Search - Let's Dance: Best of the Ba :: Let's Dance : The Best Of Ballroom Swing, Lindy, Jitterbug & Jive

Do not buy this CD!

01/29/2003

(1 out of 5 stars)

"What a waste. Is this bad music? Not really. Is it the best choice for Lindy Hopping? No! It is one of the worst compilations out there in fact. This is a result of people that teach at a general dance studio trying to be cool and find music you can swing to--while not being swing music. Or perhaps they couldn't secure the rights to anything else??? Could you dance to these songs? I guess. Do I want to? No way."

Excellent collection of 16 (8 Swing, 3 Lindy, 5 Jitterbug)

11/20/1998

(5 out of 5 stars)

"An excellent collection of 16 songs. The first 8 are Swing, including Think, Chain of Fools (Aretha Franklin); Ability to Swing (Patti Austin); Hot Coffee (Carl Anderson). The next 3 are Lindy, including My Boyfriend's Back (Melissa Manchester). the last 5 are Jitterbug and Jive, with Jive After Five (Carl Perkins), Trickle Trickle (Manhattan Transfer), and Why Do Fools Fall In Love (Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers)."

A useful collection for dance DJs and party hosts / hostesse

J. Wakefield | SLC, Utah | 04/04/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"4 stars

This is a fine collection of vocal music for various kinds of swing dancing. All 16 tracks have been digitally remastered and they are reasonably clean of noise, pop, hiss, etc. I can't say I love every track, but it is a useful collection for dance DJs and party hosts / hostesses.



The first eight tracks are listed under "swing." They are slow-between 29-31 measures per minute. Single rhythm swing would not be much fun to these, but they are great for triple rhythm swing. If you are adventersome, and this is not a stretch if you love it, dance West Coast swing and slink up the hall!



Tracks 9-11 range betweem 33-37 mpm, and they are fun if your knees will let you dance Lindy-hop to them.



Tracks 12-16 are listed as jitterbug or jive and range from 38-54 mpm.



Here are the titles, durations, suggested dance, measures per minute, and artist:



Ability To Swing, 4:51, WCSwing, 31 (Patti Austin)

Think, 2:20, WCSwing, 28 (Aretha Franklin)

Who told you? 4:09, WCSwing, 29 (James Cotton, et al.)

Destination Anywhere, 3:12, WCSwing, 30 (Commitments)

Do Nothing Till You Hear From Me, 2:50, WCSwing, 31 (Nina Simone)

Hot Coffee, 4:54, WCSwing, 30 (Carl Anderson)

Messin' With The Kid, 2:15, WCSwing, 30 (Buddy Guy & Junior Wells)

Chain Of Fools, 2:48, WCSwing, 29 (Aretha Franklin)

Rocket 88, 2:51, Lindy, 37 (Buster Poindexter)

My Boyfriend is Back, 3:27, Lindy, 33 (Melissa Manchester)

Ol' Man River, 3:26, Lindy, 34 (Earl Grant)

Jive After Five, 2:22, Jive, 38 (Carl Perkins)

Walkin Blues, The, 5:22, Jive, 40 (Royal Crown Revue)

Trickle Trickle, 2:22, Jive, 46 (Manhattan Transfer)

Jack, You're Dead, 2:48, Jive, 54 (Joe Jackson's Jumpin' Jive Band)

Why do fools fall in love, 2:17, Jive, 44 (Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers)"