Work to Do
- Artist: Fattburger
- Album released in 2004
- Shanachie Entertainment
- Genre: Jazz
Songs:
1) Work to Do
2) Over Time
3) 100 Ways
4) Down Time
5) B.D.D.D.
6) Little Sunflower
7) Rene
8) You're the First, the Last, My Everything
9) I'm Just Sayin'
10) That Feels Good
This album marks the band's 20th anniversary, with the group serving up high-energy grooves and laid-back melodies. Featuring ten tracks, the CD opens with a soulful rendition of the Isley Brothers' "Work to Do." The band makes good use of lively percussion and an inventive horn section. Cuts four through ten show the members of Fattburger discovering a revamped effervescence. "B.D.D.D." is straight out of a smoky jazz club, with guitarist Evan Marks adding layered dimensions to the bluesy number. Saxman Gentry's bossa-nova-tinged ballad "Rene" proves to be the highlight of the album.
There is a defiant edge to most of the songs that was not present in the group's previous efforts, though their cover of Barry White's "You're the First, the Last, My Everything" proves that their niche is still smooth jazz with a bedroom feel. Fattburger's take on the Coleman, Wakefield, and Wright love song "100 Ways" is just what it takes to set the mood right. The final cut, "That Feels Good," entertains new possibilities for Fattburger's sound, where strings add a little background texture, but the horns are front and center. The result is a catchy tune, if nothing more than a teaser for what's to come.
--- Hometown CD Review 12-30-04