Deodato 2

Continuing almost straight on from Prelude, Deodato hews again to a careful mix of original works and redos — and, unlike many of his contemporaries, actually succeeds. Though some of the covers let it down, it's not his classical stuff that does: his arrangements of Ravel's "Pavane for a Dead Princess" and Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue" are sumptuous, super and right on point (I like Walter Murphy's arrangement of the latter best but this one is still outstanding), and the two original pieces on the LP, "Skyscrapers" and "Super Strut," are entrancing jams with lots of jazz and depth to get lost in. Instead, it's the more modern rearrangements that fall flat; on the original LP cut, this was "Nights in White Satin," which lost its sexiness along with the vocals and runs like emasculated Muzak, and his replay of Steely Dan's "Do It Again" on the CD reissue analogously flails. But the CD reissue also adds two more excellent original tracks ("Latin Flute" and "Venus"), so no matter which one you've got, you're getting a lot of good music. (Content: pure instrumental.)

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