Perfect Gentleman by Randy Kaplan

He utilized these rock, jazz, waltz, swing, bossa nova, dixie, cha-cha, and rhumba beats to fashion songs ranging from simply-structured folk and country ballads to torch songs, lampoons, spirituals, and satires to songs with chromatic melodies, dissonant harmonies, and striking modulations.

Kaplan's disparate influences are evident in the broad range of styles of these 28 songs: from John Prine (Rusty & New) to Antonio Carlos Jobim (Little Bee) to Paul Simon (Stay New) to Stephen Sondheim (Twice) to poet John Ashbery (None of Us Has Ever Died) to filmmaker Eric Rohmer (Perfect Gentleman).

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Reviews of PERFECT GENTLEMAN:

"Classy and intelligent acoustic observations from Brooklyn-based writer. "Perfect Gentleman" is a 28 song double album that, rarely for such a large beast, doesn't outstay its welcome. Built around Kaplan's high and light vocals and acoustic guitar, it incorporates a variety of samples, primarily organs and slightly strange sounding drums, to create the rhythm tracks, all of which he plays himself. But despite this, it is essentially a simple, not to say nostalgic, album that allows space for the lyrics to breathe. And those lyrics don't underestimate their listener's intelligence, being literate and occasionally not a little highbrow (and that's not a criticism), unafraid of multi-syllable words or obscure subject matter. Kaplan is a craftsman in the tradition of Paul Simon, to whose "Still Crazy After All These Years" "Perfect Gentleman" is first cousin. There are other similarities to Simon as well, as Kaplan is very much a sharp observer and chronicler, rather than a heart on the sleeve writer. But he's not so detached as to forget his common humanity, and his songs are by turns tender, compassionate and understanding. He also has a sense of humour that flits through the songs, notably on "Buff's" lament for a body gone to seed and "Never be Alone"'s protagonist who has a mobile permanently welded to her ear. Two of the best things here is "Girl in a Big White Sweater" ("drove away in a little red car"), which paints an entire picture in those twelve words and builds to a frenetic unrequited climax and "Eve", about the original. "Perfect Gentleman" is well worth seeking out, as on this evidence are Kaplan's previous four offerings."

-Jeremy Searle / AMERICANA-UK.com

"RANDY KAPLAN... stands alone, within equidistant small-rock-hurling reach of PAUL SIMON (and) WOODIE GUTHRIE... His musical approach is homemade cheerful multi-instrumental confidence with a harmonica. It's delightful small scale foolishness with plunder chests full of styles and rhythms sitting under clever drolleries and nifty tunes that include lines like "she makes me listen to Tom Jones while she talks Japanese on the telephone" or "I'm going to die right here. Get me a notary. I want a big big funeral!" There are a lot of instruments making very pretty, quirky, funny and sometimes dead right noises throughout. It's just dead good entertaining perkiness. And I almost guarantee that Mr. Kaplan sells van loads of these albums at gigs in New York (did I mention he was born on Long Island?). His personal story telling, his cheerful nuttiness, his ability to slip into and out of the mournful or the weird... these are the qualities that the man will convey most in person. When you get the full album for yourself, see if you can find the "Eye of a Tiger" quote. You can then go look for his four earlier albums. Good luck!"

-Sam Saunders / WHISPERINANDHOLLERIN.com

"Quality recordings from lo-fi underground recording popster Randy Kaplan. Kaplan's tunes are nice and laidback...often recalling the music of Paul Simon and Bob Dylan. This is a whopping collection of songs...two discs containing a total of 28 tracks. That's a lot...if you like what Kaplan is doing, these discs will provide a great deal of spinning power. Unlike most underground songwriters, Randy doesn't write weird or crazy music. Instead, he writes tunes that could easily be accepted by the general public. (Rating: 4+++)"

-Baby Sue / BABYSUE.com

"Not many people wound sing about Eve (as in the Bible's Eve) being the first human hermaphrodite but Randy Kaplan explores that notion on his enigmatic "Perfect Gentleman". He performs his tongue-in-cheek vocals over an assortment of vintage organs and boisterous guitar with a light rhythm section bleeding on the edges. His voice is what's at the center of the mix with an earnest take on life and all its hypocrisies. The album doesn't lack in depth either including length as it reigns in strong of the double disc variety. He's certainly unique and his unique song arrangements will keep fans coming back for more salivating the whole way."

-J-Sin / smother.net

"Kaplan has a pleasant, easy-going hand in his songwriting, and the songs here are instantly likable... This demonstrate(s) Kaplan's ample writing skills."

-CENT.com

"Randy's uniqueness and originality come from his uncanny ability to see his world and ours from almost any angle. These perspectives come together in a poetry of contradictions and complexities that are exposed through his hypnotic melodies and profoundly intimate lyrics. His literary yet accessible songs capture ambivalence and investigate the inner lives of human beings in the tradition of Leonard Cohen or Stephen Sondheim."

-KRISELEN.com

"...Randy has a collection of cheap organs and has pulled from them many different rhythm tracks to which he writes his music too. That's about the only unorganic thing about Perfect Gentlemen. Kaplan manages to get personal on many different levels throughout the double album. He jumps off with one of the best tracks on the album, "Rusty & New". It's interesting to see the way he can overlap the beats almost seamlessly while creating some very impressive songs on top of."

-Dennis Scanland / MUSICEMISSIONS.com

"Randy Kaplan sounds like a fun guy to have at parties, entertaining guests with his humorous tales of life, love, and interesting characters. He takes a simple approach to psychological, esthetic, social, historical and political problems by turning them into stories. Part cabaret, part folk, part lo-fi inventiveness, Kaplan strums his guitar and provides beat samples from cheap toy organs to accent his narratives about lost girlfriends, bad behavior, the state of the world, useless desires, and such. Kaplan ventures into the surreal, as he discusses Edith Wharton's love for Alexander Hamilton or a woman who won't get off her cell phone, even when she's on the toilet. He pines for Bernadette Peters although he knows he has problems maintaining a relationship with women older than himself, wonders if the Biblical Eve was a hermaphrodite and pines for the Garden of Eden. If Kaplan's topics seem scattered, they are all united through the narrator's consciousness. He's having a good time letting his imagination run wild and invites you to join him."

-Steve Horowitz / POPMATTERS.com

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Randy Kaplan is a Brooklyn-based songwriter known for his incisive lyrics and American roots-influenced songs. As indebted to I.B. Singer, John Ashbery, and Woody Allen as he is to Robert Johnson, John Prine, and Dave Van Ronk, Kaplan intricately finger-picks his way through unpredictable live shows which, in addition to his original compositions, may also include Tin Pan Alley gems, obscure Broadway numbers, Rap classics, and Delta Blues songs. Randy is also the music teacher at his neighborhood pre-school and never imagined that so many of his groupies would be under the age of five.

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