If you go to http://www.extasybooks.com/eb. php3?ebookid=18853 you can have a look at my latest wor...
If you go to http://www.extasybooks.com/eb. php3?ebookid=18853 you can have a look at my latest work.
Member since:21.05.2001
Reviews:417
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Once descibed as 'the thinking man's spice girls' Mediaeval Baebes are quite unlike anyone else I can think of. Twelve young women with a shared passion for ancient music is a rare find, and their increasing willingness to experiment is making them very interesting to follow.
A bit of background - their first album, 'Salva Nos,' came out in 1997, consisted largely of singing with some accompanyment in the style of the older songs. (The odd drum and flute)'Worlde's Blysse' followed in 1998.
'Undrentide' is a superb piece of work - mellow, surprising, diverse and in many ways more sophisticated than their earlier work. The tracks on the album are largely in Middle English, which as a language has an odd sound - it is a fair bit like the English we use today sometimes, but brighter, there's something clearer about the timbres it requires, which I think gives the music some of its otherworldliness.
The use of voices is on the whole excellent - 12 voices give you a great deal of scope, from the full rich sound of unison singing to the contrast of a lone voice. There are a good many harmonies employed, some round singing - they really explore what you can do with just voices, which is wonderful given how modern popular music tends to use the voice only in the most simple of ways. The singing is of a good quality, but remains just unpolished enough to feel 'real' rather than too much like church or classical music. There are odd rough edges still, which I think gives that band a good deal of its charm.
Perhaps the most significant development on this album is the use of instrumentation. While some tracks retain the more authentic sound captured on earlier albbums, there is a significant input from one John Cale, which has made the whole thing a lot more eclectic.In some tracks, the mixing of old and new, the adding of modern drum beats and synth sounds really breathes life into the older peices and gives them a conenction to the contemporary world. It doesn't always work, there is one track for me that misses the mark, with the backing and the singing seeming unrelated. On the whole though, this new sound is very interesting.
You can put the cd on as pleasnat wallpaper, but it is well worth listning more closely.
I feel special mention must be made of the inlay - which gives the words both in their original language as sung, and a line by line translation into modern English. This is both useful and fascinating.
If you like a dash of the unconventional and find singing in languages not quite like modern English appealing, then give this a go.
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must look out for their albums, I came across there music by accident on a music file share site and have been a fan ever since, but you cant beat the actual product...nice one.
craigy2040 25.06.2002 14:49
Good op. Nevere heard of this band before. Craig.
MRSCANADA 18.06.2002 17:43
I love classical music but I don't have this album. Thanks
for the tip..Lyla
Jun 17th, 2002
very helpful by (96%):
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