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The Flying Pickets, as their name might suggest, originally came together when they were among the performers at a political musical, which toured theatres all over Europe for two years. After that, they refined their act performing live in the UK on the club and cabaret circuit before eventually landing a recording contract, which got off to a great start with Only you..
Although they followed Only you with a top ten hit - a cover of When you're young and in love (Marvelettes), they were unable to maintain their success. Their third and last hit (Who's that girl - a Eurythmics cover) just scraped into the lower end of the UK charts. Clearly, the British record-buying public regarded them as a novelty act although they remained popular live performers for a number of years.
This compilation contains their hits as well as their distinctive covers of I heard it through the grapevine (Marvin Gaye), Tears of a clown (Smokey Robinson and the Miracles), You've lost that loving feeling (Righteous Brothers), Sealed with a kiss (Brian Hyland), Only the lonely (Roy Orbison), Space oddity (David Bowie), Grooving (Young Rascals), I got you babe (Sonny and Cher), Summer in the city (Loving Spoonful), Get off of my cloud (Rolling Stones) and Higher and higher (Jackie Wilson).
I do not agree with their politics but it's the music that counts - and it's brilliant. The only other a-capella group I am familiar with is the Swingle singers. I like them too but I think that the very upbeat music of the Flying Pickets is more instantly appealing.
The album is compiled of a mixture of studio recordings and a few live ones, demonstrating how excellently the Flying Pickets interact with their audiences. Being a member of a mixed voice choir myself, I can appreciate the necessity of 'getting it right first time', whereas with a studio recording technical quality is not always quite so important, due to the ability to record as many retakes as are required. In my mind, the best measure of true musical excellence is how well an artist can perform live.
I only hope that the Flying Pickets will get back together sometime as I would love to catch them sometime in concert.
My one and only complaint about this album is that after having it on repeat play all day, I have a very sore throat from singing along - something that is extremely difficult to avoid doing.
If you like singers who can sing in harmony but not in a singy-songy singalong style then this is one for you. If you are a bit of a silver oldie, this is for you. If you like to sing along, this is for you. If you like quality songs this is for you.
If you like samey, thrash or boom music save your money, this is not for you. This is no Frank Sinatra/ usual choral/harmony group style either.
They have beautiful, entertaining voices that create a wall to wall, pleasurable, sound experience. Not pretentious just really good singing.
The variety of songs and treatments is wide and it is difficult to pick a favourite. I have one but yours may well be different.
This is a treat.
Their public performances were magnificent. Come back boys re-work the magic.
Meantime I recommend you buy this CD and enjoy that magic.
H
This is the original line up - accept no imitations. The Flying Pickets were pop A Capella par excellence - if the F. Read more
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