' - their sound is definitely reminiscient of the 1940s, but with more humour and a larger variety, with influences from all over, such as salsa.

~The Band~
The 12-piece band comes from Portland, Oregon in the US. They use every instrument you can imagine, including a piano, a harp, guitars, trombones, and something I can't name which is basically a large container of pebbles or sand that they rock from side to side to make a swooshing noise. Since they were founded in 1994, the band has toured all over Europe, the States, and other countries such as Turkey. Wherever they go, they pick up a bit of inspiration to add to their music.
Thomas M. Lauderdal, a classical pianist, is the founder of the band. He's small and seems a little shy, preferring to let China Forbes, the charismatic lead singer, take centre stage. She is definitely the star of the show, not exactly beautiful but certainly very stunning. She livens up the show by introducing songs that she wrote with a personal backstory - for instance, a song called "Eugene" which isn't on any album was written after she met a boy called Eugene at a party and never heard from him.

~The Album~
Hang on Little Tomato is their second album, and although I prefer their first album, Symapthique, for its unbeatble classics such as "Amado Mio" and "Donde Estas Yolanda?", this is a great follow-up with plenty of new styles and sounds. A great thing about this album is that most of the songs were written by the band themselves, while the first album had quite a few covers, from when the band were starting out and didn't have as much of their own material.

~The Songs~

1. Let's Never Stop Falling in Love (Lauderdale / Forbes) 3:03

2. Anna (El Negro Zumbon) (Vatro / Giordano) 2:34
This song is extremely catchy and with a beautiful Latin American beat, it's probably my favourite on the album. China sings "Tengo gana de bailar" (I want to dance), and the chorus is sung by a group of male singers in such an unforced way that it makes you think of a group of friends sitting round a fire making music for fun.

3. Hang on Little Tomato (Abbey / Forbes / Lauderdale) 3:15
The title track has a funny story. The band were inspired by an ad they saw in the 1964 issue of Life magazine. The add was for ketchup and showed a little tomato hanging from it's branch, not quite ripe enough to go in the ketchup just yet. The resulting song is a cute and silly ode that is supposed to cheer up the tomato - but the lyrics are so good: "Somebody told me/ I don't know who/ Whenever you are sad and blue/ And you're feeling all alone and left behind/ Just take a look inside you and you'll find/ You gotta hold on, hold on through the night/ Hang on, Things will be alright/..."

4. The Gardens of Sampson & Beasley (Forbes / Lauderdale) 4:01

5. Veronique (Tozian / Lauderdale) 3:17
This is a romantic song sung by a male voice lamenting the departure of his love. It's nicely sentimental but doesn't develop into anything very original or memorable.

6. Dansez-vous (Taylor / Forbes) 2:52
This song is sung in French, effortlessly sung with samba-style percussion. However I think the chorus repeats too much and there's not much substance to the song.

7. Lilly (Forbes / Lauderdale) 2:42
This is one of their 1940s style songs with backing piano, with a very catchy tune and unusual lyrics: "Lilly comes when you start to call her/Lilly runs when you look away/Lilly leaves kisses on your collar/Lilly Lilly Lilly Lilly stay!"

8. Autrefois (Forbes / Lauderdale) 3:37
Another song sung in French. I love China Forbes signing in all these languages - especially as her accent is obviously not perfect, and you can hear her trying to emulate singers such as Edith Piaf. The result is surprisingly appealing and sweet.

9. U Plavu Zoru (Lalich / Lauderdale / Pink Martini) 5:58
This song is instrumental for half of the song. It begins with a slow cello solo, and finally culminates in some vocals sung in Croatian which I unfortunately can't translate. I tend to skip this track as it slow and long.

10. Clementine (Forbes / Lauderdale) 3:50

11. Una Notte a Napoli (Clemente / Dynell / Forbes / Lauderdale) 4:43
This is sung in Italian, again with a cute attempt by China to disguise her American accent. It was apparently "written with Alba Clemente - an Italian stage and television star in the 1970s - and DJ Johnny Dynell of the legendary New York-based nightclub Jackie 60" - I love the chorus, with the last line sung defiantly: "In cielo mi porto!" (took me to heaven)

12. Kikuchiyo to Mohshimasu (Yamagami / Suzuki) 4:30
I don't know why but I absolutely love this song. It's a reworking of a 40yr old Japanese song, sung by Timothy Noshimoto, the Japanese member of the band. I love the way the Japanese sounds with the music, and there's some wonderful high-pitched woowoo guitar effects. The song has a folky feel to it.

13. Aspettami (Forbes / Lauderdale) 3:35

14. Song of the Black Swan (Villa-Lobos) 2:11
An instrumental with a beautiful cello solo to end the album on a quiet note.

~Credits~
Recorded and mixed by Dave Friedlander at Kung Fu Bakery in Portland, Oregon, April 2001-June 2004.

Additional engineering in Tokyo, Japan by Teruo Yamaguchi: Mastered by Bernie Grundman in Los Angeles.

Produced by Thomas M. Lauderdale with Adam Levey & Robert Taylor with additional production and mixes by Joe Chiccarelli.

~Band Members~
China Forbes - vocals
Thomas Lauderdale - piano
Robert Taylor - trombone
Gavin Bondy - trumpet
Paloma Griffin - violin
Doug Smith - vibes and percussion
Brain Davis - congas, drums and percussion
Derek Reith - percussion
Martin Zarzar - drums
Phil Baker - bass
Timothy Nishimoto - vocals and percussion

~Purchasing Info~
The wonderful thing about Pink Martini is that they let you listen to their music online. Just go to their website and click on Pink Martini radio - you can then listen to both your albums to your heart's content. You also have the option to buy the albums from them directly for $15. Otherwise, I think Fopp sells their albums too.

 

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