A Cappella recordings?

PhilNYC · « **on:** 14 Nov 2003, 08:42 pm »

Can anyone suggest some good A Cappella recordings? Am mostly interetsed in all-male groups, but other suggestions would be appreciated...

Phil

meilankev · « **Reply #1 on:** 14 Nov 2003, 08:55 pm »

Phil,

I have a DVD-A recording by a gospel group call "Take 6". For a few songs, they are very impressive. But after 6 or 7 songs (for me), it gets pretty repetitive. I don't regret buying it, as I pull it out every week or so to hear my favorite 3 or 4 songs.

Kevin

Marbles · « **Reply #2 on:** 14 Nov 2003, 09:01 pm »

DaVinci's Notebook is AWESOME! and funny too

Highly recommended

http://www.davincisnotebook.com/

jqp · « **Reply #3 on:** 14 Nov 2003, 09:09 pm »

Take Six Take Six is the one to get. Excellent!

Moxy Frouvous Bargainville http://img.epinions.com/images/opti/d1/51/127850.jpg is also excellent for male acapella. More of a pop variety toungue-in-cheek stuff. There is some accompaniment, but lots of great 4-part harmony. Great version of "Spiderman", "King of Spain", "The Lazy Boy"

Eagles "7 Bridges Road" also is a good song.

Let us know what else you find!

SWG255 · « **Reply #4 on:** 14 Nov 2003, 09:11 pm »

Hi,

I don't have any recordings by DaVinci's Notebook but I've enjoyed them live a couple times. I'm partial to recordings by The Bobs, especially their first two discs. The first disc is the better sounding of the two. For familiar tunes done A Cappella and great sonics, get "The Persuasions Sing the Beatles" on Chessky records. I have the CD, but it's also available on SACD too.

Quote from: Marbles

DaVinci's Notebook is AWESOME! and funny too

Highly recommended

http://www.davincisnotebook.com/

PeteG · « **Reply #5 on:** 14 Nov 2003, 09:14 pm »

One disc I use alot for male voices is "THE PERSUASIONS" -Sing the Beatles. It's from Chasky Records a Hybrid SACD disc, sounds great
a good demo disc for voice.

jqp · « **Reply #6 on:** 14 Nov 2003, 09:26 pm »

By the way, on the Moxy Frouvous, some songs are imitating the style of some other popular songs - half the fun of this clever album.

spudco · « **Reply #7 on:** 22 Nov 2003, 03:42 pm »

One of the best recordings I own is the Mapleshades "Walk With Me" by The ARC Choir. Great sounding gospel.

Mojo Nixon has a good cut on "Root Hog or Die" titled "Leagalize It"

Several Red Clay Rambler records have a cut or two that are fun.

I found an extended version of "Love Shack" by The B-52's that always stops conversation.

PeteG · « **Reply #8 on:** 22 Nov 2003, 04:17 pm »

Quote from: spudco

One of the best recordings I own is the Mapleshades "Walk With Me" by The ARC Choir. Great sounding gospel.

If your system is set up right this recording sounds so real it's amazing.

doug s. · « **Reply #9 on:** 22 Nov 2003, 04:26 pm »

the benedictine monks "chant" is really cool, & i like anyting by ladysmith black mombazo - one of my fave groups...

doug s.

BradJudy · « **Reply #10 on:** 23 Nov 2003, 05:16 am »

It isn't all male, but The Real Group is definitely worth a listen. I only have their 'Unreal' album and I just noticed they have several more now (I haven't looked in years).

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/stores/artist/glance/-/47938/ref=pd_ap_sr/002-2637129-4160053

JackStraw · « **Reply #11 on:** 23 Nov 2003, 06:53 am »

Quote from: PeteG

One disc I use alot for male voices is "THE PERSUASIONS" -Sing the Beatles. It's from Chasky Records a Hybrid SACD disc, sounds great
a good demo disc for voice.

They have a Grateful Dead CD as well -- "Might as Well...The Persuasions Sing Grateful Dead." Highly recommended whether you know the music or not... raw emotion.

jqp · « **Reply #12 on:** 24 Nov 2003, 04:32 pm »

PhilNYC -

What have you picked up?

What did you think?

PhilNYC · « **Reply #13 on:** 24 Nov 2003, 06:11 pm »

Quote from: jqp

PhilNYC -

What have you picked up?

What did you think?

jqp,

Good timing! I ordered a few from Amazon and just got them over the weekend. Here's what I got (note that I'm pretty new to the genre, so my comments might be lame):

The Real Group: Unreal! - Seems pretty typical...what you'd imagine put out by professional a cappella groups that cut their teeth in their college singing group. Lots of "doowop"ing, rhythmically pretty standard stuff. Recording is pretty good, although somewhat produced (eg. fingersnapping seems separate from the singers in the soundstage).

Ladysmith Black Mambazo: Best of - Pretty cool stuff initially...but after a while, starts to sound very similar. Maybe I've heard Paul Simon's "Graceland" too much, but there wasn't much new here. Recording-wise, not bad, but the mic seems to be at a distance from the singers...so you get a more integrated sound and not much in terms of hearing individual performers.

Take6: Take6: I like the performances here. But this is definitely a digital recording from the 80s...a bit compressed and overdone with the digital processing.

The Persuasions: A Cappella Dreams - My favorite of the bunch. Definitely more "soul" than the others...whereas The Real Group sounds like graduates from a college singing group, The Persuasions sound like the guys who grew up singing at the corner bus station. Recording-wise, the singers are right there in front of you.

hmen · « **Reply #14 on:** 8 Dec 2003, 02:45 pm »

The Persuasions - Frankly Acapella. The Persuadions sing the Music of Zappa.

elektratig · « **Reply #15 on:** 8 Dec 2003, 08:30 pm »

You probably didn't have this in mind, but I'd recommend anything by The Tallis Scholars.

bluesky · « **Reply #16 on:** 9 Dec 2003, 06:57 am »

Just thought I'd add my favourite A Cappella music, the Nylons and The Flying Pickets (British group) are both great IMHO.

Bluesky
Brisbane Australia

SWG255 · « **Reply #17 on:** 9 Dec 2003, 11:20 pm »

I too like the Nylons, especially "Seamless". They use electronic percussion instead of "mouth and body percussion", so i suppose some A Cappella purists will look down their noses at them, but nice music nonetheless.

What has really surprised me is that no one has yet mentioned Rockapella. Best known for their work on the Carmen San Diego PBS TV show, they have a bunch of albums out there, my favorite is "Primer".

For even more off the wall stuff, try either Toxic Audio (www.toxicaudio.com) or All About Buford (www.allaboutbuford.com)

I'll have to see if I can find anything by the Flying Pickets, I'm always looking for new (to me) stuff to listen to.

Quote from: bluesky

Just thought I'd add my favourite A Cappella music, the Nylons and The Flying Pickets (British group) are both great IMHO.

Bluesky
Brisbane Australia

bluesky · « **Reply #18 on:** 10 Dec 2003, 01:27 am »

Dear SWG255

The Flying Pickets have been around for a while and they do a lot of covers but are really good and throw in a bit of humour on their live stuff as well as some creative sound effects.

Ian

Beezer · « **Reply #19 on:** 10 Dec 2003, 01:52 am »

Has anyone heard the Cantus recordings done by John Atkinson, Stereophile editor? I fear it would be audiophile dreck, but maybe not and I'd guess the recording quality would be pretty amazing.

Beez