The Ajjancy 2024
…To Be Arranged
Sonic alchemy and aural smiles from advisor to the statesmen and a cohort to rock stars.
Impeccable taste and sense of humor are two traits that set a professional politician apart from an amateur; the same can also be said about musicians who dabble in mashups. And if the twain don’t ever seem to meet, George Ajjan is here to bridge the gaps between the two: a professional consultant and strategist whose expertise helped quite a few heads of state to sort out their affairs, the New Yorker is also no mean singer with an uncanny ear for harmonies which helps him interweave various tunes with dazzling results. But while there’s no deficit of similar efforts on YouTube, George, well aware of legal consequences of any attempt to release experiments like these, took one step further and gathered an ensemble to lay down the collages his hearing and imagination created.
Such an approach allowed Ajjan the freedom to go for uniformity of voice and, sometimes, even arrangement – the former feat at the fore of “Roundabout Thriller” where a YES evergreen meets “Billie Jean”; the latter at the bottom of “Nothing Else In White Satin” where Fernando Perdomo’s fingers weld a metal guitar solo to the familiar woodwind figure – yet the addition of less recognizable cuts to classics should render the outcome a sort of game. With the vigorous “Baba Bizarre” marrying THE WHO perennial to a nearly forgotten OMC track and sprinkling prominent piano all over this high number, or the robust “25 Or 6 To Stronger” joining CHICAGO chestnut and Kanye West-via-DAFT-PUNK hit and featuring bespoken words, will turn delving into those into a quest.
A good vocalist in his own right, George may not have a pair of pipes on him to rival the artists behind original pieces covered here – being able to tap into Jon Anderson‘s range, he would find it impossible to match Annie Haslam‘s – but he has a pair of balls hefty enough to try and bend occasional lyrics to a melody they are rubbing shoulders with and even introduce a fresh motif to a mashup. However, if “Babe, You Belong” introducing Jimmy Page’s strum to Glenn Frey’s topline feels a tad strange, once the listener’s mind has been reconstructed by the schizophrenic “Frame By Style” in which the elegance of Jeremy Nesse’s Chapman Stick and tenderness of Taylor Swift’s balladry go for the jugular, the symphonic “Stairway To Ashes” in which RENAISSANCE and ZEPPELIN epics infuse each other, and Bach air, with vertiginous spirituality must deliver a final blow to one’s sanity.
Brilliant and flawed, this album simply keeps on exuding fun, spin after spin.
****
