Search - Fabulous Pink Flamingos :: Songs from the Lu'au Lounge

Hularious!

citymonk | New York, NY United States | 04/17/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"ROB LESTER Review ([...])



With a broad wink toward their material and seemingly boundless energy, what a happy and quirky change of pace it is to listen to the vocal threesome The Fabulous Pink Flamingos. Songs from the Lu'au Lounge is the debut album of this Bistro Award-winning group that has played venues including The Metropolitan Room in Manhattan. Like the theatre's fictional group Forever Plaid, The Fabulous Pink Flamingos present themselves as forever glad and cheery, poking fun at the corny excesses of harmony vocal groups while at the same time being the very model of the best aspects of the blend. They sound great: vibrant, soaring and sunny.



The boys are joys whether playing it sort of straight with Hawaiian pop ditties, playing up a dim and clueless attitude or playing things for laughs with a wacky juxtaposition of material and approach (try the '90s bubble gum hit by boy brother group Hanson, "Mmm Bop" on for size). The party gets started with a powerful Hawaiian punch on "Hey Baby! (Shake Those Hula Hips)" and there are more goofy novelty numbers done with exuberant brio, like "Princess Poo-Poo Has Plenty Pa-Pa-Ya." It's deliciously silliness but they don't skimp on the musicality.



The voices, separately and in harmony, are clear and refreshing and tangy. They seem to have energy to burn. Their four-man band led by David Snyder matches the singers for energy and flair, and of course there's a ukulele. The spoofing and goofing would become tired if Lee Cavellier, Ron DeStefano and Jaron Vesely weren't such able singers with harmonies that just ring in such a sparkling way. This is a great party album, but maybe not one most people will have in constant rotation. The spoken commentary and sparring interplay can be forced and a bit tedious but sort of fits in with the daffy doings, and some is necessary for establishing the attitudes and personality. The Fabulous Pink Flamingos' act, conceived, written and directed by Russell Taylor, puts the "Ha!" in "aloha.""