Rick (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} shaharazad) wrote,@ 2006-11-01 23:13:00 |
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More CDs
Cayuga's Waiters Maintaining the Illusion: The Waiters were considered the top a'capella group when I was at Cornell. They were the headline act of the big a'capella shows every year and their own shows (usually with one or two guest acts from other schools) were always great. Opens with pretty standard college a'capella sound on "Me and the Boys", "Rockin' Robin", and "Feet Don't Fail Me Now". They stretch tradition a bit with a spot-on version of Sting's "Don't Stand So Close To Me" and a surreal version of Terrence Trent D'Arby's "Wishing Well". There are some comedy bits thrown in between songs, and they mostly fall flat in recorded form, but an in-joke loaded rewrite of "People in Your Neighborhood" that makes fun for frat boys, freshmen, and Carl Sagan is still hilarious. The Waiters do a couple of Billy Joel songs ("This Night" and the more obscure "Sleeping With the Television On"), and then get to some of their traditional live show songs. I still remember the first time a saw them when they came on stage at freshman orientation and said "This is for all the people who left a boyfriend or girlfriend back home, and it's called 'If You Can't Be With the One You Love, Love the One You're With'!" That song, and and a great version of Todd Rundgren's "Mighty Love" lead into Fishbone's "Change". The waiters break out the guitars for the last song, which might displease some of the purists, but they do such a tremendous version of CSN's "Southern Cross" that I can easily forgive the break with tradition. This is good nostalgic fun for me.
Cayuga's Waiters Live At Spring Fever XVI: Cornell University's Cayuga's Waiters are recorded in a live show on this album. It doesn't start off as well as Maintaining the Illusion. As far as Todd Rundgren goes, I prefer some of his other songs to "Hodja", which opens this album, and Marvin Gaye's "Sexual Healing" comes off a bit clunky and was never a favorite of mine to begin with. They also try to get silly with their version of Elvis Costello's very serious "Veronica", which is too bad because they sound good singing it. Things improve considerably from there, though, with a solid version of "Love Me Like a Rock" followed by a crowd-pleasing rendition of "Kiss D'Girl" from The Little Mermaid. The live version of "Mighty Love" is great, and in spite of some dated references, "We Didn't Go to Harvard", a parody of Billy Joel's "We Didn't Start the Fire" is still pretty amusing. The guitars come out for an excellent "Sloop John B.", which is followed by their ending numbers "Evening Song" and "The Lion Sleeps Tonight". Great finish for a show that shines in spite of its shaky start.
Cayuga's Waiters Maintaining the Illusion: The Waiters were considered the top a'capella group when I was at Cornell. They were the headline act of the big a'capella shows every year and their own shows (usually with one or two guest acts from other schools) were always great. Opens with pretty standard college a'capella sound on "Me and the Boys", "Rockin' Robin", and "Feet Don't Fail Me Now". They stretch tradition a bit with a spot-on version of Sting's "Don't Stand So Close To Me" and a surreal version of Terrence Trent D'Arby's "Wishing Well". There are some comedy bits thrown in between songs, and they mostly fall flat in recorded form, but an in-joke loaded rewrite of "People in Your Neighborhood" that makes fun for frat boys, freshmen, and Carl Sagan is still hilarious. The Waiters do a couple of Billy Joel songs ("This Night" and the more obscure "Sleeping With the Television On"), and then get to some of their traditional live show songs. I still remember the first time a saw them when they came on stage at freshman orientation and said "This is for all the people who left a boyfriend or girlfriend back home, and it's called 'If You Can't Be With the One You Love, Love the One You're With'!" That song, and and a great version of Todd Rundgren's "Mighty Love" lead into Fishbone's "Change". The waiters break out the guitars for the last song, which might displease some of the purists, but they do such a tremendous version of CSN's "Southern Cross" that I can easily forgive the break with tradition. This is good nostalgic fun for me.
Cayuga's Waiters Live At Spring Fever XVI: Cornell University's Cayuga's Waiters are recorded in a live show on this album. It doesn't start off as well as Maintaining the Illusion. As far as Todd Rundgren goes, I prefer some of his other songs to "Hodja", which opens this album, and Marvin Gaye's "Sexual Healing" comes off a bit clunky and was never a favorite of mine to begin with. They also try to get silly with their version of Elvis Costello's very serious "Veronica", which is too bad because they sound good singing it. Things improve considerably from there, though, with a solid version of "Love Me Like a Rock" followed by a crowd-pleasing rendition of "Kiss D'Girl" from The Little Mermaid. The live version of "Mighty Love" is great, and in spite of some dated references, "We Didn't Go to Harvard", a parody of Billy Joel's "We Didn't Start the Fire" is still pretty amusing. The guitars come out for an excellent "Sloop John B.", which is followed by their ending numbers "Evening Song" and "The Lion Sleeps Tonight". Great finish for a show that shines in spite of its shaky start.
