siLLy puPPy
JANET KLEIN was raised in San Bernadino, CA and was mostly exposed to classical music and even some Frank Zappa, but she found her own niche in a totally different world. She decided to take up the ukelele and resurrect the obscure, the lovely and the naughty songs of the 1910s, 20s and 30s. She considers herself a musical archeologist and goes as far as to immerse herself completely in that particular era by adopting a cut bob haircut with a flower placed just so as well as copping only the strictest vintage fashion statements. In fact, if i didn’t know better i’d swear she was the victim of a strange wormhole accident from the past and got transported her almost 100 years later from a cabaret stage in some American hole-in-the-wall speakeasy. Her dedication to the period is admirable as she avoids all the kitsch that can be associated with such novelty acts. In this regard she has done her homework and gets an A+ on her report card for an outstanding resurrection of the forgotten vocal jazz of yestercentury. Only the Squirrel Nut Zippers have achieved such the honor of this scope by keeping it real without making it tawdry.
COME TO MY PARLOR is her debut album that emerged in 1998 when a whole host of swing revival bands were hitting the scene, but JANET KLEIN opted for simplicity on this debut. While she would venture into more of a band setting by adopting “…And Her Parlor Boys” on her second album “Paradise Wobbler,” here it is essential a one-woman show displaying JANET’s knack for playing long forgotten songs on her customized ukelele and sounding like an innocent old-fashioned girl from the Great Depression era of America. On a few songs JANET is accompanied by John Reynolds on guitar who happens to be the grandson of the silent film actress ZaSu Pitts. Overall this is a charming little album with one period song after another and i really like the fragile innocence JANET exhibits on these tracks but i have to admit that i prefer the fuller band sound of the second album a bit more as well as the track selections. The songs are just catchier beginning with “Paradise Wobbler.” Despite all that this is still a nice little debut that will surely catch the hearts of those for a nostalgia for the era from which these tracks have been excavated.