A Different Kind of Beatles Tribute
Award-winning Quartet Adds Barbershop Slant to Familiar Tunes
Oct 7, 2009
With the remastered re-releases of the entire Beatles catalog, as well as Beatles Rock Band hitting the video game market last month, it seems like the Beatles are everywhere. One award-winning group, Storm Front, adds a unique twist to a collection of these familiar tunes in their CD "Harmony--Beatles Tribute: Volume 1."
The Beatles A Capella from Storm Front
Storm Front is an award-winning barbershop quartet, having won third place in the Barbershop Harmony Society's International Competition in 2007 and 2009 (2008 saw a slip to sixth place--still quite impressive). As second-generation barbershop performers, they have an obvious love of the art as well as impressive musical skills. Their live show is a marvelous blend of skilled musicianship and fall-off-your-chair comedy, often at the same time.
"Harmony" breaks eleven popular Beatles tunes down to melody and rhythm, in four-part harmony that stays largely true to the original styles and instrumentation of the original tunes--no mean feat considering the group uses no instruments.
For the most part, the arrangements, by Jay Giallombardo, feature lead Jim Clark carrying the weight of melody and lyrics, with tenor Jeff Selano adding harmony from time to time, while baritone and bass Darin Drown and Syd Libsack provide rhythm in lieu of instruments. The effect is enough to occasionally make the listener double check to be sure the album is, indeed, a capella. Tracks like "Elanor Rigby" and "Norwegian Wood" make use of rhythm voices to great effect.
However, as interesting and impressive as the faux instrument arrangements are, the group truly shines when all four voices join in harmony on the lyrics. "Long and Winding Road," which wraps up the collection, is a fine example of this approach, as are "Across the Universe" and "(The) Fool on the Hill."
Good Introduction to Barbershop
For those unfamiliar with the barbershop tradition, "Harmony" provides a painless introduction to the weaving voices and sometimes odd harmonies of barbership music (although, in an interesting side note, the so-called "Barbershop 7th" harmonies found on "Harmony" were actually drawn straight from the original Beatles arrangements).
Beatles purists might not enjoy the alternative takes on familiar classics, but anyone with an interest in Beatles covers, a capella music, or barbershop music in particular will find "Harmony" an enjoyable musical journey.
Storm Front has released several other CDs of more traditional barbershop material, as well as a live concert DVD that showcases not only the music but the humor of their stage show. For more information, visit the Storm Front Quartet website.
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