Live from ‘The Pretty Parlor’

When I first got the album, Live from ‘The Pretty Parlor’ in the mail, I was a little disappointed. The jacket had pictures of women dressed like they stepped off of Laugh-In or came from a Jimi Hendrix concert. I was not looking forward to listening to or viewing the DVD. Luckily, I was pleasantly surprised.

Kay Kay and his Weathered Underground’s Live from ‘The Pretty Parlor’ is a CD/DVD of a live concert performed by a band with two violinists, three guitarists (one the lead singer who also plays harmonica), a tuba and trumpet player, a bass player, a keyboard player, a drummer and a backup singer (who is joined by various members of the band as needed). While a large group of folks, I couldn’t imagine positive results from removing any one member.

The music of Kay Kay and the Weathered Underground has a whimsical feel to it inspired by Hungarian melodies with just a touch of the Beatles. At times, because of the trumpet sounds, I felt like the songs could fit into the soundtrack of the musical Chicago. The lead singer’s voice is a pleasant, dreamy tenor that is a bit on the softer side. The backup singers provide the appropriate amount of accompaniment: at times barely there and loud and garish at others.

For all of its mixing of older forms of music, Live from ‘The Pretty Parlor’ has a modern feel to it. It’s new in a way that makes contemporary radio tunes boring and commonplace in comparison. Radio stations are all the more lacking for not playing such music as that by Kay Kay and the Weathered Underground. I absolutely love this album!

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