Toyota Camry (83 92) & Holden Apollo (89 93) Haynes Online Manual

The odd title of this album is taken from the lyrics to a Minutemen song, but the listener will hear a lot more Anthony Braxton and Roscoe Mitchell in Randy McKean's work than any punk band. Indeed, the recording is dedicated to the former and includes two pieces by the latter. McKean's compositions tend to be knotty, post-bop structures with an underlying sense of swing and good humor, much in the manner of his mentors…

In 1996, Jeannette Sorrell and Apollo's Fire, the Cleveland-based Baroque orchestra that she founded, made a very fine recording of Messiah, but this 2010 album surpasses it in every way. Sorrell's treatment of the slow opening of the Sinfonia tips her hand about what her approach will be to the oratorio as a whole. Rather than playing the rhythm dotted, as written (ponderous) or double dotted, as it's usually interpreted by early music specialists (rigid and severe), she splits the difference and plays it as a triplet, which gives it a lovely dancing lilt. It's indicative of the exceptionally light touch and punchy rhythmic vitality she employs throughout.