Listen & tracks
3 of 51 tracks have a preview · 21 works · 56:33
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1 Come Go With Me Clarence E. Quick 2:54
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2 Longest Time Billy Joel 3:28
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3 Mustang Sally Bonny Rice 3:33
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4 Sixteen Tons Merle Travis 2:12
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5 And So It Goes Billy Joel 3:11
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6 All My Loving John Lennon 2:13
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7 This Boy John Lennon 2:25
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8 She Loves You John Lennon 2:26
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9 Blackbird John Lennon 2:29
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10 Avenging and Bright Traditional 1:25
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11 Drunken Sailor Traditional 2:58
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12 Vive l'Amour Traditional 2:13
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13 Black Velvet Band Traditional 4:03
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14 In einem kühlen Grunde Traditional 2:36
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15 Parting Glass Traditional 1:59
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16 Sometimes I Feel like a Motherless Child Spiritual 3:09
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17 Ride the Chariot Spiritual 2:14
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18 Calvary Spiritual 2:52
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19 Ain'a that Good News Spiritual 1:55
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20 Down by the Riverside Spiritual 3:20
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21 Out-takes and bonus track 2:58
Formed in 1997 from former members of the Ormond College Choir, Pablo built a following on Victoria's festival circuit with a repertoire that runs from mediaeval motets to Billy Joel.
This first album leans into the folk, pop and soul side of that range. In-house arrangements of early Beatles songs try to catch the sound of the originals with voices alone. Alice Parker and Robert Shaw stand behind several of the folk settings, while spirituals close the disc, among them Vaughan McAlley's Calvary and Kirby Shaw's gospel-tinged Down by the Riverside.
In the artist’s words
Pablo is the self-titled debut album of one of Melbourne's surprise hits on the music festivals circuit.
The opening set is taken from Pablo's large repertoire of pop tunes, which could (and may) be the basis for an entire CD – one day. The songs range in style from the upbeat ‘doo-wop’ duelling in Come Go with Me, to the reflective harmonies of And So It Goes. The punchiness of Sixteen Tons springs from the struggles and wry humour of Merle Travis' youth and his father's working life in the Kentucky coal mines.
Next are four songs by The Beatles, heard here in arrangements which chart a little of Pablo's history. In the mid-1990s, the gentlemen of the Ormond College Choir had two songs in their party repertoire, Accentuate the Positive and She Loves You. Five of those men formed Pablo and She Loves You became their first song. Other in-house arrangements quickly followed, partly because the members of the group share a love of The Beatles and partly because Beatles songs, especially the early ones, are especially suited to male a cappella singing. The arrangements featured here are distinctive because rather than adapting Beatles melody and harmony to a new, ‘choral’ setting, they instead try to capture the sound and mood of the original song – but using voices instead of instruments, such as the plunky ‘guitar’ solo in All My Loving.
Four pieces from the Folk set were arranged either jointly or individually by Alice Parker or Robert Shaw. They cemented their long association in the choral ferment of the Tanglewood Festival in the late 1940s. Firstly comes the rousing Irish call to arms Avenging and Bright, before the programme settles down to the usual folk themes of love and alcohol. Vive l'Amour is not strictly a folk song, but a song popular in American universities of the 19th century. In einem kühlen Grunde was popularised by the ill-fated German sextet, the Comedian Harmonists, in the 1930s.
The last group of songs, Spirituals, draws from the rich tradition of African-American music, with its wide variety of moods and themes. Vaughan McAlley's arrangement of Calvary is based on the style of early a cappella groups The Proclaimers and the Flatfoot Four. The arrangement of Down by the Riverside by Kirby Shaw (son of Robert) is influenced by gospel music. In this final set, McAlley features not only as an arranger but in his vocal capacity as Pablo's spiritual specialist, while Sam Furphy provides a deep bass solo balancing Vaughan's baritone in Calvary.
Reviews
Altogether this CD is entertaining, and worth inclusion in anyone's library. Best of all, the performers were obviously enjoying themselves when this CD was made, and I found their enjoyment infectious.
excellent … anyone who enjoys The King's Singers should certainly investigate this CD of fine male a cappella singing.
the life of any party
Artists
Pablo
ensemble
An a cappella male sextet, Pablo's diverse membership includes a composer, a lawyer and a Latin scholar; all are ex-Ormond College Choir members. This diversity carries into their musical repertoire that effortlessly moves from Mediaeval motets to spirituals to Billy Joel.
John Lennon
composer
John Lennon's songs cut through styles and decades with plainspoken hooks and melodies that refuse to age. From Beatles classics to the solo anthem Imagine, his writing keeps finding new voices in jazz rooms, a cappella circles and the concert hall.
Vaughan McAlley
composer
Vaughan McAlley is a composer and arranger, alto and tenor, a capable flautist and French horn player, and the recording engineer behind countless Move releases.
Paul McCartney
composer
Paul McCartney's songs travel far beyond their rock origins. Melodic, singable and built for reinvention, they turn up here in jazz sets, a cappella harmony, intimate guitar ballads and even harpsichord with drums and bass.
Merle Travis
composer
Singer/songwriter Travis maintained that Sixteen Tons was a 'fun song' and it dealt with the exploitation of miners in the company store. It won a gold record for Tennessee Ernie Ford in 1955.
William L. Dawson
composer
Roger Emerson
composer
Billy Joel
composer
Alice Parker
composer
Alice Parker (1925–2023) was an American composer, arranger, conductor and teacher, best known for choral settings of hymns, spirituals and folk songs that entered the repertoire of choirs worldwide.
Clarence E. Quick
composer
Bonny Rice
composer
Kirby Shaw
composer
Kirby Shaw is a choral arranger whose gospel-tinged settings of spirituals and popular songs sit firmly in the a cappella repertoire.
Robert Shaw
composer
Robert Shaw was a choral arranger whose folk, traditional and spiritual settings became staples of the a cappella repertoire.
William H. Smith
composer
Jonathan Wallis
composer
Jonathan Wallis is a Melbourne singer and arranger with the a cappella male sextet Pablo. A classics lecturer drawn from the Ormond College choral tradition, he also works as arranger, production assistant and note-writer on the group’s recordings.
Digital booklet
Digital booklet Notes, texts and credits — read online or download the PDF Download the PDFPerformers
- Pablo · ensemble
- Samuel Qualtrough · vocals
- Joel Gladman · vocals
- Matthew Flood · vocals
- Jonathan Wallis · vocals
- Vaughan McAlley · vocals
- Samuel Furphy · vocals
Technical credits
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Contributor
Jonathan Wallis
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Recording Engineer
Alessandro Servadei
Martin Wright
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Editing Engineer
Vaughan McAlley
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Mixing Engineer
Vaughan McAlley
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Mastering Engineer
Martin Wright
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Venue
Move Records Studio
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Credit
Adele Flood
Details
- List price
- $25.00 AUD
- Total playing time
- 56 minutes 33 seconds
- Release date
- 4 Jun 2002
- Categories
- Choral, Classical, Folk music
- Genres
- Choral & Sacred, Folk
- Musical work copyright
- © 2002 Move Records
- Sound recording copyright
- ℗ 2002 Move Records
- Catalogue
- MD 3257
- EAN
- 9314574325720
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