Okay. The 90s Swing Revival. We need to talk about it. Like all right-thinking people, you did your best to ignore it at the time and to put it out of your mind in the years since. And look, do I blame you? No. I don’t. I mean, number one, look at that ******* cover to this CD. Look at that ******* thing. Secondly, well, this CD sums it up pretty well; of the fourteen tracks on this CD, thirteen of them are songs by 90s Swing Revival bands. There is, however, one track here from back in the original swing era; it’s Louis Prima’s Jump, Jive & Wail and that is undeniably a great track. On the back of this CD, it is listed as “the GAP TV Commercial Theme Song.” I mean, can you sum up the absolutely teeth-grindingly infuriating bull**** part of the 90s Swing Revival more succinctly than that?
Here's the thing though. I had a lot of fun with this CD. It was a gift from a friend who was decluttering; now I’m decluttering, so I finally gave it a few spins and I’m not going to lie. This is a good time. At it’s best, this is music that can indeed be enjoyed unironically. Indigo Swing’s Blue Suit Boogie is absolutely fantastic. Alien Fashion Show’s Oak Tree is a weird melancholy piece in an off beat minor key. Lee Press-On & the Nails (yes, yes, I know) deliver a live version of Sing Sing Sing and if things aren’t exactly as precise as I like to hear with this kind of music, the raucous energy downright makes up for it and it has an undeniable sloppy charm. The bulk of CD is maybe not as good as those, but it’s perfectly fine and it kept me tapping my foot whenever I listened to it. The only song I’d call downright bad is Zoot Suit Riot by the Chill Pill Dancers which I’m pretty sure is just one guy, given the fact that it uses electronic drums and SYNTH horns. In SWING MUSIC. No. No no no. Come on. Some genres, you can make a whole song right on your keyboard; not swing. Absolutely not. Anyway, I really had a good time with this CD and I listened to it several times and never got tired of it. The 90s Swing Revival: maybe actually pretty great. What a twist. Because look at that cover. 4 stars.
tl;dr – compilation of 90s Swing Revival music is high energy, occasionally brilliant and a ton of fun; a couple of disappointing tracks, but overall, unironically great. 4 stars.