RANK SINATRA – pack rat

(10”, hirnturst grindmedia)

Hirntrust is (once again) testing patience and tolerance with this one sided 10” of Sintra deconstruction. Old Blue Eyes, mafia-affiliate, late night crooner and the first person on earth to record a concept album that helps gentlemen along the way to the bedroom, when they have female visitors, the legendary “In the wee small hours”-album, has never had to take in a lot of criticism. Elvis was denounced as that bananafudgesandwich eating, hipswinging, fat redneck. Dean Martin spent his fame on lame roles in even lamer western movies. Sammy Davis Jr. died of grief when he saw that movie with Burt Reynolds for the first time. Then there is Barry Manilow and Neil Diamond who were all put down as one for the ladies, softies, no balls acoustic rockers (that was the same time, when all the hard dudes went for fellas in drag such as Twisted Sister and Moetly Crew, well anyway..) A lot of famous people have to endure a lot of bad mouthing, but Frank Sinatra always stayed clean. Even the worst accusations (mafia, sex, …) helped to build his fame. There is a scene in the (great and recommended) movie “Bringing out the dead” where they say that it helps to resuscitate someone if you play their favorite music to them. The movie plays in New York so of course they put on Frank Sinatra. Doesn’t help a thing by the way, but that is the fault of the emergency medics or god or bad food, but definitely not Sinatra.

Now, I don’t see how this 10” will change a lot of this but it is a riot anyhow. Rank Sinatra reduces the velvet voice of Sinatra and the orchestral arrangements of his recordings to, one the one side, one note keyboard spastics like those blind dudes in shopping streets or your elderly neighbour owning half a dozen keyboards to play the classics with. On the other side there is drug riddled growling and brawling. The stamina of kids drunken on alcohol, drugs and their own hillariousness in a cellar or garage mixed with the serious urge to pull a monument off its socket. To piss all over one of the all time greats. To take a good hit at the canon of classical singing / classical music, to shit on everything that is deemed right and good and superior by everyone (else). All he needs for that is a mixing desk, a microphone, an overdrive, a kid’s keyboard, some more electronics and the guts and vocal chords to go along.