Music Review: Ricky Asch Covers Corinne Bailey Rae's LIKE A STAR In His Own Brand Of Star Dust

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 new album entry in the BobbyFiles comes from newbie recording artist Ricky Asch (aka - Ricky A. Schroeder) and his first ever single, a cover of Corinne Bailey Rae’s LIKE A STAR. As Ricky A. Schroeder, the actor (not THAT Ricky Schroeder - his Twitter profile says), Asch has been a part of the New York performing scene for a little over a decade, singing, dancing & acting Off-The-Broadway, in regional theatres, and in the first national tour of KINKY BOOTS (as Angel), as well as that show’s Off-The-Broadway Re-mount in 2022. An out-and-proud gay married gay advocate for equality (as well as a dedicated fundraiser for Broadway Cares Equity Fights AIDS through the popular BroadwayBares scantily clad performance both live on stage and for their online strip-a-thon - where he has personally raised over $145,000 schmackers) Ricky is a ginger treat who has taken his bite out of the big apple. Add to this his devotion to Halloween, horror, and all things autumnal (listen to his podcast October State of Mind) the many thousands of followers on his socials, AND his burgeoning resume of TV and film credits, and you have a hard-working NYC actor who has put in the time and his talent in good measure. Adding all this up, it seems that this freshly 30-something artist had more than enough going on, but now he has fulfilled yet another creative dream, and gone into the recording booth to see if he has pop stars in his eyes, and this rainbow reviewer is glad to report - he might just.
 

Covering another artist's music always leads to comparison, either good or bad, but almost never indifferent. Taking on Corinne Bailey Rae’s sweet, plaintive love ballad, Ricky avoids all comparisons by applying his solid vocal bari-tenor range with a real pop sound to it, and then boosts the tempo slightly, to take it to the dancefloor while still keeping it slow, smoky, and sexy.  The bounce to the beat heightens Rae’s tight poetic lyrics, emphasizing the rhyming couplets, one on top of another. This is a party version of the original longing ballad. The longing is still here, but changed to the close quarters kind, where the heat is in the room with us and someone’s about to get it on. The background vocals are pulsating and harmonious in that slow-dance kind of way. While Ricky adds some vocal decorations here and there, his judicious pop runs don't take over the song, thank the rainbow, cuz Bobby hates that. His rhythmic sense is nice and he makes what was once slow and contemplative totally danceable. All of these are very good things, and he is to be commended for his creativity. Along with his original take, he and his producers have posted to the streams a second “sped-up” version that is, literally, just that. This second take increases the speed, much like one would do in the old, OLD days, when we would click the dial and boost a 33 1/3 RPM vinyl record up to 45, just for a laugh… and, sorry to say: Bobby laughed.  It is unclear the purpose of the “sped-up” version, unless it is meant to be a tempo/dance boost, but it seems that a dance re-mix/rearrangement would have been more in order. Truth be told, my lambs, we encourage you all to listen to the sexy standard version and skip The Lady “sped-up,” as it leaves one wondering which side of the rainbow Ricky is working, in that Lollipop Guild sort of way. 
 

In all, dear Bobby readers, Ricky Asch’s rendition of LIKE A STAR is a smooth, sultry dance take on Corinne BR’s original, and, for his first-ever effort as a recording artist, it is very strong and well worth having in your streams and headphones, and, so, we give this one (the NOT “sped-up” version) a solid…

3 ¾ Out Of 5 Rainbows

All The Ways To Stream LIKE A STAR Are: HERE

Support Ricky’s Strip-A-Thon For Broadway Cares, And Get To See A LOT More Of Him: HERE

Listen To Ricky’s OCTOBER STATE OF MIND* Podcast: HERE

Ricky Has A Dot Com With Links To All Things Ricky: HERE

And You Must Keep Up With His Funny RickyToks: HERE
 

*October State of Mind
Ricky A Schroeder is on a mission to make every month feel like October and Spooky Season! He discusses all things to give you that spooky joy. He reads submitted stories of people's creepy experiences from the paranormal to true crime and everything spooky in between. He also discusses creepy news, historical haunted buildings, scary movies, and much more!

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