Signum has raised
its profile considerably in the
last ten years. In that decade they
have produced about 150 CDs. The
Signum stable includes the King’s
Singers this being the group’s tenth
CD in as many years. You probably
have recordings from the group dating
back over twenty years on EMI or
other majors. This disc is somewhat
different from so many others. That’s
all to the good because as was said
by Caroline Gill in a recent article
(Gramophone, July 2008): "…..there
is no doubt that the King’s Singers
are a musical phenomenon and their
fan base follows them everywhere".
If you are a fan you will need no
further persuasion.
I have played parts
of this CD to various people. My
wife, an average music-lover said "awful". My son, a student
musician (oboist and singer), said
"dreadful". Why these
reactions, none of my friends like
it either. Indeed some laughed at
the ‘souped-up’ quality of the arrangements,
with reactions like ‘naff’, ‘twee’
and ‘sickly’. Oh dear! When you
add a measly playing time of just
50 minutes, a very studio-bound
close-miked recording, with added
reverb, and many fade-outs endured
on several tracks, including the
arrangement of ‘Steal Away’ you
might be tempted to abandon this
review straight away. However it’s
worth sticking with me and reading
on.
Let’s have some
help from the fold-up booklet notes.
These consist of an interview with
one of the singers, baritone Philip
Lawson. He is perhaps the arch culprit
as ten of his arrangements feature
here. On the reverse of the notes
by the way is a ‘pin-up’ photo of
the gents, looking sleek and serious
all at once. Anyway, to the booklet
conversation and the music.
Lawson says clearly
that "the studio experience
is two-edged". He adds that
they were in danger of "falling
in love with the technology".
They recorded the disc in the "drum
room", an especially large
one I suspect in the house of Status
Quo’s Francis Rossi (with the help
of Greg Jackman who ‘mixed’ the
album), hence the ‘pop-like’ sound
of the disc. Lawson describes how
they recorded one track per day,
rather a luxury, hence the reason
why they seem to have had such a
long recording period for this their
first ‘album’ for ten years. "Once
the singing was finished",
adds Lawson "there was mixing
to be done".
Elsewhere Lawson
tells us that "over the last
few years we have recorded many
classical albums so we all thought
it was time to redress the balance".
He adds that the songs will "refresh
the close harmony section of concerts
and the content of (their) master-classes".
He also reminds us that the album
is "not representative of everything
we do". So where does that
leave the prospective purchaser.
The English folksongs
come out best of all. In fact two ‘The Water is wide’ and ‘The Turtle
Dove’ are utterly entrancing. The
spirituals are quite successful,
especially ‘Deep River’ although
the arrangements seem to be searching
to be deliberately different. Despite
Lawson’s arguments to the contrary,
the popular songs like Randy Newman’s
‘When She loved Me’ too easily fall
into tune with ‘da-di-du’ vocalised
accompaniments. I personally find
fades-outs rather tacky. Nevertheless
all of the singing here is absolutely
superb - the finest of any male
group and the competition is nowadays
quite considerable. The balance
and the tuning are miraculous as
the singers negotiate some very
tricky corners, modulations and
dissonances. Sudden changes of dynamic
and melody moving between parts
creates a sense of producing just
the right atmosphere for each individual
track. This was their aim and also
the reason why the disc took so
many days to bring to fruition.
So, you ‘pays yer
money and yer takes yer choice’.
If all this seems appealing then
snap up the disc. I should add that
Philip Lawson says that the DVD
‘Byrd to Beatles’ which I have not
encountered yet is more representative
of their repertoire. Well, why not
buy that too.
Gary Higginson
1. Billy Joel arr. Philip Lawson
She’s Always a Woman [3.21]
2. James Taylor
arr.Lawson You can close your
eyes [3.41]
3. Traditional
English arr. Bob Chilcott Greensleeves
[3.01]
4. Traditional
American arr/Chilcott A Gift
to be Simple [2.07]
5. Spiritual arr.Lawson
Swing Lo Sweet Chariot [3.00]
6. Stephen Stills
arr.Lawson Helplessly Longing
[2.32]
7. Spiritual arr.Lawson
Deep River [4.01]
8. Trad. American
arr.Chilcott Black is the Color
[2.18]
9.Trad. English
arr. Lawson I Love my Love
[[3.42]
10.Trad. English
arr.Lawson The Water is Wide
[2.44]
11. Randy Newman
arr.Lawson When She Loved Me
[3.15]
12. Sting arr.Lawson
Valparaiso [3.48]
13. English Trad
arr Lawson The Turtle Dove
[3.21]
14. Paul Simon
arr.Lawson April Come She Will
[2.13]
15.Spiritual arr.
Chilcott Steal Away [2.54]
16. John David
arr. Peter Knight You are the
New Day [2.38]