The Swimming Hour

So I put the CD back in the case and didn't listen to it for a year. DO NOT MAKE MY MISTAKE! (How many hours of pleasure had I denied myself in that year...?) I'd only listened to it once, but eventually I slipped this CD into the player again... and after some listening, I adored it!

At first, it's shocking to hear Andrew play pop/rock, but then it grows on you and it's hard to take the CD player off "repeat one" to hear another song. His use of the violin in modern-sounding (yet unclassifiable) music is ingenious. Andrew has pulled off the impossible and made a violin a rock instrument.

This Cd is perfect for driving down the expressway with the windows rolled down and the car stereo cranked way up. It's fun, beautiful, and thought-provoking (what lyrics!) all at the same time. 11:11- oh! What a song! soothing violin with his signature strumming over the top melts away and is replaced by rhythm guitar accenting some hardcore sawing at the fiddle, in that way that only Andrew can play. Amazing. You need this CD!

This album is *not* a sell-out effort. We are talking about a man who had never listened to anything but classical music until directly before he made this CD. All of his albums are different, and show off how versatile he truly is. I am fond of saying, "Andrew has a CD for every mood!" This is the crazy, hyper album.*

And do yourself a favor and see him play live! I drove 3 1/2 hours to see him and he was absolutely stunning! He is in his element on stage; so if you think this recording is something, you ain't see nothin' until you go to a live show. *swoon*

*A note about his albums: Music of Hair is ethnic, folksy and soothing, Thrills is hot jazz with Euro influence, Oh! the Grandeur is dark, brooding, and unlike anything you've ever heard, this is rock, Weather Systems is floaty, serene New Age and indicates a move back to the more obscure jazz of Grandeur. If you can find Fingerlings or any other live recording of his, you should snatch it right up.

Andrew is beyond amazing and with or without his band Bowl of Fire, he creates some of the most innovative and original music of our time. BUY THIS CD RIGHT NOW! And if you enjoy this, check out his other releases (Kevin O'Donnell's Quality Six is BOF + 2 more musicians). You will not be disappointed.

Andrew Bird has created on of the most eloquent, poetic and tyrannical of albums. A work of art from top to bottom, a rootsy, swingy, alt-country angle that is completely perpendicular to all else that has come before.

I had never heard of him until I saw the Bowl of Fire live, and was absolutely floored. Bought this CD at the show and NEVER looked back. It raises traditional genres to a new level or modern rock-n-roll eloquence.

Buy it. It'll probably make your top 10 albums of the year.