Released as an attempt to cash in on the swing revival that swept through America in the late '90s,
MCA
's
At the Swing Cat's Ball
contains 12 songs that spotlight
Louis Jordan
's hardest-swinging material. Since
Jordan
towered above most jump blues practitioners in the '40s, it's easy to enjoy the compilation, even if you question the reasons behind its assembly. Since it concentrates on swinging material, it isn't a strict hits compilation (even though there are hits here), but that probably won't bother Generation Y swingers, whom this compilation is clearly targeted at. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine