The Swingle Singers

English Traditional (Composer), Johann Sebastian Bach (Composer), Spiritual Traditional (Composer), Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Composer), Peruvian Traditional (Composer), Ward Swingle (Composer), Chilean Traditional (Composer), Christmas Traditional (Composer), Anonymous (Composer), Ritson Manscript Anonymous (Composer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Composer: English Traditional, Johann Sebastian Bach, Spiritual Traditional, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Peruvian Traditional, et al.
• Audio CD (January 24, 2006)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Virgin Classics
• ASIN: B000A2ES7E
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #181,411 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good Introduction, February 15, 2007

By 

Demeanor "musician-and-fan" (Cal, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Swingle Singers (Audio CD)

As might be expected with a compilation, this is a little inconsistent. It also lacks the more swinging tracks they recorded with a jazz rhythym section, but it's still a great and very inexpensive introduction to this great a cappella group, who were a staple of movie soundtracks in the 60's.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Cheap price gets an extra star on this one..., May 30, 2008

By 

William E. Adams (Midland, Texas USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: The Swingle Singers (Audio CD)

This CD is kind of a sampler for the famous a cappella singers, so it has a little jazz, gospel, folk and Christmas mixed in with the classical tracks. On some they sing the words, although the group became famous more than 40 years ago for singing only the notes. Either way, there is a lot of talent displayed. I was a fan early on, buying several of their Phillips LP's, but my favorite was always their Christmas record. For unknown reasons, that one, singing the notes to a couple of dozen carols in medleys, has never been fully and faithfully transferred to compact disc. Some of my friends find the Swingles style irritating, but I think more of their selections are just full-out lovely. Buy this as an introduction, because their work on CD usually is a bit pricey.

3.0 out of 5 stars a (short) anthology culled from the four Virgin albums of the Swingle Singers - better get the originals!, June 2, 2011

By 

Discophage (France) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Swingle Singers (Audio CD)

This is an anthology culled from the four CDs of the Swingle Singers released by Virgin records between 1991 and 1995.

Tracks 1 is from 1812 (recorded in 1988 and 1989 and first published on the Swingle Singers' own label, Swing, The Swingle Singers: 1812, then licensed by Virgin and released by them in 1995)
Tracks 2, 6, 9, 11 and 15 are from Bach Hits Back (recorded 1991, released by Virgin in 1994)
Tracks 3, 5, 7, 10, 13 on Folk Music Around The World (1991)
Tracks 4, 8, 12, 14 on A Cappella Amadeus - A Mozart Celebration.

I've seen a French release of this same selection (with a different cover, titled "Swingle Singers La Compilation", Virgin VC 791562-2, UPC 075679156228) that was copyrighted 1991, so apparently Virgin first licensed excerpts from the earlier Swingle recordings (1812 and Bach) then later released the individual albums. Not that it matters.

This anthology then is for those who would want a quick sample of the art of the Swingles, in various styles. But still, approach with caution. First, you will NOT get all the styles of music tackled by the Swingles: missing entirely are their realizations of the various standards from pop music (there WERE some Beatles arrangements on the 1812 album), jazz and ragtime (and there were also some of those on the same album). The TT of this anthology is also shamefully short: if I add it all up, it hardly goes over 43 minutes.

So my choice and advice would definitely be to buy the four individual CDs. They sell very cheap at the time of writing, and the anthology simply leaves out too much good to heavenly stuff that are on those records, especially on the Bach and Mozart albums (the two were released by Virgin on a twofer: The Swingle Singers - Bach Hits Back ~ A Capella Amadeus. And don't miss the albums from the original, Paris-based Swingle group from the 1960s, especially Jazz Sebastian Bach and Anyone For Mozart, Bach, Handel, Vivaldi?.