My favorite song on this album is “Lush Life.” To me, it doesn’t sound hip-hop, but it doesn’t sound anything like the original either. It almost has a dance quality with a solid beat and added synthesized sounds. The best songs are the ones that are hard to separate. You don’t know what’s added and what’s not. The piano in “Straighten Up and Fly Right” sounds original, but Natalie Cole’s beautiful duet and producer Will.i.am’s fantastic beat mix seamlessly and greatly compliment the Nat’s version.
Some other highlights include “Anytime, Anyday, Anywhere,” “Day In – Day Out,” and “El Choclo,” in which the Brazilian Girls sing responses to Nat who asks if he can give them a ride. The end result is amazingly hilarious. These tracks and a few others make this CD absolutely brilliant. However, there are a few that do not equally mix both sounds, such as “Hit that Jive, Jack” and “Calypso Blues.”
They’re still very good but have an overpowering modern quality with Nat only giving small choral interludes. “Walkin’ My Baby Back Home” is an amazing piece with a smokey jazz hall feel, except at the end when all of a sudden the band drops out and The Roots rap. Songs like these do not achieve the amazing mix. And that mix is what makes this CD so good.
I say, if you can put up with the songs that missed the mark, RE:Generations is still a very wonderful album. I love that our generation can keep Nat King Cole popular and modern by adding our own style. I hope with CDs like this, Nat’s brilliance can entertain us for many more generations to come
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