These Guys & These Guys Will Be Guests of These Guys THIS WEEKEND! I wish I were going...(lower lip wibble)
Reviewer's note: Octopella is the album I was excited to listen to, only because I was (and am) SUCH a huge fan of the 2002-2003 Octet. I still love this Oldtet, I have, however, gained a huge respect for the other Oldtet/current Octet as well. I have so much respect to every man who has sung in this group. 1999-2000 Members: Ryan Antonelli, Steve Chu, Phillip Dwelle, Matt Johnson, Kevin Lamb, David Martinez, Benjamin Park Beyond the Sea - Big, bold 40's style song, reminiscent of of crooners and bass and brass. Baby One More Time - A classic (if you're a 90's baby.) The arrangement is complex and one of the few a cappella numbers I've heard that is easily danced to. Because - This song is almost hypnotically repetitive, and kinda trippy. The tenors blend their voices well, in another Beatles classic. Them There Eyes - Big and Bold, I can almost see these men performing this song as a chorus line. It's mind blowing! I Got Rhythm - Playful. The comically mis-sung vocalizations and rhythmic harmonizing of the word "doors' is a treat. Another great number. 2000-2001 Members: Aaron Azelton, Andrew Bundy, Toby Jaw, Rob Liebermann, David Martinez, Neil Orlina, David Sloan, Richard Wood, Howard Wu Fight For California - Cal Song, always good to lift the spirit of students. McDonald’s Girl - I didn't realize this was a real song until I did a little research. The arrangement was done by someone who was a part of the Harvard Din and Tonics. (you can search for their video, it's exactly the same arrangement.) Rick Wood, the soloist, sings most of the song in falsetto, as an adolescent boy who has a mad crush on a girl working at Micky-D's. At the end, he' goes full bass and unloads all sorts of McDonald's inspired corny puns. Baby Got Back - Arranged by Rick Wood, this is a similar version to the one on YouTube. It doesn't have the big bravado opening, though. Uptown Girl - This is a song I grew up with. It's very similar to the original. Very enjoyable, 80's rockabilly. Please - It's the best break-up song I've heard. Beautiful and sentimental. That Don’t Impress Me Much - This is a parody of Shania Twain's hit. (Hint: the backs sing "Shania" throughout the song. 2001-2002 Members: Aaron Azelton, Andrew Bundy, Jason Mabie, David Martinez, Jerome M-C, Benjamin Sae-Tang, David Sloan, Brandon Swansfeger, Share Your Love With Me - This song ripped out my heart and then refused to cuddle with me afterwards. I love it so much. The arrangement, the soloist and the backs go perfectly together. With Or Without You - U2's Hit song, It's alive, and spiritual and searching. Beautifully performed. Perfidia - I enjoyed this WASP-y version of the song with it's corny jokes. They dedicate the song to their friends south of the border, "With no further adobe". Playful. 2002-2003 Members: Kenny Kamrin, Jason Mabie, Jerome M-C, Jordan Meyer, Benjamin Sae-Tang, Parkers Sims, Brandon Swansfeger, Richard Wood Beauty’s Only Skin Deep - (arr. & solo by Jerome M-C) A backhanded love song in bass. The delivery of the spoken part of the song is slightly changed, but after a few listens, it works. Blackbird - (arr. by Jerome M-C, solo by Ben Sae-Tang) Dark yet hopeful Beatle's classic. The backs are restrained and murmur soft. This song does not need to be anything but subtle. The whistled portion by Rick Wood is different than in the 2003 concert, but after a few listens, it works well. Lumberjack Song - (arr. by Jerome M-C, solo by Kenny Kamrin.) Monty Python style humor, to a northern Californian audience. Kamrin does well in his spoken introduction, introducing himself and why he wants to be a lumberjack. Kenny's delivery is humorous and confident. The backs are done in a strong and manly way. I love this song so much. Not Pretty Enough - (arr by Jerome M-C, solo by Rick Wood) Slight difference from the original, but overall, it's effective. This is one of my favorites because this is the first Octet songs I ever heard. Some of the lyrics are different, because there is not spoken intro, as in the 2003 Spring show. Come Go With Me - (solo by Brandon Swansfeger) Brandon is the guy everyone asks about in the YouTube video. Classic Octet, well sung. Spoken portion of the song is well delivered: "Stupid Frat Guys" makes me chuckle every time. Let’s Stay Together - (arr by Jerome M-C, solo by Jordan Meyer) Masterful solo by Jordan Meyer, excellent backs by the rest. A bit more relaxed than the Spring show delivery. I love to listen to this while I'm getting ready to drift off to sleep. It's very relaxing. Liar Medley - (transcribed by Jerome M-C) Old time, man's man song. Octet humor through and through. Some of the visual humor is lost, but not much. Nirvana Medley (hidden track) - (arranged by Jerome M-C, solo by Jason Mabie) This is a very intricate song. You're not going to get all of the subtleties of the song from the YouTube video, so I added a clip. I think that the overall reaction I get from this album is how much these men love music, and how fun music can be to play with.
I also noticed, with this album, that I can hear the singers take a breath. That's a really refreshing experience when most of the music nowadays has been mastered, remixed and auto-tuned into lifelessness. Hi Octet Fans. I believe there was a technical problem with the more official version of the video. Below is the complete concert, which was recorded (not by me) on a video camera from the computer. It's a pretty accurate representation of the concert and totally brings back Oldtet concert memories for me. Clips one and two are "Brandy" - solo by Jason Mabie Come Go With Me - solo by Parker Sims; Blue Moon - solo by Kenny Kamrin (features a cool dance break with Ben Sae-Tang) My Girl - solos by Ben Sae-Tang, Parker Sims and Jason Mabie Let's Stay Together - solo by Jordan Meyer Drift Away - solo by Ben Sae-Tang. There are pauses on the computer, but Ben and the guys still sound great! A NEW song by this Octet - "Endless Love". Solos by Parker Sims and Jason Mabie. Arranged by Jerome MC. Not Pretty enough - solo by Rick Wood Blackbird - solo by Ben Sae-Tang. Special whistling by Rick Wood Shama Lama Ding Dong - solo by Jerome MC Help Me Rhonda - solo by Parker Sims - features Octet dance break Baby Got Back The Lumberjack Song - solo by Kenny Kamrin Princess Papuli with Kenny Kamrin as "the Princess". The video is pretty fuzzy, but this was one of the songs which was featured on the Octet's '03 opening video. Well, I hope you enjoyed the concert as much as I did. Well done, Men. And thank you. If I had it all to do again, I would have had some requests of songs which I knew you did (instead of "That Don't Impress Me Much" - weak, Tiffany). With that said, I probably would have requested "Runaround Sue", "Stanfurd Jonah" and/or "Big C".
It was an hour of pure a cappella euphoria. In fact, I was on cloud 9 for a couple of hours after the show. I had a wonderful time watching the guys perform! It seemed like a Sproul performance with the guys dressed in Hawaiian shirts and leis. They had sort of a set list and then took requests through the chat. They commented on camera in answer to the chatters (though I didn't sign up for the chat until about halfway through the show, so I just watched for the longest time.) We got to see what kind of beer Rick was drinking, and Kenny's nickname (?), and one of the Octet mothers request for her son to sing a crooning song. (I love Octo-parents!) I loved the old favorites (I Like Big Butts, Not Pretty Enough, Let's Stay Together) and songs that were new to me, such as Drift Away - solo by Ben, The Lumberjack Song - Solo by Kenny, Shama Lama Ding Dong - solo by Jerome, and a special request of My Girl which was first performed by the '03-04 group with solos by Ben, Parker and Jason. Princess Papuli was particularly funny.
Hopefully there will be some sort of video posted of all or part of the show. If so, I will direct you to it. Thank you Men's Octet! I'm not sure when or even if the Octet show will be posted, so I thought I'd post some screencaps from the show - featuring EXTREME OLDTET CLOSEUPS! Hey Octo-Fans, there are new Oldtet photos up in the gallery! Check 'em out. Photos courtesy of Brandon Swansfeger, whom I officially love. Thanks for sharing. :)
On a weird side note, I dreamed that I had the Octet over for coffee (I have an 8 cup french press) and nibbles, and I got off on the wrong foot with one of them (won't say who) and he didn't really like me at all. This made me try extra hard to get him to like me, which made things WORSE. Not sure what that means, subconsciously, but it's a good thing it was only a dream. :) Added May 10th A/N The following is additional information posted with the video (Somebody's Cryin'"). All the videos have lineups now, which is so helpful. The guys in this Octet are:"Dave, Ben, Jerome, Andy, Jason, (solo by Brandon) missing, David and Aaron." Not to be a braggart, but I think my first guess was pretty good for a somewhat educated guess. Behold: Slightly Older Oldtet than we are used to! The guys are opening for Artists in Resonance, a mixed a cappella group from Berkeley. The guys, from left to right are...uh, I'm not sure who the first guy is. Second is Ben Sae-Tang (who sang the Tenor 2 part in this Octet), Jerome MC in the glasses (o my heck - LOVE!), not sure who the 4th guy is, and Jason Mabie on the end. The soloist is...um, not sure, but I think it's Brandon, the missing Octo-Dude from '03. That's just a wild stab in the dark, though. I love the song! Well done, Octet! Beyond the Sea! Hey, I learned a new song. :) The guys rearranged themselves a little. It's your job to figure out who they are from now on. On a side note: notice the toilet in the corner. Classy. :) The AiR concert was great! Happily, "Up on the Roof" has been restored to the concert. Solo by Ben Sae-Tang. Well done, guys! Jason Mabie on the solo for Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps. That guy has excellent range. The dancing in the backs are really funny, and pulls the act together nicely. Coney Island Baby is one of my favorite Octet-tunes. Not sure if it's because I'm tired or not, but I think I'll just let this one speak for itself. So, I hope you enjoyed this mini Octo concert. Much love from Seattle.
I know I usually post YouTube comments about the Octet, however on this video there weren't so many witty comments, so I thought I'd do some research-y stuff instead. (The posts may not come more regularly, but they will be more researched and better-ly written. Hahaha). From the posts I did learn from kennyk314 that this song was arranged by Jerome (or, as he's known on YouTube, the dude with the dark fro-ish hair and the 'harmonica') from a cd. And that Jerome may have been a music major. Anyway, we all know from this and Nirvana Medley (which he also arranged) that the man has talent and had an AWESOME head of hair. Kudos to Jerome. The guys' performance is awesome. I love the way the guys run on and off the stage. It's appropriately coltish for a college a cappella group. Jason's reeling in bit when they sang "fall for that old line" is great panto. The part where they pretend to hang themselves with their Oct-ties is particularly funny (though, I was worried about how realistic Jerome's 'hanging' was. Dude.) Rick and Parker dancing with each other was also so funny. Kudos to the guys and their performance. This Medley is love. My personal story is that I dated a guy who was very much like the "How could you believe me" type. Here's the thing. The guy was a jerk, but he was soooo cute and could talk his way into and out of anything. I knew he was a jerk. I dated him and thought he had 'changed for me", which he didn't. He was a lying cheat. I was a fool. Point taken. I learned my lesson. And yet, I still love this song and the guys who sing it. I believe I have mentioned before that I enjoy listening to the original versions of Octet arrangements in order to better appreciate what the guys can do, and since I couldn't find much in the way of YouTube quotes, I figured I would introduce Octet fans to the idea of comparison, especially for 'lesser known' songs...are the songs in Liar Medley lesser known? They are to me. I thought I would be able to find the song that goes with the beginning. The "My mother used to say...." bit. I actually heard the song during an episode of Fibber McGee and Molly after I had heard the Octet version. I was sitting on my bed and knitting a shawl (Vanna's Choice Drop Stitch Shawl from Lion Brand. I used a worsted weight yarn and biggish 9? needles - it turned out fine in case you're wondering. And my gramma loves it!) when I heard the tune during a musical interlude between acts. It was the prelude to a sort of 'Beauty's Only Skin Deep' type monologue, a man towards his girlfriend/wife (memory not so good), basically saying the she used false advertising in the looks and personality department. This was waaay before I imagined the Octet blog, and Fibber McGee and Molly ran from the mid 30's to sometime in the 50's. I've heard every show, but unfortunately I am not able to locate that piece again. I'll try to go through the episodes and if/when I find it, I will post it to the site. It's quite funny. So, the first song is called It's a Sin To Tell a Lie, by and it performed by both Fats Waller and the Ink Spots. Both take the songs into different directions. Fats Waller's version is very much jazzy/ragtime with some great piano 'riffs'. I'm not musical, so I am not sure that is totally correct. I do know that it charted at number 5 in 1935. Kudos to Fats Waller. You da man. The Ink Spots version of "It's Sin To Tell A Lie" was recorded only a few years later in November 1941, and released in January 1942. I'm not sure how it did on the charts, probably not too well since I was unable to find it using internet search tools. If you listen it's a much different sound than the original recording but still quite effective, and the falsetto at the end just blows my mind. It does the Octet proud to be able to select from terrific music. Kudos Ink Spots. The official title of the third song in the Liar Medley is "How Could You Believe Me When I Said I Loved You When You Know I've Been A Liar All My Life?" Yeah. It's officially the longest song title in an MGM movie,(which leads me to believe that there's an even longer title in another movie by some other movie company, but it's nearly dinner-time and I'm done doing reasearch) and that movie is pretty well known to movie buffs or people who watch AMC at all. Royal Wedding features this song as a duet between the a-maze-ing Fred Astaire (OMG Love) and Jane Powell (Love 2) Nice bit of arranging, changing the duet into a...um, don't know what it's called when you change a duet into not a duet. Someone musical may know. So, instead of it being accusatory by the woman and explanatory by the guy, it's full on braggery-swaggery by the guy. And the Octet is totally a guy group- which is why I love them. Kudos Fred and Jane... Kermit D. Frog and A Rat-woman...OMG HATE! If it were Miss Piggy, maybe, but it's a rat-woman. See how execution is so important! No Kudos Kermit and She-rat. In fact, your Kudos goes to everyone else. From me, you get a grimace. :S Almost forgot...BoRhap is coming up on 2 Million views. I predict it will reach Two Mil by Friday. I'm often wrong, so I'll keep an eye out and keep you posted as well. Godspeed, Octet.
-k bye. Me. |