Paul Anka: Rock Swings : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

An appealing novelty from a former teen idol your parents may be too young to remember, Paul Anka's Rock Swings is destined to be the one big-band album in many college kids' record collections. Packed with schmaltzed-up covers of Nirvana, Oasis and Bon Jovi, Anka's bid for latter-day cool falls flat -- which is part of the appeal. The horn-y arrangements and Anka's Sinatra-isms turn "Smells Like Teen Spirit" into something surreal, replacing grunge gravitas with geezer dreaminess. "Jump" may take the prize for postmodern hilarity: Splashy horns announce Eddie Van Halen's signature synth riff, and Anka turns an already cheesy lyric into a joyful celebration of rock-dude callousness. Rock Swings could have been done by any number of middle-aged crooners, but it's brimming with good humor and silly fun -- and it's far less annoying than a Cherry Poppin' Daddies record.