Soul Revolution with BBC Concert Orchestra on BBC2. Opinions?

[solo4652]

Soul, neo soul, Northern Soul, Funk are my vibes. I tuned in to the programme intrigued to find out whether soul would work with a full concert orchestra. Very mixed results, in my opinion. My feelings:

 

 - Beverley Knight was by far the best singer. What a voice.

 - Bass was pretty high in the mix, which I hadn't expected. I quite thought it would be drowned out by a full orchestra.

 - Full orchestra treatment worked tolerably well with the more gospel, upbeat songs, but less so with the slower numbers.

 - Given that the programme was described as a "celebration of soul music", I was surprised by the dominance of the black/freedom/respect orientation. I absolutely realise the black african roots of soul music, but I was left slightly wondering what happened to white soul music. I suppose decisions had to be made about what to include and what to leave out in a 90-minute programme.

 - Trevor Nelson looked pretty uncomfortable as programme host. Stilted note-reading.

 - Overall; didn't quite do it for me. 

 

Edited 6 hours ago by solo4652

[casapete]

I largely agree with you - I had high hopes for this after the absolutely wonderful Northern Soul

event a couple of years ago.

 

Plus points - Beverley Knight, the orchestra and most of the backing singers were all fabulous.

Some great tunes featured too. Rhythm section were great ( although don’t know who they were).

 

Minus points - Some singers were featured too much, in particular Jacob Lusk whose

dodgy falsetto like range was at times off key more than on it. I nearly turned it off when he kept

reappearing to murder more tunes. A few of the songs chosen were a bit puzzling, although

am guessing they were significant in the Civil Rights movement which was the main theme.

Trevor Nelson seemed rather underwhelmed by it all, and his hosting skills were a bit lacking. 
I noticed one or two cock ups too, particularly in ‘War’ where the vocalist seemed to lose his

place completely at one point, and nearly carried on as the band finished the song. 
 

I was quite disappointed overall, and almost pleased when it had finished. ☹️

 

 

[snorkie635]

Yep. Thumbs down from me as well.

[AlexDelores]

14 minutes ago, casapete said:

 

 

Plus points - Beverley Knight, the orchestra and most of the backing singers were all fabulous.

Some great tunes featured too. Rhythm section were great ( although don’t know who they were).

 

 

I didn’t watch the show but I know Phil Mulford often plays bass with Beverly Knight. 
 

Not sure if he was specifically on this show though.

[casapete]

9 minutes ago, AlexDelores said:

I didn’t watch the show but I know Phil Mulford often plays bass with Beverly Knight. 
 

Not sure if he was specifically on this show though.

It wasn’t Phil on the show, but whoever it was played very well. Drummer was great too. 

[pete.young]

I really enjoyed it. For me, the vocal performances were excellent particularly Beverly Knight and Jacob Lusk, the backup singers and the orchestration were first class.