Brian Setzer Orchestra – Wolfgang’s Big Night Out

This time out, Setzer and his 18-piece big band freshen up quotes from classical warhorses with high-energy, brass-bottomed send-ups, rolling over Beethoven and giving Tchaikovsky the news. The first time through, the thunder and bluster of these twelve numbers seemed needlessly self-indulgent; but upon further review, perhaps Setzer, always a guitarslinger out of his own time, must now travel 300 years into the past for new challenges and material to conquer.

Sure, Dave Edmunds covered Khachaturian’s “Sabre Dance”, but that flashy strumming really was self-indulgent. Here, Setzer shares the glory with his inspired band of mirthmakers who knock out of the park tight arrangements by Frank Comstock, who got his start in the 1940s (and composed the theme to Rocky and Bullwinkle’s cartoon show). Comstock is the star as he deftly plays to the strengths of, say, Mozart’s timeless “Eine Kleine Nachtmusic” as well Setzer’s fiery rock picking.

Rossini’s “William Tell Overture” becomes a half-speed “Swingin’ Willie” (Glen Campbell still has the best guitar version of the “Tell”); Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Flight Of The Bumblebee” becomes “Honey Man”, with a female chorus pushing him to go “faster, faster.” There’s a ’60s boogie guitar take on “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” (rechristened here as “Take A Break Guys”); if you’re planning a swinging wedding, “Here Comes The Broad” transports Wagner’s “Lohengrin” and Mendelssohn’s “A Midsummer’s Night Dream” in Benny Goodman’s 1940s. Self-indulgent? No way. It’s typical Setzer — just cool fun.