Music Review: Orfeh Soars With The Eagles On Her Flight To The HOTEL CALIFORNIA

Heigh Ho, dear lovely rainbow tribe, welcome back to Bobby’s CD sandbox where we offer our broken-down breakdowns of new music releases. So, strap in and get ready, as Bobby goes on the record ABOUT the record.

This week’s music entry in the BobbyFiles comes from our lady of perpetual Broadway to Rock & Roll crossover - Orfeh! One of the most requested songs of Orfeh’s repertoire, HOTEL CALIFORNIA is now available on all the digie platforms, angels! Arranged and Produced by Steven Jamail, David "Sub Q" Kawamura, and Orfeh herself, this fab new rendition of the venerable EAGLES song puts some new spins on an old fave while still being respectful to what we all know came before. There is history in this recording and there is a fresh coat of paint in the arrangement, the use of modern tech, and in Orfeh’s performance. Orfeh’s voice is a singular instrument. No one sounds like her and, to little Bobby’s ears, no one ever has. Add to this righteous sound the lady’s acting chops, and you have art, no matter what she is applying her talents to, onstage, or at the mic in the booth. She stands with Jennifer Holliday, Ethel Merman, Betty Buckley, Andrea McArdle, and Lea Salonga. This is not to compare these ladies in any way, only to say that, vocally, they are all beyond compare… no one sounds like them. On this number, Orfeh uses her entire voice - its power, both loud & soft, her range, her growls, her explosions all punch the song in similar ways to the Eagles in-your-face original, but lower… a little nearer the guts.
 

What can one say about the lyrics of HOTEL CALIFORNIA? Only that this verse is, quite frankly, one of the greatest lyric/poems of all time, and, as good as the music is, it’s the words that make this one a classic and will keep it ever so. Contained within those words is the story of a writhing working class looking up at the upper tier and seeing their decadence - the powerful with their foot on the neck of the common people who need to be free. The hotel is the societal structure the world has always known, regardless of history, governments, or the names given to the divisions between economic strata. Kings & Queens & Dukes of Earl seeking to keep it all for themselves park themselves upstream like a pack of old, fat, corrupt beavers damning up the flow of resources to the masses who must slave in their “beaver hotel” to keep them in luxury. Is that hotel the state of California or the nation or the world … you decide. As for the music (we all know this music, right dear ones?) the arrangement opens with interesting overlapping sounds in echo, like a touch of electronica that leads into Orfeh’s unadorned voice, in front of backing vocals that enhance beautifully. The instruments sound electronically produced on several levels, mixed with live players, perhaps even a mandolin -we’re not 100% sure, so don’t come for Bobby on that one. The occasional electronic/autotune overlay on her voice is used economically because Orfeh… She don’t need no help. The swirling arrangement is taken over in the final bars by the keyboard and builds into an almost baroque ornateness... and then it all suddenly stops, perfectly, so on the lyric “What a nice surprise. Bring your alibis.” BOOM - yah done.

It’s no secret that Little Bobby thinks the sun shines out of Orfeh’s… throat... and we are almost sure to write her a love letter when we see or hear her perform. In the years that we have been reviewing the lady we have marveled, we have admired, and we have written words of what we hope are encouragement to keep going and never stop. Her tough “biker babe” presence might seem to be not “of the rainbow” but believe Bobby when we say, the sun does shine out her throat, and the rainbow shines out her A$$ every day of the week, and you all know her trip to the HOTEL CALIFORNIA gets…

5 Out Of 5 Rainbows 

Put this one in your Amazon stream: HERE
 

You Can See And Hear Everything About Dame Orfeh On Her Webbysite: Orfeh.com/" target="_blank">HERE

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