House of The Blue Danube

When I first heard this album and this song I thought it was amazing. The iconic Malcolm McLaren back in the studio, playing around and creating some incredible music as he usually did. I thought then and still think today that Waltz Darling was and is ahead of it's time. In my opinion, on your big boys speakers this song, House of The Blue Danube and the others on this album will blow you away. Now the reason I bought this CD back in the day was two fold. A, it was Malcolm McLaren and B, it was produced by the incomporable Trevor Horn. If you ever bopped your head or grooved to any song by The Art of Noise then you were listening to a Trevor Horn production. Needless to say I am a huge Trevor Horn fan.

What makes Danube so amazing though, besides Bootsy Collins ferociously rugged bassline is what Trevor Horn did, something a lot of producers today couldn't pull off. He was able to, at the constant behest of Malcolm to incorporate Johann Strauss' 3/4 timed classical piece into Malcolm's 4/4 timed pop music. This is akin to fitting an elephant into a Volkswagen Beetle with the seats still in the car. Danube is a funky instrumental track and the first track off of Malcolm's 1989 release. It pretty much set the table for what you were going to hear the rest of th way, splashes of classical music giving Waltz Darling a flourish and in my opinion, a timeless quality.

This album has remained a favorite in my collection and I have told damn near everyone I know about it, now I'm telling you. Listen to House of the Blue Danube and if you don't agree with my "timeless" assessment, then at least admit that it's funky. Enjoy!