Superhero Swinger Undercover

Superhero Swinger Undercover

ASIN: B0000A1QFR

Track Listings

1. Superhero Swinger Undercover

2. My Boogie Woogie Hand

3. It's A Groove

4. Maybe Someday

5. Sugar High

6. My Old Flame

7. Reptile Man

8. The Shelf

9. Troubles Drift Away

10. Romeo

11. Skeleton Key

12. I'm My Own Grandpaw

13. Set You Free

Editorial Reviews
Atomic Magazine, Summer, 2003
The band's passion takes flight in their new CD..includes everything from hardcore jump swing to West Coast, Lindy, & Jitterbug.

Product Description
Our latest and greatest CD, loaded with brand new original dance-inviting, swing-igniting hits!

Superhero Swinger Undercover

Superhero Swinger Undercover,Eight to the Bar,Jitterbop,Blues

Average customer rating:

The best album from this Justice League of Swing!

Swingin' Superheroics

Of comic books and addictions

Superhero Swinger Undercover
Eight to the Bar
Manufacturer: Jitterbop
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Jazz | Styles | Music
General | Jazz | Indie Music | Stores | Music
Similar Items:

Hey Sailor!

Beat Me Rocking

Behind the Eight Ball

Holiday Romance

Insect Ball

ASIN: B0000A1QFR
Release Date: 2003-06-13

Tracks:

Superhero Swinger Undercover
My Boogie Woogie Hand
It's A Groove
Maybe Someday
Sugar High
My Old Flame
Reptile Man
The Shelf
Troubles Drift Away
Romeo
Skeleton Key
I'm My Own Grandpaw
Set You Free

Album Description

Our latest and greatest CD, loaded with brand new original dance-inviting, swing-igniting hits!

Customer Reviews:

The best album from this Justice League of Swing!.......2004-03-09

Eight to the Bar is one the longest surviving of all swing bands. Pianist Cynthia Lyon founded the band in the mid-70s, and they've been going strong ever since, through the lean and fat years. Not only have they been going strong, they're better now than ever. This, their most recent album, is the best yet. The line-up is superb, the musicians play perfectly together, and just about every track is a swing dancer's dream. Swing lovers, or people who just love jazz, blues, and R&B, who haven't discovered Eight to the Bar should start right here.

The band (headquartered in Connecticut) plays a real variety of swing, with a strong focus on blues. Boogie woogie is a major part of their sound, but they can also play jazz and soul. Comedy is also a key part of the band's appeal: they have fun with their playing and many of their originals have a wicked sense of humor. Most of the band sings back-up vocals, creating a wonderful unified sound that recalls the Manhattan Transfer.

"Superhero Swinger Undercover" contains mostly originals written by various members of the band. The current line-up is Cynthia Lyon (piano), Collin Tilton (saxophone), Megan Keith (lead vocals), her brother David Keith (drums, percussion), Michael Corsini (bass), and Tommy Whalen (guitar). Most of the songs are written by Cynthia, Collin, Megan, and Tommy.

Here is the wonderful variety of songs you'll find here:

*"Superhero Swinger Undercover." The source of the awesome cover art! Megan Keith wrote and sings this fast-paced jump number guaranteed to exhaust most dancers. The lyrics are funny, and will speak to all those dancers, who (like me) seem to live ordinary lives during the day, but at night transform into oddly dressed swing machines! It's time to save the city with quality music!

*"My Boogie Woogie Hand." Eight to the Bar often performs songs about the business of running a band. This lyric-heavy piece charts the history of the band itself. Cynthia sings it herself, explaining how the band was started by her left hand, "her boogie woogie hand." Obviously, there's some rockin' boogie woogie piano going on here as well.

*"It's a Groove." One of the few covers, but it's one of the best performances on the album. This is a hot-stepping jump number with excellent back-up vocals. The Manhattan Transfer sound is very noticeable, and there's a great sax solo from Collin.

*"Maybe Someday." The songs written by guitarist Tommy Whalen are always very hard-driving blues numbers. This is a great sassy vocal duet between Tommy and Megan very much like the classic song "You're the Boss." Lots of guitar here.

*"Sugar High." Collin and Megan created this one, and it's the jazziest, smokiest piece on the album. It's the definition of `cool,' (but you sure can swing to it), and Collin's sax is some of his best work. Megan's vocal is silky and sexy.

*"My Old Flame." No, this isn't the old standard, but an original soulful ballad from Cynthia. Her vocal is perfectly heartbreaking. There's a bit of a country feel here also.

*"Reptile Man." A good example of the band's wacky, weird humor. Megan wrote and sings this Cajun and Latin-influenced love song about a woman who falls for a snake handler at the zoo. It's creepy and sexy at the same time. The poor girl in the song has some serious issues.

*"The Shelf." Another comic number, this one written by Cynthia. She and Megan sing about a woman whose...uhm...attributes are extremely distracting. ("At the wedding no one pays attention to the bride and groom.")

*"Troubles Drift Away." Another Tommy Whalen original, so it's pure hardcore blues. It's one of my favorites on the album, a slow tempo but very danceable number about sitting at the river to let your troubles drift away... Great organ and rhythm work on this one.

*"Romeo." Cynthia wrote this number, which has the strongest soul inspiration of any piece on the album. The tight vocal work from the whole band help make this a fun one.

*"Skeleton Key." My personal favorite piece, this original from Megan is an incredibly sexy and hypnotic blues dance number. Megan's voice is just a knock-out, and the beat is guaranteed to get a whole roomful of picky dancers swinging hard.

*"I'm My Own Grandpaw." Ah, we had to have a `novelty' number in here somewhere. This is a cover of Ray Stevens's fast-vocal comedy song. Drummer David Keith sings the complex lyrics and plays the spoons, backed by only piano and bass. Not a dance song, but funny nonetheless, and you really get to hear how good a pianist Cynthia is.

*"Set You Free." A live performance of Cynthia's original song. Appropriately enough for the band, the album ends on a song that combines everybody's talents and all the different styles they like to explore. Another of the highlights of the album.

So if you haven't heard them yet, what are you waiting for! A band that's been around for more than 25 years is obviously a group that knows what its doing. And they've never done it better than on this album.

Swingin' Superheroics.......2003-07-03

One of the things that make Eight To The Bar an ongoing ultra-presence in the Neo Swing scene is their complete and utter joy at being performers. Serious performers. Cynthia Lyon has weathered the changing nature of the scene, and various incarnations of this super talented troupe, and she's still having a good time. This idea is given the logical next spin (or should it be flight?) in their brand new CD release "Superhero Swingers Undercover."
The super heroic feat of being part of the swing scene and loving every minute of it (and they don't disguise it) gets its day in the aforementioned title track, and acts as an introduction for "My Boogie Woogie Hand," which gives an explanation for the how and why of the band with tongue in cheek frivolity. Don't pass up a nifty cover of "I'm My Own Grandpaw" and the storytelling mirth of tracks like "Romeo" and the slightly naughty "The Shelf."
Cynthia, whose mutant powers include piano, organ, and vocals, is joined by her own Justice League in the spectacular vocals of Michael Corsini (who plays bass), Megan Keith and Tom Whalen, the saxophonic styling of Collin Tilton, and the percussion mastery of David Keith. The CD case is just fun to look at, with its comic book layout and word ballooned lyrics, surrounded by pictures of a band having way too much fun for their own good. Eight to the Bar continues with the sort of stuff that made the band work in the first place, and if you're not just a fair weather friend to the swing scene, climb on in the phone booth and put on your costume, too.

Of comic books and addictions.......2003-06-23

Remember when you were young and you would wait, often impatiently and certainly with great anticipation, for the next issue of your favorite comic book to hit the newsstand (perhaps the Archie & Jughead crowd, or Superman, Green Lantern, Wonder Woman and the rest of the Justice League . . . or maybe it was Little Dot, Nancy or the other characters in that group who spoke few words) . . . and when you finally got it (for all of what, 10 or 12 cents?) . . you'd joyfully take it home, all crisp and brand new and colorful . . . and you'd steal off to your special place, perhaps your bedroom or a tree-house or some other special hideaway . . . then crawl up in your own little world and dive totally into the world on those pages . . . I mean totally, devouring with your eyes everything - the art, the colors, the words (all the words - the "conversation" bubbles, the "thought" bubbles, the scene descriptions at the top of the panels . . . everything that was written on the page). We'd delight in the layout, the plot, the characters and all their little personal quirks, the entire package. And although each page was in itself a full sensory and visceral adventure, the turn to the next page brought something even better than the last and . . . well, it was a simple, singular experience that I think we all had when we were young . . . and it seems, as I remember, that we were never disappointed with a new issue. Never! In fact we would tell our friends that "This issue is the best one so far . . . . and then with the next month and the next issue . . . "No, wait, THIS one is the best so far". And it was often the case. But we still saved the old ones, under the bed, in the closet, in a box, in a drawer . . . and reread them often, because it was fun. . . and there was always the possibility of discovering something that we somehow might have missed the time before

Okay, now let's move that concept up a little to our being teenagers and the same thing with buying record albums instead of comic books. We couldn't wait for the next album by our favorite band. And sometimes we got a great one, a classic album . . . but sometimes, well . . . we didn't. Our expectations had changed as we got older. We'd become more critical. More demanding. Damn, if we were going to spend $2.99 on an album - the whole thing better be good. Often it took a half dozen or more times of listening (or tolerating) before we got "used" to some of the filler songs beyond the hits that were popular. Sometimes we just had to accept that there were maybe only two or three good songs on a particular album and the rest was crap that we would never listened to. I think the only bands who consistently put out albums filled with ALL good songs were the Beatles and the Moody Blues. But, I digress.

Here's my two cents about Eight-to-the-Bar: Their CDs are the closest thing that I've come across that mimic the experience I had in the early 1960s when I got a new comic book. (If you already own a previous CD from them you know that there is the sense of anticipation while waiting for the next in the series) An ETTB CD is something to delight in. Something that is special. Something that one intuitively knows will be good . . . no. great, even before pulling the plastic wrapper off! And, the extra bonus with their CDs is that all the songs, every single one of them, are good. There is no having to accept junk filler or substandard songs just to get one or two decent songs.

Superhero Swinger Undercover, their latest, is absolutely WONDERFUL! The band should be very proud of their accomplishment. I'm proud for them. The arrangements, the lyrics, the overall "mood", the chemistry between the band members, the sequencing of cuts, the artwork, the whole experience is SUPER. Like their previous CDs, it is a delightful compilation of traditional swing, some jazz, some R&B and some `hard` blues - all of which are incredibly tight and well delivered. Additionally, ETTB has a wonderful knack for writing what I consider to be some of the most clever and fun lyrics of any band . . . a lot of intelligent, witty or tongue-in-cheek lines that cause me to chuckle every time I hear them.

Like the other Eight-to-the-Bar CDs I already own (Hey Sailor, Beat me Rocking, Behind the Eight Ball), I know I will listen to "Superhero" over-and-over-and-over again . . . In fact, I have made compilation tapes from their previous CDs that I use when I workout or run. That swing tempo is absolutely perfect for maintaining a 5.5 - 6.5 mph running speed (as well as the motivation). There are a number of cuts on "Superhero" that I will now be adding to my mix.

Bottom Line:
This is a GREAT band, with a fabulous style, contagious energy and incredibly tight delivery. If you don't own any of their CDs yet, you should buy at least one (Superhero Swinger Undercover would be a good start). Trust me, you won't be sorry! And I would almost guarantee that once you own one of their CDs, it's just a matter of time before you will own all the others. Then, just like me, you will wait with impatience and anticipation for yet the next one.

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