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Taco - After Eight

Taco

From the catalogue of one hit wonders I present for your reading pleasure Taco. Taco Ockerse is probably best known (who am I kidding, this is all he's known for) for his 1982 hit "Puttin' on the Ritz" which was kitschy fun. As a rock guy it wasn't cool to admit you liked it, but the song was ridiculously infectious even if it was a tad too long, but hey, it was still a hit, and not just a hit, a worldwide hit. Here in Canada the single moved over 100,000 copies and in the US it was a million seller. Irving Berlin, who was 95 when Taco released his cover, was the oldest living songwriter to have a top 10 hit in the States.

Despite the success of the single, it didn't seem to pull the album along with it. After Eight is an odd record. It's an uneven mix of re-imagined standards with a new wave twist to original compositions that fall into crooner territory with a programmed drum beat. I'll give him credit, it was ambitious.

Did it work?

Well, it's all in the ear of the beholder I guess. For me this was a curiosity and I got the album for free, so I wasn't out anything but time. Now to be fair there were enough bright spots to make this worthwhile, but not something I'd recommend. Oddly though I'll listen to it more than once ...

Focusing on the positive:

  • "Puttin' on the Ritz" was fun to hear as it had been a while since I'd heard it, and while it was fun, I also remembered that I found it a bit irritating too. Still, a cool mix of a standard with a modern twist.
  • "La vie en rose" was another old song, this one going back to the '40s. I really like this one. Quite possibly the best song on the record.
  • "Cheek to Cheek" was another updated Irving Berlin song. Pretty much a mirrored copy of "Puttin' on the Ritz" but it was fun.

The could have been betters:

  • The album opens with "Singin' In The Rain" and it's close to being on the positive side of the ledger. I wonder if my initial reaction was more to how the album was sequenced. If it had come after warming me up it may have worked.
  • The title track "After Eight" is pretty much a what the fudge song, complete with references to eating tacos. Yup. He name checked himself but as a food.

back cover

I actually expected the album to be better. Like I said, it was ambitious and trying to blend show tunes delivered by a faux crooner layered in new wave cheese took some guts.

Now this was all jotted down while the album played through the first time. I generally try to give a record a couple passes before trying to nest my thoughts. Often I'll find my first opinion isn't set in concrete and I'll find myself getting carried along with subsequent plays.

So take this with a grain or two of salt.

 

 

 

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