Search - Rolfe Kent :: Thank You for Smoking

Based on Christopher Buckley's eponymous novel, Thank You for Smoking cynically and gleefully sends up the more PC aspects of our times. The first nine tracks are all golden oldies culled from a time--mostly the 1940s and 1950s--when smoke getting in your eyes was considered romantic, not second-hand poisoning, such as the Platters' version of Jerome Kern's "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes"). Those familiar with kd lang's version of "Smoke Rings" will love the Mills Brothers' earlier version from 1932. The track is actual typical of the album, which not only offers those-were-the-days takes on smoking, but almost as many lessons on vocal styling. Group harmonies by the aforementioned Mills Brothers and the Swingle Singers' take on Bach's "Little Organ Fugue," for instance, are dazzling, while Patsy Cline ("Three Cigarettes in an Ashtray") and Otis Redding ("Cigarettes and Coffee") shine solo. In a completely different register, Jerry Reed's 1972 ode to addiction, "Another Puff," is punctuated by unappetizing coughs; Reed rasping lines "Give it to me! Give it to me! I love it! I love it! I love it!" and "You quit smoking, that'll leave more for me!" are followed by a maniacal laugh. The last four instrumental tracks consist of Rolfe Kent's original score; they maintain an appropriate lounge-lizardy mood but pale in comparison to the nuggets that precede them. --Elisabeth Vincentelli