Black Velvet Flag

Black Velvet Flag was a New York City-based comedy music trio, known for their humorous, lounge-styled covers of songs by Southern California punk rock bands, and for performing while wearing tuxedos.[1][2] They became known in 1994, after performing on the New York music scene, which suddenly propelled them to fame in just six months.[3] Their only full-length album, Come Recline, was released in 1995 on Go-Kart Records.[2] In 2003, an interactive documentary of the band, entitled The Rise and Fall of Black Velvet Flag, was released; it was directed by Sheldon Schiffer.[4][5]

Black Velvet Flag
OriginNew York City
GenresLounge, comedy music
LabelsGo-Kart
Past membersJeff Musser, Fred Stesney, Jason Zasky

Reception

Black Velvet Flag was named the best unsigned band of 1994 by Rolling Stone's poll of music critics.[1] AllMusic's Jack Rabid called the album "One of the funniest records released this year."[2] In the Washington Post, Mark Jenkins wrote of the band's act of covering punk songs in a lounge style that "...this is a joke that doesn't need to be told more than once."[6] Trouser Press's David Sprague concluded that the album "...falls somewhere between Dread Zeppelin feebdom and a '90s approximation of Frank Sinatra's late-'60s hipster era, during which Ol' Blue Eyes tried his best to bask in the glow of the summer of love — not that either assessment will keep Black Velvet Flag from the next century's thrift store bargain bins."[7] Chris Norris of New York was also critical of the band's style, writing that their "hardcore-as-lounge gag" was "funny for about twenty seconds and only if you've never seen Repo Man."[8]

Discography
  • Come Recline (Go-Kart, 1995)
  • Go-Kart vs. the Corporate Giant; Volume #1 (Go-Kart, 1996)

References
  1. Inc, Nielsen Business Media (1995-04-01). "Lounge, Big-Band Era Bops Back on Indies and Majors". Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. p. 16.
  2. Rabid, Jack. "Come Recline - Black Velvet Flag". AllMusic. Retrieved 2017-08-18.
  3. Plasketes, Professor George (2013-01-28). Play it Again: Cover Songs in Popular Music. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. p. 96. ISBN 9781409494003.
  4. "The Rise and Fall of Black Velvet Flag". Educational Media Reviews Online (EMRO). Retrieved 2019-01-18.
  5. Schiffer, Sheldon (1999). "The Rise and Fall of Black Velvet Flag: An "Intelligent" System for Youth Culture Documentary". AAAI Fall Symposium.
  6. Jenkins, Mark (1995-02-24). "Black Velvet Flag's Tired Cocktail Joke". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2017-08-18.
  7. Sprague, David. "Black Velvet Flag". www.trouserpress.com. Retrieved 2017-08-18.
  8. LLC, New York Media (1996-01-22). "Rock of Ages". Billboard. New York Media, LLC. p. 75.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.