3 posts tagged “shawn lee”

I bought Shawn Lee's new Christmas album (subtitled "Funky Treats from Santa's Bag) under his Ping Pong Orchestra moniker, and as expected it is one groovy treat.  Here's his version of "Do You Hear What I Hear," a la Deodato:

04 - Do You Hear What I Hear

Shawn Lee's Ping Pong Orchestra

And here's a Deodato lagniappe:

I've been blurring the distinction between cop and spy music because they often contain the same elements, but a good rule of thumb is that, like the TV shows and movies they accompany, cop music contains more action, while spy music contains more intrigue.  Illustrative of this distinction are the two theme songs that tower over everything else in their respective subgenres: Lalo Schifrin's Mission: Impossible theme on the spy side, and Mort Stevens' Hawaii Five-O theme on the cop side.  Ultimately this post isn't really about either of them, but I'll lay the groundwork for the real subject with a rarely-heard version of "Mission: Impossible," performed by the Israeli Philharmonic and conducted by Lalo Schifrin himself:

34-Mission Impossible Theme (Orch)

Israeli Philharmonic

There's nothing like the oomph a full orchestra can give you!  GNP Crescendo's The Best of Mission: Impossible Then and Now is scanty on the liner notes, so I don't know when this track was recorded, or who is playing the piano, though I suspect it's Schifrin himself.  The CD does include a good selection of Schifrin's incidental music from the original TV series, and John E. Davis's from the 80s revival.  Which brings us, incidentally, to Shawn Lee, previously featured here for his impeccable soul album Soul Visa.  The multitalented Lee also has a penchant for incidental music, which he records in bulk and releases as by Shawn Lee's Ping Pong Orchestra.  Needless to say, the albums are excellent and stand side by side with the work of the soundtrack greats: Schifrin, Morricone, Goldsmith, et al.  He's not above a bad pun, as evidenced by tracks titled "King Conga" and "Das Booty."  He's also not above playing around with standards; there's more than a little "Mission: Impossible" in "Changing Times" from Voices and Choices:

12-Changing Times

Shawn Lee's Ping Pong Orchestra

The songwriters I like best are not usually the ones who tackle heavy social issues, or reveal deep emotional truths, blah, blah, blah, etc.; rather, they are the ones who can pack a song so full of hooks that every second is bursting with delicious musical flavor.  Shawn Lee is one of them, and while he has been making records for ten years or so, I only discovered him six weeks ago, once again thanks to emusic.  I've had his album Soul Visa (released in Japan in 2004, elsewhere in 2006) on heavy rotation ever since.  "Some People" is a fine example of his style: a nice breakbeat, some "Brother Louie"-style wah-wah guitar and slinky Ernie Isley-like lead, infectious wordless backing vocals (I challenge you not to sing along with the "bop-bop-bop-bop-bah"s), a bit of glockenspiel, and Shawn's mellowly soulful voice all come together in a perfect pop confection.  What's the song about?  Not much (some people aren't friendly, or something like that), but it doesn't matter with a sound this sweet.

Shawn Lee--Some People

Shawn Lee