| 
Story: Jack Foley
THE inimitable Paul Anka, one of music’s most successful
artists and songwriters, is set to release his brand new studio
album, Rock Swings, on September 19, 2005.
Far from being another collection of Rat Pack style songs, the
album takes modern rock classics such as Smells like Teen
Spirit and Blackhole Sun and re-interprets them
in the style of the ‘big band’ sound.
It is Anka’s 125th album and one of his most ambitious
to date.
Rock Swings is an unlikely collection of 14 well known
rock anthems that Anka delivers with the support of a 17-piece
band, transforming them into a distinctively original arrangement
performed with enough ‘swing’ to out shine the ‘rat
pack’ themselves.
The album was even recorded at the historic Capital studios
in Los Angeles, which were the stomping grounds for Frank Sinatra,
Dean Martin, Nat King Cole and all the crooners of that era.
While discussing the album, Paul Anka fully appreciated that
there will be an initial ‘knee-jerk’ reaction to the
album, but goes on to note:
"People will say nail him, but I want them to at least listen
to it. And anyone astute enough and that has any integrity musically
will look at it and go, you know what goddamn it, I didn’t
want to like it, but it’s there, the quality is there."
As the composer of countless classics, including My Way,
Diana and Puppy Love, Anka knows quality.
|
 |
Born in Ottawa, Canada in 1941 to
Lebanese descent, Anka courageously moved to the US as a young
man and, by the age of 20, could boast of over 125 compositions,
his own label (Spanka) as well as having penned the second best-selling
US single of all time (Diana sold 20 million copies and
is only beaten by White Christmas).
His success continued on its trajectory as he wrote numerous
hits for such heavyweights as Frank Sinatra (he gave Frank My
Way) and Tom Jones (She’s A Lady), the theme
to Johnny Carson’s The Tonight Show, which has
aired every weekend for 30 years, and with 900 songs, 50 years
in the business and 124 albums to his credit, he has been recently
named the 21st most successful artist in Billboard’s history.
On February 10, 2005, Paul Anka was awarded the Order of Canada,
the highest honour for lifetime achievement.
With such unwavering credentials, even the ‘man with the
golden touch’ realises he is a taking a risk with his new
album.
"There’s no doubt I’m sticking my neck out on
this," he adds.
But with such great songs arranged and interpreted in such a
completely new way, Paul has created something so unique that
‘naysayers’ are put to shame after their first listen.
After seeing Paul’s performance of Smells like Teen
Spirit on David Letterman, for instance, Dave Grohl, formerly
of Nirvana, responded with: "Holy s---! That's Teen Spirit.'
And I thought it was f---ing amazing, I thought it was so great.
It was such an interesting arrangement. It's pretty classic."
Paul Anka can be seen this September on the new BBC1 series,
Saturday Swings.
Read our review of the
album
|
