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 Sunday at 16:15 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.

 

Jacob Lusk was 'trying' way too hard for me. He sounded off-key too often.

Edited Monday at 11:26 by snorkie635

[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.

[Norris]

I thought it was dreadful and changed channels

[Norris]

16 hours ago, casapete said:

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.

That sounds like it. I did turn it off

[Huge Hands]

I saw bits of it, so didn't see the start or any context of what it was fully about.

 

I agree that Beverly Knight was her usual amazing.

 

For me. it lost a little in some of the arrangements and song choices, as though some were trying too hard to embellish or change the feel of the original songs.  

 

I also agree some of the vocalists seemed a little off.

 

I recently saw a video on Youtube of a house band including Will Lee on bass playing a Curtis Mayfield tribute with the WDR orchestra and Ledisi/Bilal singing.   Much more well done and true to the feel of the originals IMHO 

 

 

[bassace]

I thought it was ok particularly in the context of the usual Saturday evening tv fare. Quite a feat to get a potentially unwieldy large orchestra playing tightly together, most of the time. Good rhythm section played their part in this. Bass seemed a bit weak initially then it became stronger particularly when the arrangements doubled it with tuba. BVs great as were Jacob Lusk and Beverley Knight. Others in between were a bit iffy.

 

And the audience were clapping on two and four. Strictly CD it wasn’t!