Introduction
One of my favourite things to do of an evening is to put on Classic Fm TV, and curl up on the sofa with a good book and a nice hot cup of tea. Quite often, I hear a piece of music that makes me sit up, pay attention, and take note of the name of the group or artist. That's exactly what happened with All Angels - They just happened to be singing one of my favourite songs (Songbird) in a perfect, sweet, harmony.
I'm lucky enough to have a mum who has a huge interest in choral, religious, and classical music, so the first thing I did was call her up, and see if she happened to have this. She did. So, I borrowed it, listened to it, and here we are!
The Group
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All Angels are a fresh-faced group of 16-17 year olds named Melanie, Laura, Daisy and Charlotte , and their album is a mixture of Classical, Religious, and Pop music. I've no doubt that most people will have heard a couple of these pieces before, although perhaps not performed by this group. Although his is the groups debut album, some of the group may already be familiar to you. Daisy has her own Jazz album, and Laura was BBC2 radios ''Chorister of the Year''.
This group didn't come together on their own, but were put together by Universal, who is billing them as ''The Worlds first all-girl classical super group''. That's a mighty big statement to live up to!
The Artwork and Information
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The album cover is dominated by a picture of the four girls all dressed in white, and on the reverse is a track listing ( 13 tracks in total) as well as the URL to the official All Angels website. Inside the sleeve are more photos, track listings in detail (including original artist where appropriate, and composer credits), short biographies of all the girls, production credits, and thank-yous.
The Music
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Okay, onto the important bit- The music. Personally, I hate it when people describe every single track on an album, I find it gets repetitive. Instead, I'll tell you about my personal favorites, and give a full track listing at the end of this review.
The song that got me interested was Songbird, a song that's been very dear to me since I first heard the Eva Cassidy version years ago. The very first time I heard the All Angels version, I was immediately struck by the simplicity of the first few lines, a single voice accompanied only by the soft playing of a piano, and then this one voice gradually being joined by 3 others, all singing different parts of the harmony, yet fitting together perfectly. Occasionally, the harmony would drop back to allow one voice to shine through for a moment on a particularly meaningful line, before all coming together again. This song is beautiful either way, but these four voices make it heavenly.
Another particular favourite of mine is Ave Maria. I'm sure many readers will have heard one version or other of this song, as it's a Hail Mary, set to music. This version is set to music composed by Schubert. On this piece, all four voices begin the song together, and manage to convey a combination of reverence, worship, and joy, again harmonizing wonderfully.
Last but not least in my three favorites is a song I suspect every reader of this review will have heard before at some point. Robbie Williams ''Angels''. This song, I've always felt the lyrics were beautiful, but I never liked Robbie Williams's voice at all. This version however, I have no complaint at all about the vocals. Accompanied by piano and violins, a lone voice soars over the notes at the start of this song, a voice that seems to resonate with emotion and experience, and is joined in joyful harmony in the chorus. A wonderful instrumental (Provided by the Arc of Light orchestra) is the icing on the cake.
One thing about this group - whatever they sing, they sing with feeling and undeniable talent. Their harmonies are beautiful, perfectly timed, and enhance a well chosen selection of pieces that were already great, and are now even better for the Angels touch.
The orchestra and supporting choir also play an important role on this album, contributing to a finished product that is beautifully arranged. Especially on the Agnus Dei, the supporting choir deserves a round of applause!
The Price and Where to Buy
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This retails for 7.99 on Amazon.co.uk
Full Track Listing
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1. Songbird
2. Flower Duet
3. Salve Regina
4. Steal Away
5. Windmills of Your Mind
6. Barcarolle
7. Silent Night
8. Hosanna
9. Ave Verum Corpus
10. Angels
11. Ave Maria
12. Pokarekare Ana
13. Agnus Dei
Get a Sneak Preview
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The wonders of the internet and getting to try before you buy on music. Below is a small selection of links where you can listen to excerpts from the album and watch videos of them performing.
http://www.myspace.com/allangelsofficial - The official Myspace of the group, including group profile, tour dates, and samples of the songs (not full length)
http://tinyurl.com/2cqxrd - A full length version of ''Songbird''
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ni60RiUxVY - Songbird, Live.
