Listen to Spencer Day sing "I'd Be Surprisingly Good For You" from Evita

[Patti LuPone FANatic]

Posted: 2/24/22 at 10:45pm

https://www.playbill.com/article/listen-to-spencer-day-cover-evitas-id-be-surprisingly-good-for-you

[Valentina3]

Posted: 2/25/22 at 8:07am

This was... Interesting. The melody and lyrics from the actual song are so hot that a jazz take seems redundant, but i do enjoy the slower tempo.

[John Adams]

Posted: 2/27/22 at 8:21am

"'I'd Be Surprisingly Good For You' [is] a real standout of [the Evita] score, yet never explored outside of the show and really does stand on its own. The work of the incredible Mexican guitarist Eduardo Leon is especially valuable on this track"

I agree that the song stands on its own very well. Unfortunately, Day's vocals are uninventive and lack any character.

I loved the sultry tempo, and the instrumental arrangement. Eduardo Leon's guitar is absolutely beautiful, but I'd be grateful if he'd swapped the guitar for a charango in at least a few bars (or they'd employed an additional instrumentalist to supplement the guitar with charango). 

I've always been disappointed by Webber's anglicized misrepresentation of Mexican or Spanish instrumentations/rhythms as being Argentine.

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 2/27/22 at 9:55am

John Adams said: "I’ve always been disappointed by Webber's anglicized misrepresentation of Mexican or Spanish instrumentations/rhythms as being Argentine."

He has admitted to being totally unfamiliar with Argentinean music styles when he wrote EVITA in the early 70s. He cringes today when he hears the original score.  

[John Adams]

Posted: 2/28/22 at 9:32am

BrodyFosse123 said: "John Adams said: "I’vealways been disappointed by Webber's anglicized misrepresentation of Mexican or Spanish instrumentations/rhythms as being Argentine."

He has admitted to being totally unfamiliar with Argentinean music styles when he wrote EVITA in the early 70s. He cringes today when he hears the original score."

So, he's got an opportunity to revive Evita with updated orchestrations, right? There was that revival that employed an Argentine actress as Evita, but I didn't (speaking personally) find that choice to be effective in any way.

I would love to see a revival where the orchestrations were revamped from scratch, and incorporated authentic, traditional instrumentation and rhythmic styles.