The Ajjancy - 2024 - ...To Be Arranged

(36:06; The Ajjancy)

Track list:
1. Baba's Bizarre 3:39
2. Roundabout Thriller 5:17
3. 25 or 6 to Stronger 4:23
4. Babe, You Belong 4:30
5. Nothing Else in White Satin 4:45
6. Frame By Style 3:56
7. Stairway to Ashes 9:36

Line-up:
The Ajjancy - vocals
Fernando Perdomo - guitars, mellotron
Dan Feiszli - bass
Terry Branam - drums  
Matt Lebofsky - piano
Jeremy Nesse - Chapman Stick
Horns for Hire - horns
"Hamstrings" - strings
with:
Brooklyn Ajjan - vocals
Mark Heisey - vocals
"PeeWee Durante" - vocals
HH Tay - vocals
Orbel Babayan - guitars
Emiliano Mercuri - guitars
Josh Parker - guitars
Daniel Charavitsidis - drums
Nick Barra - keyboards
Matt Brown - keyboards


Prolusion.
US artist The Ajjancy appears to be a fairly recent addition to the music scene, at least under this moniker. And the speciality of this musician, alongside several accomplices, is to create what I see is described as mash-ups: The art of transforming two original songs into a single new song, using select elements from both of these songs to accomplish this. Which is popular entertainment for many, but not a creative process all copyright holders will regard in a positive light. Earlier this year The Ajjancy made the album "...to Be Arranged" available on non-commercial platforms, as well as submitting the album for a possible review to a number of different websites.

Analysis.
The promo version of this album comes with the warning "this is an album of mashup covers - it's illegal". And, presumably, the most severe non-legal aspect of this creation is to earn money from it. Hence why it can only be accessed on a very limited set of non-commercial platforms. If you want to own this album, at least you can't do so by any regular means. As such, this is as non-commercial of a creation as you can ask for.

But what you get when listening to this album apart from the possible joy some may experience when annoying copyright holders, is to experience musicians having fun, and some real quality craftsmanship being applied to well regarded songs. Many of which are loved and treasured by the progressive rock community.

The artist sets songs from different traditions and different eras up against each other here, and managed to combine core details from both of the songs in an often impressively seamless manner. So while the end result may sound like sacrilege for fans of one or the other, I did note down that for my ears at least we did get mashup songs here that sounded like they had been created as originals. With a very tight and smooth combination of songs that it has taken skill and effort to create. Perhaps not for the ears of those who know the originals in intimate detail, but for those with a more casual interest in the bands and the songs whose material have been combined I'd guess that quite a few will be rather impressed.

While an argument could be made for this being an album without any progressive elements present at all, mashups are generally regarded in a dim light by some hardened music fans and musicians alike, for my sake I find the sheer fun of it all an interesting experience. If this is an album I'd listen to over an album with original material? Probably not. But it is an album I'd pick up now and then if I'm in the mood for something that is plain fun to listen to. With mashups like 'Nothing Else in White Satin' and 'Stairway to Ashes' being personal favorites, and progressive rock fans with a good sense of humour should find songs such as 'Roundabout Thriller' and 'Frame by Style' being able to inspire a smile and a chuckle too.

Conclusion.
Music is about emotions, and while there are many albums that explore fun music, there aren't too many albums out there that makes inspired fun of music and with music. I would suspect that the musicians involved in this venture had a lot of fun creating and recording these mashups, and it is just too bad that copyright legislation makes it impossible to gauge the commercial interest for such a production. If you like mashups that makes use of progressive rock, or simply enjoy well made mashups for the sheer fun of it, this is an album that should be worth a listen.

Olav "Progmessor" Björnsen, September 2024

Links:
https://www.facebook.com/theajjancy