In the 60s Paul Anka made his mark among the youthful crooner crowd with the likes of Bobby Vinton, cementing himself as a pop sensation for his generation. His vocals have always been impeccable, and have taken on a Tony Bennett-like quality as the years have passed that is immensely satisfying. To add depth to his image, it's noteworthy to inform the "casual" music fan that Anka is also an amazingly prolific song writer, having penned such instant classics as Sinatra's "My Way", among many others.

Some might question the reasoning behind taking on a concept album after 47 years in show business, especially when other comparable acts might spend more time recording songs that are reflections of their glory days—but that would not be true to the spirit of the innovator and songwriter that Anka has always embodied. He's not just another songster. Rock Swings (Verve) takes the time to painstakingly recreate modern "rock" classics as big band swinging standards—not as tributes or send ups, but how they might have been performed if they had just been thought of during a different era of music.

The album's opener is a wonderful cover of Bon Jovi's "It's My Life". Anka portrays the song as if it was a big band standard like "The Best Is Yet To Come", but empowers its with all the energy of the rocking radio ballad. The great bit is that the Bon Jovi lyrics pay tribute to "My Way," reflecting back perfectly to Anka. The track that swings the most, in this writer's humble opinion, is the Nirvana cover of "Smells Like Teen Spirit", This arrangement is first class in musicianship and highly danceable.

The other swingin' noteworthy is Soundgarden's "Black Hole Sun", a track that is reportedly getting play from various Swing deejays who aren't afraid to break format. Anka's transformation of the track to a contemplative lounge piece is reminiscent of classic self-deprecating jazz recordings. Oasis fans probably won't know how to take the new jive cover of "Wonderwall", but hopefully they will appreciate the spirit of creativity that transformed it.

There are some nice bossa nova-style covers—Billy Idol's "Eyes Without A Face" and the Cure's "Love Cats"—both feeling immensely slinky and worthy of a Vegas lounge. There's a lot of stuff here for the Ballroom Foxtrot crowd to get excited about, too. The covers of Van Halen's "Jump" and Michael Jackson's "The Way You Make Me Feel" transfer easily into that dance format, and the songs play long form, so enjoy Anka's big band riffing off song's they aren't allowed to tackle every day.

This recording certainly isn't going to be for everybody. Hardcore fans of the original versions who never step out of those genres are going to revolt as if this was religious sacrilege. Swinging deejays who have become elitist in the mid-phase of the swing rebirth are going to pan this, too. But people who enjoy music in all its forms, who know that interpretation is one of the things that makes art what it is in the first place—those people are going to think this is lots of fun. The spirit of youth is not owned by any one specific generation, the commentary made by the songs is timeless, and Paul Anka proves that with his entire career.

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