RARB REVIEW
School: MIT
Group: Logarhythms
Album: Songs From The Bagel
Total time: 70:42, 24 songs
Tracks 1-12, 24 recorded 1992-93
Tracks 13-23 recorded 1993-94
Ordering Information
Track Listing
- Good Old A Cappella (6.2)
- Crazy Little Thing Called Love (5.0)
- Linden Lea (5.2)
- Leave It Like It Is (6.2)
- Sweet and Lovely (6.6)
- Twisting (6.8)
- Closer to Fine (6.2)
- I'll Still be Loving You (5.6)
- Steamroller (6.2)
- Limburger Sandwich (6.0)
- Don't Fear the Reaper (6.4)
- Doctor Me (6.6)
- All My Loving (6.4)
- Friday I'm in Love (5.6)
- There Is A Ship (7.4)
- Bohemian Rhapsody (7.4)
- All Through the Night (6.4)
- Galileo (7.0)
- Heart of My Heart (5.6)
- Somebody (6.8)
- There Be None of Beauty's Daughters (5.6)
- Speed Racer (6.2)
- Leave It (7.6)
- The Long Day Closes (6.4)
Reviews
This album was reviewed by five members of
RARB. In this compilation, their comments are
always listed in a consistent order. Thus, for each song (and in the
"overall" section), all comments numbered "1" are from the same
reviewer, as are those numbered "2", etc.
Overall
- This male a cappella group gets off to a bit of a slow start on
this album, but fear not, they greatly improve after the first couple
of songs. This album includes an unusually large number of choral
pieces, including traditional, madrigal and barbershop styles.
This type of singing is clearly the strength of the group. They
work well together and consistently demonstrate smooth blend
and masterful use of dynamics. On some of the other songs, however,
the Logs could be much tighter with their rhythm and tuning. It is
primarily the pop songs that suffer from less discipline. Because of
this, the Logs do not always sound consistent — sometimes they are
really together, and sometimes they are all over the place.
The group could also benefit from some vocal percussion in their pop
selections, though they do make use of some effective snaps and hand
claps at times. Overall, Songs from the Bagel is worth a listen if
you are a fan of tight choral harmony and don't mind some other songs
in between.
Rating: 6 (6.9)
- The album really varied. Some songs were very crisp and polished
while others sounded like they just figured the arrangement out
earlier in the evening. With 24 songs on the album, I think it's a
challenge to learn all of those and do all of them perfectly. They
have some outstanding basses, but their mixes tended to be bass heavy.
They could have had some nice effects by completely dropping the bass
lines for a verse or two here and there since it's normally so strong.
In general, this group is very solid, as is most of the album. I just
they're capable of taking it to a higher level and haven't done that
yet.
Rating: 7 (6.7)
- I really want to commend the Logarhythms for the diversity of
this album. There's such pressure these days for groups to
follow the cutting edge and sing weird stuff from the
alternative charts. The Logs have some current numbers, but
they also have older standards, choral stuff and a little
barbershop. I love hearing college groups do ensemble work,
and it sells very well to alumni. They do have a tendency,
however, to do lots of stuff by their favorite artists (Indigo
Girls? Queen?) — I'd rather hear more variety among the
contemporary songs. This group doesn't have any showboat
voices or arrangers, but they do a lot with what they have.
The one problem throughout is their "blurry" sound which leads
to imprecision. I think it comes from the second tenors
mostly, but at times all the parts have this muddied blend of
untrained voices that takes away from their arrangements. No
vocal percussion to speak of, and nothing too ambitious, but
this is a nice little album and a decent listen.
Rating: 7 (6.6)
- They sound a lot like the Skidmore Bandersnatchers
would if they took themselves a lot more seriously and had more
pedestrian bass lines. They have very similar song choices, but the
'Logs don't do them tongue-in-cheek. The bass line thing is
compounded by the fact that on the earlier recordings they are very
bottom-heavy. They also remind me of the UNC Clef Hangers, especially
the soloists. All their slow songs sound the same — very
traditional. The sound quality is extremely uneven — about half of the
tracks are significantly thinner and more distant sounding than the
other half. Their name strikes me as being very ironic, as most of
their songs would be much improved by the addition of a little
rhythm. There is really no need to have 7 slow traditional ensemble
numbers that all sound the same. The reason I keep reiterating this
point in the song critiques is because I am repeatedly annoyed by
it. I also don't really like this trend of putting eight hundred songs
on a cd from different years, although I totally understand why groups
do it, but it doesn't make for a very listenable cd. No one wants to
listen to 24 _a cappella_ songs in a row no matter who's doing them. I
like many of their song choices a lot, though — original and good
songs to do _a cappella_. With a little editing, this cd could be
quite a bit better than it currently is.
Rating: 5 (4.3)
- The Logarhythms have a great feel for the traditional ensemble-
type pieces, and they invariably do these very well. In the
modern cover tunes they suffer from generally weak solos (though
there are exceptions) and a tendency to go flat on the high
notes. Interestingly, the more challenging the arrangement, the
better they seem to perform it.
Rating: 7 (7.0)
Individual Tracks
- Good Old A Cappella (6.2)
- This is a groovy tune, street corner doo-wop style. The solo is
good, and there is a very nice change in dynamics in the middle.
There are a couple of places where the rhythm becomes hazy and the
group is not quite together, but it is pretty good overall.
Rating: 5
- The basses at the beginning were far too rigid, and I thought the song
dragged a bit. I think this song can really be used to get an
audience into a performance, but this version was just too stiff for
it. The blend was incredible, and the soloist had a great voice.
They just need to take the song to the next level. The gratuitous use
of street corner sounds at the beginning was kind of cheesy.
Rating: 7
- I like the intro a lot, with the street corner noises —
the "live" parts have much more energy than the rest of the song.
Much as I usually dislike covers of Nylons songs, this one is well
done.
Rating: 8
- Intro is kind of cute, adds to the
on-the-road theme that they have for half the album. They
over-enunciate — for once I can understand all the words, but that and
the slow tempo make it a not very exciting version of this
song. Soloists are also kind of stiff. Arr. not very original. But
they are on pitch and in synch, and it's not bad, just mildly boring.
Rating: 5
- Competent, but lacks excitement.
Rating: 6
Crazy Little Thing Called Love (5.0)
- Great song choice and a good arrangement. The energy level is high,
and is sustained throughout, but this song suffers from major tuning
problems in the background, from the outset and all the way through.
Rating: 3
- Turn down the reverb!!! It sounded like they were in an echo chamber
on this one, and it really made it difficult to hear all the parts.
The tuning was a little off in parts, but the group's timing was
excellent.
Rating: 6
- Background "dobedowas" are very muddy. I like the single soloist,
and thought the double leads were less clear. The background was
not very precise and general, and there is a distinct lack of dynamic interpretation. The ending sounded off.
Rating: 5
- Not well balanced between parts,
can't hear soloists, kind of muddy-sounding — the sound quality
changes noticeably between the last song and this one. Nice
percussion. Overly predictable use of unison. Basses aren't audible on
lowest notes.
Rating: 5
- OK, but the lead is a bit too reserved for me.
Rating: 6
Linden Lea (5.2)
- This is a pretty song, madrigal style. The arrangement is full
and has movement of different parts at different times. The tuning
and blend in this one are much better than in the last song. Here
is the first glimpse of the group's mastery of dynamics.
Rating: 6
- Some of the high parts were off and a bit strained. This is a nice
traditional piece, but it needed a lot of fine tuning. I felt like
they practiced until everyone knew their pitches and then they
recorded it.
Rating: 4
- I like the idea of college groups doing madrigals a lot, and they
seem to enjoy singing this one. But this one is not done very well.
The pitch is often questionable, and like a lot of all-male
ensembles, the Logs have trouble keeping any of the harmonies
crisp. Unless perfectly executed, lower harmonies blur easily, and
these are no exception.
Rating: 5
- Not my kind of song, but a change of pace, at
least. A little heavy-handed. This song, especially coming right after
the previous two, makes them sound a little bit stuck in the 50s.
They don't blend as well as they need to, to be able to do this song
well.
Rating: 4
- Beautiful tune, very nice arrangement. One of the better
performances.
Rating: 7
Leave It Like It Is (6.2)
- The solo on this song is rich and smooth. The background
arrangement is simple, but it works with this light tune. There is
an unexpected and very effective change in dynamics in here as well.
Rating: 7
- The soloist was excellent. The rest of the song didn't do a lot for
me. I had never heard it before and it just didn't draw me in. On
the other side, it didn't push me away either. If the background
vocals could have incorporated some harmonies with some of the lyrics
rather than just being "doot doot..." it may have been more
interesting.
Rating: 6
- The soloist is smooth and mellow, and although not flashy does an
excellent job. The general mood of the song is good, but the high
tenors sound consistently flat on the higher sections. The bass is
nice.
Rating: 5
- Lead's voice is nice and resonant, however it sounds
like the background is not even in the same room as him, in fact they
sound like they're live (in terms of sound quality, not energy) and he
sounds _very_ studio. Basses are off-rhythm with each other. I like
this song, though. This song in particular sounds like it could have
come off of Safari
(by the Clef Hangers).
Rating: 6
- Excellent lead, nice feel in the background voices.
Rating: 7
Sweet and Lovely (6.6)
- This one is classic barbershop, which you don't hear
much of in college a cappella groups. The tempo and rhythm
vary in this song, and the group stays with it all the way
through. Rich harmony and great blend.
Rating: 8
- Another traditional barbershop-type song, but with a much, much better
blend than Linden Lea.
Rating: 7
- Yay barbershop! This is well done for a college group — in my
personal experience, it's tough to get a bunch of people who have
never sung this style before and are not exceptional musicians to
do this well. The pitch on this is pretty good — it's a pity the
overall blend is blurry.
Rating: 7
- Bad song order, to put three slow/ballad-like
songs in a row. Sounds like an inferior version of "Linden
Lea". There are just too many songs of this genre on the album, and
this is not one of the better ones.
Rating: 3
- A nice change-of-pace BBS number. The tuning is a bit more
stable here than usual.
Rating: 8
Twisting (6.8)
- This light and boppy tune has great energy — it moves. An
interesting arrangement with movement in the background. Every
pitch may not be right on, but it almost doesn't matter because
the notes are short and the song moves on.
Rating: 8
- Hard to make out the lead vocals, but outside of that, the song was
pretty cool. The arrangement was pretty cool.
Rating: 7
- The high tenors sound very good here — clean and easy, and the
background in general comes together more than on other parts of
the album. The choruses have a good ring and overcome that
blurry sound that the Logs seem to always have. The energy is a
plus.
Rating: 8
- I am very impressed that they thought to do this song
_a cappella_, however the execution doesn't quite live up to the
original. The best parts of the arrangement are the ones that depart
from direct imitation, and in this regard the chorus is quite
successful. They should have only used one soloist though.
Rating: 4
- Energy is great, ensemble a bit shaky. I really like this
as an a cappella number.
Rating: 7
Closer to Fine (6.2)
- This is a good arrangement of a song which I thought would be hard to
translate to a cappella. The sound is faithful to the original.
The background is really together, and the solo is good — it's sung
with feeling, but is not overdone. Nice ending.
Rating: 8
- Well... it could have been done worse. The bass line was far too
strong, and the numerous people attempting to simulate acoustic
guitars just didn't cut it. When you have that many people singing
"ba-da-da-da-da" that fast, it's going to get muddy. I think they did
a good job, but I think they should have tried to put a new twist on
the song by doing it a cappella rather than trying to use their voices
to duplicate the original.
Rating: 6
- Both of the soloists have talent, but neither of them is
particularly suited to the song, and they don't always blend together.
This is particularly noticeable at the beginning of the song, but they
settle in during the middle of the song. The background isn't bad,
but has the usual occasional pitch problem and overall blurry feel
persist. Still, this is a good rendition of a song that's tough to do
a cappella and tougher for an all-male group.
Rating: 7
- A very straight rendition of the song, without
much soul. Also too slow, although the instrumental part is
nice. Soloists are plaintive and slightly awkward. Arrangement is also
rather busy, yet the bass line is boring. Bad choice of syllables.
Rating: 4
- Excellent leads, and it was nice to hear some application of
dynamics. The backgrounds, however, could hardly have been
more interesting to sing than they were to listen to.
Rating: 6
I'll Still be Loving You (5.6)
- This is a pretty and mellow ballad, in contrast to the last two songs.
The solo has a sweet voice, but is a little weak. The rest of the
group supports him well, though, and the chorus stands out due to
the nice blend.
Rating: 6
- The tuning was a bit off, and the chord phrasing could have been done
better to create a much better blend. It sounded to thin to me. This
is another song that it sounds like they didn't fine tune it enough.
Rating: 6
- This is a nice song, but the pitch problems kill it. The slow
complicated chords of the intro and verse are not the Logs'
strength. The choruses are pretty good and save the song from
utter disaster, as somehow the weakish soloist and weird
background come together and manage to leave their problems
behind.
Rating: 5
- The background sounds off at times,
and unintentionally dissonant. Arrangement is kind of random,
although parts of it are very pretty. Solo also sometimes a little
flat. Again blend is not very good.
Rating: 3
- I really like the treatment of the chorus, and this is a
much better handling of the background voices.
Rating: 8
Steamroller (6.2)
- It's not easy to sing the blues, and the soloist on this one doesn't
have quite enough soul, but it's a good effort and not bad overall.
The arrangement is pretty good, and the basses are noteworthy, but
the background sounds a little uncontrolled at times.
Rating: 5
- The soloist, Tyler Shubert, did a great job again. They really kept
the energy in the song, but it was quite different from the original,
making it enjoyable.
Rating: 8
- I would like this better, I think, if I hadn't heard the original. The background is good, the tempo nice, but the soloist is very
different from what I have come to expect from the song. This
song could really benefit from a little emotion — while they have
energy, both the background and the soloist never seem to really
connect with the country twang/swing/oomph of the song.
Rating: 6
- This is, again, a great song to do _a
cappella_. arrangement is kind of weird though — parts of it work, but
others are marred by bad choice of syllables, particularly for the
basses. Solo doesn't get into it enough — he has a nice voice,
although sometimes a little cartoonish. When the background gets
louder on the last verse, the solo fades into the mix in a distressing
way. This is one song on which they have enough rhythm to carry it
off. The fact that the snapping is not always on only adds to the
feeling of jamming.
Rating: 6
- I think this is the first blues I've heard on a collegiate
CD, which is kind of neat. Decent arrangement as well,
though it's a bit reserved for the genre.
Rating: 6
Limburger Sandwich (6.0)
- Here is a lighthearted song in the barbershop style. The cute lyrics
lend a touch of humor to the album. The cutoffs are tight and the
harmony and blend are very good. The pitch seems to waver at the
very end.
Rating: 6
- Your typical humorous barbershop type song. The harmonies were solid.
Well done.
Rating: 8
- Nice but blurry. What else can I say? The words are neat — I'll bet
this would have been a gas with some unsuspecting woman on
stage and the guys all clustered around. I approve.
Rating: 6
- Not as funny as it wants to be. Not badly
sung, but not particularly interesting. The only thing I find amusing
about it is the very end.
Rating: 3
- Another BBS number, nicely done.
Rating: 7
Don't Fear the Reaper (6.4)
- Good, rocking song choice. A good beginning starts it off well.
There are some tuning problems, though. The harmony is slightly off
at times. But the arrangement is good — lots of parts, as well as
percussion give it a full sound.
Rating: 6
- It sounded like they took the song down a few steps, but
I don't have the original here to compare. I was just waiting for a
high harmony. The tuning was off in parts, but overall all, the song
was pretty cool. A little more polishing, and I think they've got a
winner.
Rating: 7
- This has a much crisper, almost more comfortable, feel than most
of the others. The background is interesting, and pretty well
executed, occasional pitch question not withstanding. The solo
line is blends well. There's some really cool percussion stuff. A
good listen overall.
Rating: 8
- Sound quality of this song again is a
deterioration from the previous ones. It sounds like they are either
live, or trying to mix as if they are in a church, or both. This song
strikes me as being very random. Parts of this arrangement are quite
decent, as are the swells. Nice and consistent percussion. A good
ending is marred by someone's huge in-drawn breath.
Rating: 5
- Standard arrangement with a bit more reverb and some
auxiliary percussion. Musically, this just as boring as
the original.
Rating: 6
Doctor Me (6.6)
- This is a clever medley of Pocket Full of Kryptonite, Little Miss
Can't Be Wrong, and Two Princes. The Spin Doctors' songs lend
themselves well to a medley, and the transitions between them are
smooth. The first and last songs in the medley are the best, since
the middle song is weakly arranged. Overall, it's good, but is
somewhat lengthy. Good, tight ending.
Rating: 8
- The background rhythms just bothered me. I think the syncopation
needed to be a little more subtle. Another case of too much "doot
doot" going on constantly in the background. The second song in the
medley (Little Miss Can't Be Wrong) was much better, and the
transition to Two Princes was very cool. Take out the first song of
the medley, and you make this much better.
Rating: 7
- Pocket Full of Kryptonite gets only a six, but the other
two are deserving of at least the eight so that's what I gave the
medley. Kryptonite has a good beginning and the soloist does an
admirable job. The background, repetitive and fast as it is, lends
itself easily to pitch inconsistencies, but the parts that differ from
that one repetitive Spin Doctors riff are nice. You get the feeling
that they liked rehearsing this one. Little Miss Can't Be Wrong was
very well done — nice solo, strong background. Good transition into
Two Princes, which is also well done, especially the scat part. The
end is nifty, and you get to hear that awesome scat guy again.
Rating: 8
- Severe lack of rhythm in this medley — not that the
Spin Doctors are the funkiest band ever, but they do have some
semblance of it — as well as lame syllables and too much emphasis on
the high parts, and not enough on the bass line. Ridiculous choice of
lines to echo ("the bitch is gone") with the tenors/baris. First
solo's voice too thin and top notes are off. All of it is too slow,
and too choral for the type of song, although parts of arrangements
are mildly ambitious. The end of "Two Princes" degenerates before
leading into thoroughly predictable unison.
Rating: 3
- Three songs with syncopated backgrounds, but syncopation
doesn't really sit well without some sort of steady beat
against which to measure it (I kept expecting to hear
handclaps or a walking bassline to nail down the meter).
Solid arrangement
Rating: 7
All My Loving (6.4)
- This is a high-energy arrangement, and since it is a live recording,
the energy level of the performance is especially high. It is
a solid rendition of the Beatles' classic, and the snaps keep it
moving, but it isn't as tight as it could be, particularly the
entrances.
Rating: 7
- Good solid song. There's so many good songs from the Beatles' era
that can be easily done a cappella, and really help to solidify a
group's abilities, and this is a good example.
Rating: 8
- The middle soloist is very good, and the obbligato on top of him is
great too. The beginning section is decent, but, blurry and lacking
definition. Once he comes in, the soloist has a lovely clear voice
and seems to like the song.
Rating: 7
- Traditional (read: boring) arrangement, although
not bad. More or less perfunctory solos. Sound quality is very thin
- a live track, and it sounds like it. It has the appropriate amount
of energy, though.
Rating: 4
- (A live recording) Good energy, usual arrangement.
Ensemble in the beginning is sloppy, but improves steadily
as the song progresses.
Rating: 6
Friday I'm in Love (5.6)
- This song, like the last one, has good energy in the background.
The arrangement is very repetitive, however, and tends to get
boring. I like the voice quality and confidence of the soloist.
Rating: 5
- The driving melody of the song really didn't come out from the
background vocals, it was too masked. Once again, they worked too
hard at imitating the original, which just isn't going to compare.
Unless done extremely well, voices are lousy at simulating
instruments. If you had enough people to sing every note in a
beautiful piano piece, it just won't sound as good. Take advantage of
the human voice, and do something different with it.
Rating: 6
- This is musically _really_ well done. The background is crisp and
precise, the soloist nice, etc. etc. But it loses the song entirely. If the
King's Singers tried to do a Cure song, it would sound just like this.
Rating: 7
- I hardly even recognize this song — they
make it sound like some fifties song with a very male-a
cappella-tradition arrangement. I'm not a big fan of it (the arr.)
anyway — they always use the same syllable ("daba"), and it's getting
old — plus it's very busy.
Rating: 3
- Excellent lead, good feel.
Rating: 7
There Is A Ship (7.4)
- This is a beautifully arranged version of a traditional song (which
was also recorded by James Taylor under the title "The Water Is Wide").
It is very well sung by the Logarhythms. The choral blend is
excellent, and the sound is soft yet strong.
Rating: 9
- Traditional barbershop song again, but a cool arrangement as the parts
slowly come in. The mix was a bit bass heavy though.
Rating: 7
- This is a nice arrangement of the melody some of us know as "the
Water is Wide." The bass gets lost sometimes — they don't quite
have the range — but it's very pretty. Less blurry too. :]
Rating: 8
- Nice segue into "The Water is Wide". The later
songs like this are more listenable than the others, but it still gets
boring to have so many songs that basically sound like the same song
over and over with merely a change of lyrics to hold our interest.
Rating: 4
- A King's Singers arrangement, performed with an excellent
feel. My favorite cut on the CD.
Rating: 9
Bohemian Rhapsody (7.4)
- This song is a difficult undertaking for any a
cappella group, and I was impressed with this version. There
are some neat studio effects, most noticeable with headphones.
The solos are good, and the background is together. The
arrangement is good, and the choral parts are great. Well
done.
Rating: 9
- This was surprisingly good. I was scared to hear it at first,
expecting the worst, but I was pleasantly surprised. I think the
choral version of the piano accompaniment was a bit too strong, and
needed to be more delicate. The thunderbolts and lightning section
was more like powder puffs and flashlights, but I expected that, it
would be really hard to capture the strength of the original.
Rating: 7
- Nice beginning, As one might expect, the first tenors have
noticeable problems at times, but really this is a decent effort at a
bitch of a song.
Rating: 7
- Not quite as crisp as it needs to be to pull
this song off. The faster section shows that they could do much better
(more pop- sensible) arrangements of the contemporary songs they do.
Great percussion in that one part. Some of the solos sound too country
for this song. Not _badly_ realized, though; it just could be
better. I'd forgotten how funny the song really is.
Rating: 6
- An ambitious undertaking for any group. This is a good
arrangement which the group performs well. Ensemble hangs
together well, even in places where the modulations in the
arrangement are weak or ambiguous.
Rating: 8
All Through the Night (6.4)
- Here is another traditional choral piece, which is a strong genre for
this group. They have a strong, full sound, with good blend and
nice balance, and great use of dynamics to boot. A very pretty song.
Rating: 8
- Another traditional song, but not as strong as some of the other ones.
The timing wasn't as good, but not that bad.
Rating: 6
- Along the same lines as There is a Ship but not as good. Pitch is
iffy and the whole sound is very breathy, blurry. Some lines are
very good, but overall not quite up to par. The song itself is pretty but unassuming, and this arrangement doesn't overcome that.
Rating: 6
- I like this song better than the other
slow songs like it, maybe because I'm more familiar with it than with
the others. Also the arr. is simpler, although sometimes a little
overpowering for the song.
Rating: 4
- The traditional Welsh lullaby in a largely traditional,
very nice arrangement. Very well done.
Rating: 8
Galileo (7.0)
- Their second Indigo Girls cover, this is a great song choice, and
is very well arranged. The soloist is well-suited to the song, with
just enough emotion and soul. This one is full and solid, and very
well put together.
Rating: 9
- Better than Closer To Fine, but still not quite there. The soloist
has a great voice, but I don't think it made up for the lack of female
voices in the song. More could have been done with the background
vocals to spruce it up.
Rating: 7
- Mellow and unpretentious. I like the soloist — relaxed and
competent, if not flashy. The arrangement doesn't try to do very
much but is appropriately executed. It doesn't have the flair of the
original but is a nice listen.
Rating: 7
- The most prominent thing about this song to _me_ is
the percussion, of which they have none, _and_ they don't replace it
with anything very compelling. Again radical change in sound
quality. Blend isn't all that good, and the arr. sounds very
discombobulated. Solo isn't bad, and some of the descants are nice.
Rating: 5
- Solid arrangement and performance.
Rating: 7
Heart of My Heart (5.6)
- Yet another classic barbershop selection, this song is
notable for its nice blend and balance, as has been seen in
the other songs of this style on the album. Following the
last track, though, it is a bit drab.
Rating: 7
- Short, simple full-harmony piece. Nothing spectacular, decent filler.
Rating: 6
- Nice little barbershop bit. Gets reeeal shaky at times, but also has
some surprisingly nice moments, and there doesn't seem to be
rhyme or reason as to where — a lot of the hard chords sound
better than the easier stuff. I like the lyrics.
Rating: 6
- Not bad, just redundant. It doesn't add
anything to the album, and is not measurably different from the other
slow songs, except for being randomly short.
Rating: 2
- Another traditional BBS number nicely done.
Rating: 7
Somebody (6.8)
- I have heard many a cappella versions of this song, and this one is
more upbeat than usual, which I like because it keeps it from dragging.
Once again the background blend is good. Nice use of dynamics — good
control. I like the way this is sung by the group, rather than by a
soloist.
Rating: 7
- This was a very nice ballad. They did more with the background vocals
rather than just "doot doot" and it paid off.
Rating: 8
- Not bad — a tad to fast and and lacking in inspiration. The soloist
sounds decent, the background is acceptable, but the solo just
doesn't sound like he's in love. It's like an intellectual exercise in
love songs — needs something. The ensemble verse has more
feeling, and some neat chords, but not all the improv works. Given
the Logs style, though, I think the chorale effect is almost more
successful than just the straight stuff.
Rating: 6
- The plaintive soloist makes this song sound like an
entirely different kind of song. arrangement isn't bad though, in fact
this song suits the 'Logs well, although there's something kind of
bizarre about hearing this song with _such_ a traditional treatment
(the third verse is sung by the entire group). It sounds very pretty
though, especially the end. Strange heartbeat-like noise throughout
the song — if that's percussion, I'd love to know how they made it.
Rating: 6
- The arrangement is better than the song, and apart from the
occasional tuning glitches the performance is quite good.
Unfortunately, the click track is audible through most of
the piece.
Rating: 7
There Be None of Beauty's Daughters (5.6)
- This is another full, pretty choral piece. Just as in the other
songs like it, the Logs demonstrate their strengths: soft
harmonies and smooth blend, and the group working as a whole.
Rating: 6
- Another traditional tune. I started getting tired of these songs by
now, as there wasn't enough good tracks between them to break it up.
I think they needed to pick the order of songs a little better, so
this song would have stood out a little better.
Rating: 6
- More choral stuff. Nothing too extraordinary here. Nice enough, fun for alumni.
Rating: 5
- Another one. Mildly
interesting chords at one point, as well as archaic lyrics, are
distinguishing factors. The swell on "swell" is uneven.
Rating: 3
- The Logarhythms do these ensemble pieces extremely well.
Rating: 8
Speed Racer (6.2)
- Wow, what a sharp contrast in style to the previous two songs. The
group lulls you into peacefulness, and then zaps you with this one,
which is not a bad thing. This cut does sound very much like the
TV theme, but despite the nice sound effects, it is a bit sloppy
and on the flat side at times.
Rating: 5
- Here's a change from the traditional songs... This was quite
refreshing, and I could picture the TV show in my head. Nice change
of pace!
Rating: 7
- This is really fun. Good scat-chords, good execution, upbeatness.
Energy is a rare commodity on this album and this song has it in
spades. Short sweet and peppy — I approve.
Rating: 8
- This is a perfect song to do _a cappella_ — I'm so
amused. They also do it appropriately, with 50's lead vocals. Pretty
cute arrangement. I love this song. Only thing I don't like is the
way that the two soloists are sometimes not quite in synch.
Rating: 6
- Cute piece, reasonable arrangement, atrocious tuning.
Rating: 5
Leave It (7.6)
- An interesting arrangement, complete with vocal percussion, which is
unusual on this album and a definite bonus on this song. It is
full and strong, and the timing is on. Well sung.
Rating: 8
- Where's the bass at the beginning? Too much pitch bending going on in
the background vocals for most of the songs, this is one song where
they should have been more rigid as they are in most songs, and they
weren't. The vocal percussion was GREAT. Some of the falsetto work
left a lot to be desired.
Rating: 7
- Nice opening. This is one of the best all-male arrangements of this
song I have heard. The Log's one foray into vocal percussion is
successful if not overly ambitious, the chords are crisp, and the
high stuff is in tune. The solos are decent too.
Rating: 8
- Suddenly they sound like a completely different
group. Percussion and everything. Arrangement is very nice,
understated, as are the solos. The only things I have quibbles with
are the overly enunciated opening, and the way that they bury the
chorus "Leave it!" in the background, and the slightly ridiculous
falsetto in the end. In many ways though, this is the best version
I've heard yet of this song, as well as being the best song on this
album.
Rating: 7
- One of the better versions of this I've heard. The CD
allows the subtleties of the background to be appreciated;
things which might be completely inaudible in concert.
Rating: 8
The Long Day Closes (6.4)
- This is a nice, soothing song with which to end the album. It is
soft and gentle, and at the same time smooth and steady. The basses
are good and the group achieves a very nice choral sound. The
dramatic crescendos and decrescendos are excellent.
Rating: 9
- Nice closer, but yet another traditional choral harmony piece. I
would have ended the album with something that will stick out more in
the typical college student's mind. The song was sung well, but it
just didn't stick out amidst all the other choral pieces.
Rating: 6
- This one doesn't do much to distinguish itself. I like the grand
unison over-a-few-octaves effect they invoke at times, and I'll bet
it would be very well received at an old folks home or cocktail
party. You laugh, but songs like these are very useful, and that set
tends to have bigger checkbooks with which to buy CDs.
Rating: 6
- Especially by the time this song comes on, I'm entirely
sick of this type of song, no matter how well done. Which they are
not, although arguably they're not bad. The point remains that
they're not good enough or even distinguishable enough from each other
to justify putting _seven_ of them on the same album. This one is all
right, their blend is better than most of the others, but at times
blares unnecessarily in an attempt at dynamics.
Rating: 3
- What great dynamic control! And the balance is equally
good.
Rating: 8