Jaymz Bee & The Royal Jelly Orchestra-Cocktail Shakin' & Stirred (Milan)

Jaymz Bee is like Zsa Zsa Gabor. He wants to be famous just for being famous, not for what he does. A celebrity party planner who has a wicked sense of humor in interviews, but everyone sort of looked at him as just a scenester.

This is Bee's coming out party, he's put together an CD of cocktail nation versions of popular songs of the past twenty years. Being a Canadian, the album is top-heavy with rock bands from the Great White North, causing the inclusion of questionable song choices penned by the Canuck likes of Prism, Loverboy and Corey Hart.

It is fun to hear what Bee can do with the tunes, performing Men Without Hats' "The Safety Dance" as if he was Sergio Mendes & The Brazil 66, The Guess Who's "American Woman" takes on the feel of a standard by Antonio Carlos Jobim and giving a Bobby Darin Vegas sheen to Bryan Adams' "Run To You." Particularly cool is the Tom Waits-sings-B.T.O cover of "Taking Care Of Business."

But eventually you have to ask yourself why those bands would have touched these songs, and the answer is simply they wouldn't. It's a shotgun wedding of styles, an uncomfortable union.

Cocktail Shakin' & Stirred is a fun listen for the cocktail crowd and a great party platter, but if you're looking for anything more than a novelty, you're better off looking somewhere else. (10/97)

Jay S. Jacobs