It would be very easy for anyone coming from a foot-on-the-monitor, rock ‘n’ roll background to approach such musical territory, that of the 50s-infused supper club singer, old-school crooner, lounge lizard, and lovable scoundrel, with a tongue firmly lodged in the cheek and play things for laughs.
Thankfully, Ralph Champagne has more respect for music than that and ‘Let’s Be Friends’ comes across as an authentic, artful, tasteful and appealing song. He still has a twinkle in his eye, the hint of a smile as he sings, but only in the same way that the likes of Frank or Dean or Tony would have approached it. This is the real deal.
So what our sparkling Mr Champagne gives us is a cool duet, Petra Haden providing the other half of the conversation about calming down a relationship to a more casual consideration, one soaked in gypsy-violin and distant accordions and running on a sassy and sultry beat. The whole thing makes you want to tango the night away in a discreet cafe in the back streets of Paris’s Latin Quarter. And if possible, sometime around the mid-fifties.
Okay, it’s not a Christmas song per se, but it’s perfect music for the season of good cheer that is just around the corner. (And then for any month after that!) And with a full album due on 20th November, it is fair to say that Christmas is going to come early this year.
