Friday, September 12, 2008
RARB review: O2: Sing Responsibly
I've written several more reviews for RARB since last I mentioned the topic. You can find all of my reviews here:
http://www.rarb.org/people/john-colton.html
There were some pretty good albums, but I didn't figure I needed to mention any of them here until now. But my review of Outspoken's album, "O2: Sing Responsibly" just got published. I was blown away by the album; here's my review:
http://www.rarb.org/reviews/847.html
Short review: This is an amazing album. You should buy it immediately.
Medium-length review: No, really, I mean it. Why are you still reading this review? This is the type of album that, when you finish, makes you want to start over immediately again from the beginning. In fact, I myself did just that: I listened to the album about four times in the first twelve hours after initially popping it into my CD player.
Long review: This is quite possibly the best collegiate a cappella album that I've ever heard. No, scratch that. This is quite possibly the best a cappella album that I've ever heard. The voices are so together in both rhythm and intonation that I would have guessed there were about six singers. Actually there are fifteen singers, and I was floored when I learned that.
The arrangements are interesting: baritone Travis Cox is a seriously talented (and prolific) arranger (8 of the 12 tracks). About the only track I disliked was Jesus Walks, a rap song. That was probably because I just really can't stand rap. But at least this was well done rap. I thought the best arrangements on the album were 100 Years and Macho Man. They were both done by Cox.
The soloists were all top-notch: terrific singers, but they didn't overpower the rest of the group as sometimes happens. In fact, the balance between soloists and backups was terrific in every single song. Bryan Alexanderson was a bit over-the-top as the soloist on Float On and Falls Apart, but even though he hammed it up quite a bit I was made to smile instead of grimace, and those were two of my favorite tracks.
Five of the songs on the album are ones I've heard on the radio. I liked all five on this album at least as much if not more than the original radio versions. This even includes 100 Years, which I liked so much I bought Five For Fighting's album. Brice Cloyd did an amazing job here — he sounds better than John Ondrasik does on the original, and in my opinion should be considered for a "Best Male Collegiate Solo" award. And this Macho Man is a rockin' version that is so much better than the original it's not even funny.
Basically, any one of these tracks could make it onto a BOCA album and I would not be surprised one bit.
Lastly, additional kudos go to whoever chose which songs to include on the album and the order in which they were placed. There's a sort of flow to the music from track to track all through the album that is hard to put my finger on but which goes well beyond a series of disjointed efforts that sometimes comprise albums these days.
Summary: Go buy the album already. Then you can thank me.
http://www.rarb.org/people/john-colton.html
There were some pretty good albums, but I didn't figure I needed to mention any of them here until now. But my review of Outspoken's album, "O2: Sing Responsibly" just got published. I was blown away by the album; here's my review:
http://www.rarb.org/reviews/847.html
Short review: This is an amazing album. You should buy it immediately.
Medium-length review: No, really, I mean it. Why are you still reading this review? This is the type of album that, when you finish, makes you want to start over immediately again from the beginning. In fact, I myself did just that: I listened to the album about four times in the first twelve hours after initially popping it into my CD player.
Long review: This is quite possibly the best collegiate a cappella album that I've ever heard. No, scratch that. This is quite possibly the best a cappella album that I've ever heard. The voices are so together in both rhythm and intonation that I would have guessed there were about six singers. Actually there are fifteen singers, and I was floored when I learned that.
The arrangements are interesting: baritone Travis Cox is a seriously talented (and prolific) arranger (8 of the 12 tracks). About the only track I disliked was Jesus Walks, a rap song. That was probably because I just really can't stand rap. But at least this was well done rap. I thought the best arrangements on the album were 100 Years and Macho Man. They were both done by Cox.
The soloists were all top-notch: terrific singers, but they didn't overpower the rest of the group as sometimes happens. In fact, the balance between soloists and backups was terrific in every single song. Bryan Alexanderson was a bit over-the-top as the soloist on Float On and Falls Apart, but even though he hammed it up quite a bit I was made to smile instead of grimace, and those were two of my favorite tracks.
Five of the songs on the album are ones I've heard on the radio. I liked all five on this album at least as much if not more than the original radio versions. This even includes 100 Years, which I liked so much I bought Five For Fighting's album. Brice Cloyd did an amazing job here — he sounds better than John Ondrasik does on the original, and in my opinion should be considered for a "Best Male Collegiate Solo" award. And this Macho Man is a rockin' version that is so much better than the original it's not even funny.
Basically, any one of these tracks could make it onto a BOCA album and I would not be surprised one bit.
Lastly, additional kudos go to whoever chose which songs to include on the album and the order in which they were placed. There's a sort of flow to the music from track to track all through the album that is hard to put my finger on but which goes well beyond a series of disjointed efforts that sometimes comprise albums these days.
Summary: Go buy the album already. Then you can thank me.
# posted by John Colton @ 7:31 AM 
