I just love this album and listening to it is somewhat inebriating…I could stop there but you want and need to know more!
Pink Martini's debut album, Sympathique, was released in 1997 on the band's own label, Heinz Records (so named after the dog of the founder of the group, Thomas Lauderdale, Heinz) and has sold over 650,000 copies worldwide. An amazing feat for a band that no-one here seems to have heard of - I tracked down my copy via the internet and my local Virgin megastore where they had somehow kept a copy in the stock room! My quest was actually spurred on by hearing the song Sympathique at a village festival in Switzerland and I just had to buy it! And I discovered a new world of music which had previously been dominated in my collection by Pink Floyd, Beatles, Genesis, and a cluster of pop artistes imposed upon me by my daughters!
The album and title track were nominated for "Song of the Year" and "Best New Artist" in France's Victoires de la Musique awards. Sympathique has gone Platinum in France and Gold in Greece. tha album artwork is slick and lyric booklet contains some B&W photos of the band - well it's nice to see the singers and musicians, otherwise they just remain anonymous.
The music is in part readily recognisable from TV - if you sometimes wonder where the advertisers get their music from then here the answer to at least one advert currently on TV - the Citroen Picasso advert is supported by the title track "Sympathique" which contains the line je ne veux pas travailler - I don't want to work - strikes a chord with me!). I have also heard snippets as background music on TV programmes, particularly travel programmes, though can't recall which - it is just that your ears pick up the tune and you know where it comes from!
The 14 piece group show a versatility to play a wide variety of styles of music. This is actually an American band founded by a guy called Thomas Lauderdale and the principal vocals are by a lady called China Forbes, although there are some purely instrumental tracks.
The music is an eclectic mix - somewhere between a 1930s Cuban dance orchestra and a classical chamber music ensemble, with a bit of Japanese thrown in! It is jazzy, salsa, samba, French music hall, and a somewhat bizzarre version of Ravel's Bolero with vocals thrown in…
My favorite tracks are Amado mio, Sympathique, Brazil (instantly recognisable chorus), Donde Estas Yolanda (upbeat samba?) and a very slow but moody version of Que Sera Sera
Sympathique track listing: 1. Amado Mio (Fisher / Roberts) 4:46 2. No Hay Problema (Marray) 6:09 3. Sympathique (Forbes / Lauderdale) 2:47 4. Qué Sera Sera (Livingston / Evans) 4:11 5. La Soledad (Raphael / Lauderdale / Chopin) 5:37 6. Donde Estas, Yolanda? (Jimenez) 3:22 7. Andalucia (Leçouna) 3:36 8. Song of the Black Lizard (Miwa) 4:07 9. Bolero (Ravel) 6:08 10. Never on Sunday (Hadjidakis) 4:53 11. Brazil (Barroso) 5:15 12. Lullaby (Forbes / Lauderdale) 2:12 My final say on the album is that I prefer this to their second album, Hang on Little Tomato, which was released last year - I will review this one shortly but if you just want to try one or the other I would highly recommend Sympathique. Hope you enjoyed reading and can rate the review positively. Thanks. G
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