Search - Chip Davis :: Party: Music That Cooks

John Archer's Party is more like it....

David Troska | New York | 05/18/2001

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Although this album is called "Chip Davis' Party," don't expect to find much Chip Davis on it. In fact, if you're a fan of Chip Davis, you'd do well to steer clear of this one entirely, since his two tracks on the album are laughably bad. Playing "Chopsticks" on steel drums may have seemed like a witty idea at the time, but coming from a man who wrote great pieces of music like, "Come Home To The Sea" on Fresh Aire 6, this is just embarassing. Fortunately, John Archer of Checkfield came through with a few good tunes, and Mike Post (famous for his TV themes like Rockford Files, A-Team, NYPD Blue, etc, etc.) has also contributed a couple of really good party pieces. Overall, however, this is pretty much a lackluster album. Sure, it's enjoyable enough while it's on, but you'll forget about it as soon as it ends, and unlike most other American Gramaphone recordings, there aren't really any tracks that I could list as must-listen favorites-- they all seem pretty equally bland. Roxanne Layton manages to come through a bit with her festive Renaissance sounding party music (her's is actually one of the better tracks on the whole CD, as it successfully combines modern keyboards with Renaissance instruments.) Jackson Berkey attempts to do a similar feat with classical and modern music, but has less success (though his virtuosity on the keyboard is impressive.) You could do worse than this album, but you could also do a lot better."