Customer Reviews

Music of the Beatles

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This Cincinnati Pops album has 16 tracks. (15 songs - "Eleanor Rigby" is done twice.)

Seven tracks are orchestra only and they're all wonderful, but for me, "Michelle", "Penny Lane", "Yesterday" and "Long and Winding Road" are standouts. The recording of "Michelle" is far and away the nicest, most characteristically French one I've ever heard. A real gem!

Four tracks are King'singers a capella. The King'singers are rather like a barber shop quartet without the bass voice and with lots of falsetto - and I mean LOTS. I like them, but I realize that, for many fans of The Beatles, their vocal work will seem more than a bit dweeby. Even so, hang in there, because getting past the initial shock, three of the songs they do here ("When I'm Sixty-Four", "Octopus's Garden" and "Here, There and Everywhere") fit perfectly within that old-timey genre and the other one ("Eleanor Rigby") works extremely well, too.

Five tracks are orchestra w/ King'singers. Of these, I find "Across the Universe" and especially "Because" just exquisite and ethereal. This orchestra is accustomed to doing such things as show tunes, Tin Pan Alley and Sousa marches, so for them a collaboration with a virtuoso vocal ensemble doing its thing is a natural.

Recommendation - a beautiful disc but maybe not for everyone. If you are not familiar with the King'singers, be sure to listen first to some of the tracks which feature them.

Music of the Beatles performed by the King's Singers and Erich Kunzel with the Ciccinnati Pops Orchestra it's one of the best cover of the Beatles performed by classical musicians as them are. Thank you for the best product you have of this kind or genre.Music of the Beatles

I like the music of the Beatles. I also like full orchestral performances of music. I like the quality of Telarc recordings. I like many performances by Kunzel and the Cincinnati Pops, although they have a predictable tendency to get overly gimmicky. I bought this CD off the store rack using that logic. Also, I had the balance of a freebie gift card in my pocket, just yearning to be spent. I had hopes of popping this CD in my player and hearing something on the caliber of Moody Blues (Days of Future Passed) or Renaissance (Scheherazade). The moment the King'Singers chimed in with their barbershop-quartet style vocals, I knew this CD was destined for my "never will play this again" bin. Without their vocals, it might have fared better. I regretted the purchase, but was able to resell it to someone who had different musical tastes than I. I've had a few instances where I was pleasantly surprised with the purchase of a CD on a hunch, but I will try to avoid this kind of buy-it-blind purchase again.