Juan Oskar's SUPERHERO

[Mr Bill]

Our own Juan Oskar's SuperHero CD arrived in my mailbox over here in Japan today. And just in time for our short little cruise around the region for the next couple weeks. Anyway, it's been in my player here onboard USS Blue Ridge all day and I am really getting a kick out of it. Juan gets better with each CD release!

I can't pick out a favorite cut, yet, but track 9 "The Great Manolete" is dedicated Juan's "Amigos at the A&M Corner." It's a spicy modern reworking of the TJB fave. Other standout tracks thus far are: the title track ("SuperHero"), "Hey Hercules, Shuffle This!," "Techno Attack At Level 9" and "Give It Una Mas." "Side Kick" could easily qualify as the most Wechter-ish tune I've heard in years!

"Atomic Justice" is just plain funky while "Last Son" is an emotionally moving ballad that all but hits the heart -- not bad for an instrumental! Likewise Juan's "Aria For An American Soldier." As a serviceman I found this one truly touching. And as a serviceman to whom Juan donated a Wechter Tribute ticket all those years ago, I give heartfelt thanks!

Like Herb Alpert, he's managed to toss in a vocal or two on each release I've heard. Here it's a song called "No Matter." Very reminiscent of Herb's better vocals, but Juan sounds more sure of himself than Herb's often fragile sounding vocals.

All in all a very accomplished CD release. Strongly recommended to fans of A&M Corner!

Order from Amazon HERE

--Mr Bill

 

[Harry]

I totally agree, Mr. Bill. Juan Oskar's latest is quite enjoyable. I find that your picks so far are in total agreement with mine.

I second the recommendation. Great fun!

Harry

 

[Steve Sidoruk]

This is another great CD from our own Jay Maynes / Juan Oskar. He plays keyboards, the trumpet, arranges and composes. He is the SUPERHERO of A&M Corner!

 

[Captain Bacardi]

Nice job, Jay/Juan! I finally got to listen to it tonight. "Side Kick" is definitely my favorite tune. I had to pick up my horn on this song and play along. "With You I Am Complete" is a lovely ballad. "Comic Marvel" is a hip, funky affair. Sounds like you had a great time doing this!

And thanks for the "shout out" to us here at the Corner!



Capt. Bacardi

 

[Captain Bacardi]

I also noticed yet another appearance by Ian Hugh, trombone, on the ever elusive Track #17.



Capt. Bacardi

 

[DAN BOLTON]

I've been playing this all week, and I love it! My favorite track is #6, SOMEONE; with #2 and #7 close behind...I think it's your best album yet!



Dan

 

[LPJim]

Hey, my copy came in Saturday's mail & I got to pop in the car player Sunday morning.
Gotta say it's a real treat & give mucho thanks to Juan for sending a copy in my direction.

JB

 

[Jay Maynes/Juan Oskar]

Mr. Bill wrote: "Aria For An American Soldier." As a serviceman I found this one truly touching."

You guys are the Superheroes, I just play one on CD.... j

 

[Stephen Vakil]

I really like this album too.

My favourite tracks are Hey Hercules, the nice slow vocal No Matter, Going Places For You – a jaunty song with nice piano work at the end, the jazzy number Side Kick, the slow and romantic With You, I Am Complete and Comic Marvel. It’s also nice to hear Jay’s voice on the Plug!!

Jay how many other musicians were there with you on this album apart from the three mentioned? Did you play ALL the other parts?

A really nice piece of work, Jay!

 

[Mike Blakesley]

I'm late on this topic, but I've been listening to the album in the projection booth at the Roxy while working on film for the past few weeks. Great music for foot-tapping while working, and I agree it's the best Juan Oskar disk yet. Nice job, Jay!

 

[Jay Maynes/Juan Oskar]

Thanks guys! I'm very interested what the "A&M Corner" thinks of my stuff. Our tastes are so similar.

"How many other musicians were there with you on this album apart from the three mentioned?"

All the tracks were done on my Yamaha Motif ES. At one level I feel bad/weird because every conga, background brass, drum beat, and guitar, is a syth. But if this were 1966 or 1976 or...this disc would have cost me a fortune.

The "Give it Una Mas" trumpets were Rod and John. (I don't play that well)

The Ian Hugh track #17 is an inside joke. We grew up together and he's wanted to be on my CDz so I said I'll put you on the disc....Just not as a player.

Later amigos......J

 

[Stephen Vakil]

Glad you told me - I thought #17 was a typo!!

Amazed that just one person could produce almost all the sounds on this album!

Stephen

 

[Jay Maynes/Juan Oskar]

Here are a couple "Superhero" reviews. I thought they were fun to read.

Thursday, August 23, 2007
Eartaste.com Juan Oskar - Superhero
A soundtrack in search of a movie. This is an instrumental album, complete with a love scene near a fire place, a stroll along the beach, a chase scene, and a superhero performing acts of bravery. The music evokes pictures in my mind, and I am ready to write a script myself if no one else has done it, a sort of Austin Powers meets Fletch movie. In fact, the existing Fletch movies aren't near as good as the books, perhaps we can use the movie for a good Fletch movie. Or Austin Powers VI. I could even make the music work with dumb and dumber Part 7 – two superheroes in one movie. Needless to say, this is a fun CD. I picked the title cut to write about, mostly because it describes the theme I dreamt of as I listened to the entire album, but I could have picked any cut. I'll shoutout Last Son, which is a thoughtful meditation on the loss of something near and dear, depending on the script it could be a pet cat, or one's virginity. Another shoutout for Give It Una Mas, which is the chase scene I already mentioned. If soundtracks don't appeal to you, think of this as a bachelor pad album, one of those 60's relics of fun background romantic music.

Another thing I'd like to mention is the commercial tagged on to the end of the CD. What a brilliant idea. Fantastic for indie folks - what better place to advertise some of your older CDs than right there on your new one? I really like this idea. Even after putting on a 12 minute "hidden cut", most CDs have room for a hefty pod-cast type production that features highlights from past albums. An idea worth thinking about stealing.

Sunday September 9, 2007
Apequake.com
Superman font and Ron Popeil makeup does not create a superhero. It does, however, paint the canvass for Juan Oskar's kitsch universe of new age, theme music and generic old-time aping. Superhero is a motley batter of Mannheim Steamroller, Trans-Siberian Orchestra, Herb Alpert, The Lawrence Welk Show and jazz and traditional classical.
Programming and songwriting are strong suits for Oskar. Superhero is a tribute album. The jester does his masters proud by applying their art into one compilation, but does not tailor them to his signature. His soul is wrapped in their music … their sound. Most of the Superhero lacks identity [well … maybe, it's secret … sorry, HAD to go there].
When Juan is unmasked, mixed results surface. The good was the cheeky "Techno Attack at Level 9" – inherent lameness of a Mannheim Steamroller / generic retro techno platter aside, the result was hilarious. But closing a CD with a shameless plug for a past Christmas rendering forced me to taste my own vomit and spittle.

 

[Mike Blakesley]

Funny how one guy thinks the plug at the end is good, and the other guy thinks it's bad.

I thought it would have been funnier to put that in the middle of the CD. 'We'll be right back with more great music. Now don't touch that skip button...we'd like to tell you about some other FANTASTIC sounds from the ever-growing Juan Oskar library!"

 

[Stephen Vakil]

Well, I liked the plug!!

 

[Jay Maynes/Juan Oskar]

Hola amigos.......If you have absolutely nothing to do, here are some links you can leave comments and reviews. Thanks.......Jay

Http://www.amazon.com/Superhero-Jua...3477630?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1187224975&sr=1-1

Http://muzikmansreviews.blogspot.com/2007/09/juan-oskar-is-superhero-on-new-indie.html

Http://muzikmansreviews.blogspot.com/

Http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474977128225

Http://muzikman.blog-city.com/juan_oskarsuperhero_pr.htm

http://www.spraci.com/boards/wall/112861.html

 

[Murray]

Hola amigos.......If you have absolutely nothing to do, here are some links you can leave comments and reviews. Thanks.......Jay

I would Jay, but I don't have a copy of the CD... yet

Maybe I can make something up...

 

[Murray]

I got my copy of Superhero in the mail yesterday. As with the previous Juan Oskar albums, I'm just blown away by Jay's performances on trumpet and keyboards (and he sings pretty good too), and impressed that he wrote nearly all the songs! The album is so entertaining from start to finish (yes, even the "plug" ).

If there was any justice in this world, Juan Oskar would be a major star!

A THOUSAND THANK YOU'S Jay for sending this gem my way!!!

 

[Jay Maynes/Juan Oskar]

Have you hit the big time when you have your own ringtones? J

http://www.groupietunes.com/artists/juanoskar

 

[Rudy]

Hey, I thought a person couldn't be a superhero until they wore their underwear *outside* of their pants!

 

[Jay Maynes/Juan Oskar]

This is a review from "The Chicken Fish Speaks"

Juan Oskar - Superhero - CD
(Juan Oskar) The very scary cover photo really freaked me out and I had no idea what to expect from this release. Once I finally played the disc what I heard was a keyboard based song that sounded like something from an early Mario game. All of the songs are electronically based with the exception of the trumpet which highlights most of the tracks. It sounds a lot like the music that appeared once disco was dying and people started to experiment with synthesizers or to put it bluntly the music you hear as the backing track on a bad porno.
-- Grog Mutant (2007)

 

[Stephen Vakil]

Hi Jay!

Mmmmmmmm

Well I wouldn't pay any attention to that c@@p if I were you. He's wrong.

Stephen