Lenny and the Shlockers--old music and new

Lenny Solomon, never one to miss a beat :), has released a couple of fine CDs recently. I first acquired his newest "new" CD, "Osher v'Osher" ("Happiness and Wealth"), one of his Israeli "solo" albums. I particularly enjoy "Laasot," "Energy" (the first instrumental that he's recorded, to the best of my knowledge--some of us tend to forget that Lenny's an accomplished keyboard player, and his daughter Tamar joins him on flute here), the very Mizrachi-sounding "Lecha Hashem" (co-composed with Rabbi Yosef Friedman and sung by Shlomo Katz), and the hard-rock "Ana B'Koach." Then I purchased his newest "old" CD, "Shlock Rock GH2 - Greatest Hits 1991-1996." Since this CD is an anthology of previously-recorded music, I'd heard a number of the very fine songs thereon before, and could already have recommended the wonderful doo-wop "Baruch Hagever," the conga-line-inspiring Disney's-"Little Mermaid"-based "Into the Sea," and "Hashem is One," among other songs, but lemme tell ya, the Paul Simon parody "Called Michal," with its delightful opening "shtick" (Shlock Rock uses this term to indicate a spoken comic introduction, in this case about a planned "over-the-top" Bat Mitzvah party) is worth the price of this CD all by itself.

Keep an eye on this guy.