Song Of The Day 2/10/2016: Max Raabe & the Palast Orchester – “Let's Talk About Sex”

Quarterly Covers Report – This artist was brought to my attention by Brooks Martin. Now, to be upfront, I've just about reached my limit on old-timey reworkings of more recent musical styles (and vice versa) (including Cocktail Hell -- it's dead, friends, stop those cards and letters). I gave them more of a shot than a lot of my comrades would have. But there's a lower ceiling on my acceptance of ironic novelty these days. I thought Scott Bradlee's Postmodern Jukebox produced the best of what can be done with that trope, especially when Puddles Pity Party was thrown in the mix. So it was with no small trepidation that I clicked Brooks' post of German entertainer Max Raabe's Palast Orchester's cover of ABBA's "Super Trouper". But I admit, I liked it a lot. That's because I'll always allow an exception for the Germans in this particular field, especially if they're aping the whole Cabaret thing. I like Raabe's over-affected vocals, his salute to the nasal '20s, and the curious way he contorts the right side of his mouth to form vowels. His cover of Salt-n-Pepa's "Let's Talk About Sex" does a fairly decent job of wedding the Jazz Age to the modern production touches he probably had to concede to at some point. I find his rap strangely enticing, too. There's something curiously bracing about Germans giving instructions.