NBC's The Sing Off Finale

So am I good, or am I good?  Let's go back to my post after the first episode.  I picked three teams, Committed, Street Corner Symphony and the Whiffenpoofs.  Now, the latter team I selected because my son's former freshman roommate was a member of the group, so I'm not sure that counts as an official pick.  Favoritism, bias, hearing with my heart and not my ears -- something else was at play.  But the other two groups -- made it to the top two.  And the winner is...

But first.  Let's have a bunch of songs highlighting our featured guest performer while the purported stars of the show, the a cappella groups, are relegated to background singing.  Committed is overpowerd by BoysIIMen and the Backbeats barely get noticed even though they have a 15-to-1 advantage over Sarah Bareilles (for the record, I spelled Bareilles right on my first try, but not Sarah) on  her song King of Anything. 




But then it's the producer's favorite, Jerry Lawson and the Talk of the Town and suddenly the contestant group gets a co-lead on the song Ain't No Mountain High Enough.  Shocker.  Jerry actually did a nice job and I thought maybe giving him such a big role was not because they've been pimping him from day one but because they worried Nicole Sherzinger couldn't stand up to comparisons with Diana Ross (hey, who could)? 


When Street Corner Symphony came out with the adorable and talented, but let's not add singer, Ben Folds, and were only given the job of backup, I was dumbfounded.  Someone must have heard Ben's "voice" and realized he needed a lot of vocal support, not subtle background harmonies.  He's talented and gifted, but from the Neil Young/Bob Dylan school of I don't have to be great at everything.


So the winner is...

But first, we have two more guest performances.  First, by Sheryl Crow, in the spotlight.  What's that in her hand. IT"S A GUITAR!!!  Call the police!  This is an a cappella show and I may not know what a cappella means (to hair?), I know what it doesn't mean -- with instruments.  She has violated the sanctity of the show, she has made a travesty, sham and mockery of an all singing competition.  Yes, this performance was an actual traveshamockery!  Actually she sounded pretty good and looked even better.  Over not in the spotlight, sitting on a stool, a familiar looking left handed guitarist.  It's Doyle Bramhall, II, getting no mention as he was not assigned his own spotlight.  He toils in the darkness with his six string as Talk of the Town and the Backbeats sing all around him.


If you're looking for a new drinking game, take a swig every time the cameraman hits a close up of Courtney, the beatboxer from the Backbeats.  You'll be in a coma before the end of this song.  There are some thirty, forty other members of the Backbeats (or maybe ten) and four of them could go undercover right now and pretend to be atonal mutes because no one has ever seen their faces!  Courtney, on the other hand, has been on my TV more than the Geicko gecko. 

The next superstar song was fronted by newly elected Rock'n'Roll Hall of Famer Neil Diamond.  After discussing which was the favorite Neil Diamond song for the various singers and realizing that Neil Diamond has written every song recorded over the last thirty-five years, host Nick Lachey announces Neil and company will be singing -- Ain't No Sunshine, by Bill Withers.  Go figure.

They did a tremendous job on the song and you can tell why Street Corner Symphony and Committed would later be the top two teams.  They have seamless transitions, sparkling harmonies, good backing percussion and strong lead vocalists.  I was waiting for the obligatory Courtney close up, but my cup remained untouched for two entire minutes.


And the winner is....

But first, one last performance from each of our groups.  Except when it got to the last group, Street Corner Symphony, who sang Coldplay's Fix You better than the original, the other three teams were allowed to come out and steal their thunder, I mean join in the song.  It was beautfiul and moving, but I felt that their moment was taken away.  But not to worry, it probably meant that they were going to win the whole thing.


So it's time to announce the winner.  And the winner is....

Well, it's not Jerry Lawson and Talk of the Town or the Backbeats, because those two teams are given the bad news first.  Jerry et al. go out in style with the most perfect exit song ever, Hit the Road Jack.  Now that they didn't win and all the producers' efforts to shove them down my throat is over, I really appreciate how talented they are.  They don't really do current a cappella, it's more old time doo wop, but they have great voices.  And after hearing Paul McCartney try to sing on SNL, I realize that being able to sound that good when you're not in your prime ain't easy. So kudos to the old guys!

I also want to offer a shout out to the Backbeats.  I ragged on them big time for their first two performances.  I felt their lead singer (who isn't Courntey, but have you seen Courtney, cuz there she is, and there she is again) was overwrought when she sang and her forced angst took away from her voice. As soon as she turned it down, she improved.  And when they spotllighted other singers in the groups -- look, there's Courtney, gulp -- you realized they weren't just blowing smoke when they described themselves as a supergroup.  The leader, the mastermind who put the group together, took his first real lead (joking around on Love Shack doesn't count) and showed what an amazing voice he has as well.  All really fine singers -- especially those from UCLA!!!


And now for the winner.  No, seriously, there's nothing left.  I was hoping for Street Corner Symphony.  Jeremy Lester's story of his hard times trying to make it the first go around with a record label made me root for the underdog, but when they announced the winners were Committed, I wasn't that upset.  Okay, I tweeted one Boo, but that's it.  And I rallied quick.  Committed has a lot of depth, has some of the purest voices I've ever heard and seem like really nice guys.  So congrats to them!

And congrats also to the runners up.  I really liked you, even if you sing that country-flavored music that is all the rage right now.  I liked how Ben Folds correctly identified you as the sort of rebels in the group.  You have a little rock in your soul -- stick with it.  Keep pushing.  You've made a lot of fans, don't let them down.  Hey, the plus is, you don't have to sign with Sony!  :) 

Street Corner Symphony for the Win -- The Sing Off, Season Two

Street Corner Symphony

From L to R: Jon McLemore, Adam Chance, Jeremy Lister, Mark McLemore, Richie Lister, John Martin

I swore that my voting days were over, but then I turned on NBC's The Sing Off and discovered Street Corner Symphony.  The sextet is comprised of two sets of brothers, lead singer Jeremy Lister and his brother, John Lennon lookalike Richie, Bald back up singer Jon McLemore and his much taller, more hirsute brother Mark, as well as two guys who were apparently added to the group at the last minute, Adam Chance and John Martin. 

According to newspaper reports, the brothers, who all went to high school together, auditioned for the Sing Off with two other men. After they were booked for the show, those two left and Mark scrambled to find replacements.  With Adam and John joining, the new group re-auditioned, made the cut again, and ended up on our TV screens on the debut episode singing Tears for Fears' Everybody Wants to Rule the World.



What they lack in choreography they more than make up for in their sweetly blended vocals.  They are the best kind of a cappella group -- they have a great sound, they sing with heart and they have fun while never forgetting it's the music that matters. 

Episode 2 they took on Train's Hey Soul Sister and again nailed the performance, making six voices sound like so much more.  They're the most radio-friendly of the groups participating and sound like a fully formed band.



On Episode 3 they blew us all away, topping their previous performances, with a stunning cover of Radiohead's Creep. Their lead singer, Jeremy, has a terrific voice can sing in a variety of genres.  I thought he was a country singer, but he nailed this alt rock classic. 



After that, they were charged with taking on a guilty pleasure.  Their choice was Come on Eileen by Dexy's Midnight Runners.  A silly little ditty, of course, but their rapid switches in tempo and style, and, once again, that perfect harmony sold the song. 



I have last night's performances in the previous blog post, so you can check out their take on the Beatles and CCR there. 

After reading up about the group, I discovered that five of the six are the sons of preachers and that they have, like Committed, a strong gospel background.  According to their blog, "Two of the members are grandsons of the legendary southern gospel tenor Bill Shaw of 'The Blackwood Brothers.'”   That meant nothing to me, but perhaps you are a gospel fan and this has given you an aha moment. 

To vote for Street Corney Symphony, dial 1-877-6-Sing-02 or Text "2" to 97979.  You can vote up to ten times per method and voting closes Sunday morning, so get your votes in now.

If you like what you heard, you can buy the MP3s right here:

NBC's The Sing Off -- Episode 4

On tonight's episode of NBC's The Sing Off we inch one step closer to crowning a winner of the second season of this surprisingly entertaining a cappella music competition.  Don't let the short season mislead you, this is a terrific show with a wide range of talented groups showing how much you can do with just your voice and a well-positioned microphone (not unlike that guy in all those Police Academy movies).

The five remaining teams are remarkably different in style and make-up going from the let's-put-on-a-show excitement of the campy and fun University of Oregon's On the Rocks to the where's-my-walker calm of the Early Bird special eating Jerry Lawson and Talk of the Town.  The Backbeats are a mixed marriage of former Bruins and Trojans trying to show the Middle East how peace is achieved: through music and choreography, apparently.  The last two teams are my personal favorites, the Gospel-singing Committed whose sexy vocals have them more in touch with their sinner, rather than saintly, side, and the good ol' Southern boys Street Corner Symphony.

Tonight five teams will compete for the three spots in the final.  After each team sings a medley of songs from an iconic music act, one will be eliminated and the remaining four will then perform the judge's choice song with one more team cut before the public voting begins.  At least, that was what was supposed to happen.  But in the spirit of rules were made to be broken, also known as, how were we supposed to know that the Backbeats would rock their last song, all four teams made it to the finals.  More on that in a bit.  Time for the show.

The five groups joined for an opening so underwhelming that at first I couldn't remember what they sang.  It was one of my least favorite Beatles' songs, With a Little Help from My Friends, and not just because of the Socialist sentiment in the title.  They sounded fine, the granddaddy of the competition Jerry Lawson had a nice moment, but it wasn't their best group performance. 

What was entertaining, though, was the Elton John medley by the group from the University of Oregon, On the Rocks.  They were fun, highlighted three different singers, and handled the transitions from the Bitch is Back to Bennie and the Jets to Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me with aplomb.  The standout performance was by the third singer who has the strongest voice in the group and delivered a heartfelt performance.  I loved the choreography and if you got points for moving that many guys around a relatively small stage without bumping into one another, they would have sailed on to the next round.


The sweet-faced Gospel group Committed went naughty once again, taking on an Usher medley.  I was unfamiliar with the songs, so I couldn't say whether they were accurate reflections of the originals, but I can say that those guys killed it!  I don't know what kind of a church they go to, but sign me up, because there was fire and passion in those performances.  They have some of the purest voices I've ever heard, even when signing in a provocative, smoldering style.  Amen!


Next up were my personal favorites, Street Corner Symphony, taking on my favorite group, the Fab Four.  A can't miss combination?  Not so much.  As smooth and seamless as the transitions between Elton John's three songs were in the preceding performance, that's how clunky the transition from the moody, somber Eleanor Rigby to the bouncy Help! felt.  I was worried for their longevity in the competition at the beginning of Help!, but they pulled it together and the next segment, Hey Jude, reminded me of why I love this group in the first place.  Excellent lead vocals by Jeremy Lister, well supported by the remaining five who took on backing vocals and instruments that blended beautifully to one wall of sound.


The Backbeats, the quickly slapped together supergroup of USC and UCLA alums, surprised me in a good way with their take on Lady Gaga.  They featured three different girls on lead vocals and the blonde who took on Poker Face, was a surprise. This team, that I ripped on for the first few blog posts, has really come into its own.  Maybe they just needed more time together or maybe it was my insightful suggestion that their designated lead tone down her angst and start enunciating.  Whatever it was, they're now in this competition.


Finally, the ringers in the contest, Jerry Lawson and Talk of the Town.  You thought I was going to make another hackneyed old person's joke here about how they sing a cappella because when they were younger, instruments hadn't been invented yet or how they think hip hop is the answer to "what has been replaced and what can you no longer do?"  But no.  These guys, ready for their cameo in the upcoming Tyler Perry's Medea Goes to the Senior Center, are pretty inspiring.  They are talented singers and savvy stage performers and, after listening to their fellow WWII baby Paul McCartney weakly warble and croak his way through last week's SNL, I have to give it to them.  They took on one of the best singers ever, Otis Redding, and did a terrific job.  No joke.


With those five performances the judges had a difficult time, but ultimately bid a fond farewell to the large contingent from Oregon who lived up to their YouTube hype and gave many entertaining performances.  Next it was judge's choice.  And, unlike on American Idol, being the favorite did not bring with it your own spotlight, backing choir, or fairy dust that keeps people from hearing when you are off key.  But I digress.

For Committed the judges chose Let's Stay Together.  It was a great choice, having the Gospel group do a song by the now Reverend Al Green and the guys showed their amazing depth and breadth of talent by having five of the six take a turn on the lead, moving from vocalist to vocalist with impeccable perfection (redundant, but accurate!).  The middle guy in particular has such a pure, crystaline voice in the upper register, he just blows me away.


Street Corner Symphony took on the fathers of Swamp Rock, Creedence Clearwater Revival's Down on the Corner.  Not a favorite CCR song and, as much as I loved John Fogerty, he was not what I would call a talented vocalist.  The fact that a guy from Oakland managed to sound like he'd never spent a minute above the Mason-Dixon line was impressive, but he would not have been asked to join his high school's glee club.  Having said that, the percussion on the song was flawless, the vocals were better than the original, and they did the most with a so-so song.


Now, let's revisit some of my earlier comments about the lead singer of theBackbeats.  I think I suggested that she go to the doctor to have him pulverize the kidney stone that was causing her so much pain as she sang.  Then I think I mentioned she should stop preparing for her upcoming role as Demosthenes and remove the marbles from her mouth.  Well, all's forgotten!  She sang the hell out of Fleetwood Mac's Landslide.  It was a revelation.  Someone should snap her up immediately.  She blew Stevie Nicks out of the water.  And the rest of the group?  Spectacular.   As soon as you can download that, do it. 

Last up was Jerry Lawson and the sexagenarian quintet.  They sang House of the Rising Sun by the Animals and it was great, but I was still catching my breath after having all I believed in crushed in ninety seconds of musical heaven. 


My guess is that the judges were all prepared to say goodbye to the Backbeats and send the other three to next week's final, but they were so blown away by the Backbeats' stellar performances tonight they couldn't cut them.  So instead of three all four teams were passed along to the public's vote.  Yep, it's now your turn.  But, in a move that should be embraced by all shows that don't want their outcome determined by some twelve year old with nimble fingers and no homework, only ten votes per voting method. 

You can call or text (again, up to 10 votes for each method used) from now until Sunday, December 19 at 9 am Eastern. Here are the numbers:


Committed: 1-877-6-Sing-01 or Text "1" to 97979

Street Corner Symphony: 1-877-6-Sing-02 or Text "2" to 97979

The Backbeats: 1-877-6-Sing-03 or Text "3" to 97979

Jerry Lawson and Talk of the Town: 1-877-6-Sing-04 or Text "4" to 97979

The winner will be revealed live Monday at 8 pm.  If you're setting your DVR, program it to run an extra half hour.

So who to vote for?  This is a tough one and it comes down to Committed and Street Corner Symphony for me.  Both of these groups have the talent to make a great record.  But since Street Corner Symphony is most likely to record in a genre that I'd actually listen to, I think they're getting all my votes.  But if I were casting for GLEE, I'd grab that girl from the Backbeats fast before someone else gets her.   She's actually pretty good.

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NBC's The Sing Off -- Episode 3

On tonight's episode six teams competed for five remaining slots.  In case you went to school in the U.S., ranked 25th out of 34 participating countries in Math scores, that meant one team would be kicked off the show. But not leaving us tonight is the best judging panel ever: Ben Folds, Nicole Sherzinger and Shawn Stockman. They should be forced to judge every other singing competition show out there. They are knowledgeable, articulate and (with the glaring obsession of their mad love for the "isn't it cute what they can do at their age?" Jerry Lawson group) fair.

The show opened with all the groups singing together and though they chose a powerful, rousing song -- Green Day's 21 Guns -- it came off more anemic than anthemic. Then former boy band hearthrob and ex Mr. Jessica Simpson, Nick Lachey, introduced the theme for tonight's competition.  Each group would get two songs, one "epic rock" and one a "guilty pleasure." 

The LA-based, self-described supergroup The Backbeats opened with Bon Jovi's You Give Love a Bad Name.  Now, I have been complaining repeatedly about the lead singer who acts as if every note is a life-or-death proposition, so I was glad to see someone else step up to take the helm.  That was until I realized that she was going to make the other singer look good by comparison.  The vocals were thin and weak and lacked the intensity of the original.  Then it occurred to me that she was also the lead in 21 Guns.  Rock is not your forte, dear.

My favorite Street Corner Symphony was up next.  There are only six guys, but when they split the $100,000 prize they'll be happy there weren't more guys in the group.  They chose Radiohead's Creep, a daring choice.  Thom Yorke is a little i idol and genius and this is such an iconic song, you can only be compared to the original.  So when Jeremy Lister ended up killing the song (in a very good way) it was even more amazing.  His vocals were insane, sick, ridiculous.  He took a huge chance and it paid off big time.  And he was backed up by an amazing band that you forgot for a while were just a bunch of guys using only their voices.




Other highlights from the rock round were the thorn in my side, Jerry Lawson and Talk of the Town.  I don't like that they are competing as amateurs as if they don't already have a bunch of songs out there -- I just put a link to one of their MP3 downloads in the preceding sentence.  They are ringers and Jerry in particular has been doing exactly this kind of music longer than I've been alive -- and that's a really long time, I hate to admit.  Having said all that, I loved their performance of Satisfaction.  It was fun, entertaining, cute and silly.  They went for it and put a smile on all but the most cynical person's faces.

Another fun performance came, unsurprisingly, from the college boys of On the Rocks.  Their take on Pour Some Sugar on Me was far more amusing than it was musically successful, but it sure got the audience going.  Fun choreography. 

Painfully bad was Groove for Thought's butchering of one of my favorite David Bowie songs, Changes.  Do not try and put a jazzy spin on a great rock song.  In fact, here's a newsflash -- jazz is dead.  At least on the charts and on the radio.  But I'm sure in some smoky room filled with beret wearing people who can't seem to straighten out their necks, jazz is still popular.  But not for the rest of us with ears. So please, stop.  Here's the original, to cleanse my ears from the abomination they just witnessed:



My other favorite group, Committed, did not embrace the rock genre and had their weakest performance to date.  The committed a cardinal sin -- taking on the Police.  You don't cover Every Breath You Take and you certainly don't approach the song like it is anything but the insidious, spooky, creepy song it is.  The guy is a stalker, there's nothing bouncy or fun in those lyrics.  They turned it into a cha-cha.  Just...no.  I'd like to just forget that it ever happened and go back to my happy place were these sweet-faced gospel singers can do no wrong. 

The next round of songs lived up to the title guilty pleasures because, with rare exceptions, they were all better, dare I say more pleasurable, performances than the first round.  The Backbeats came out in sherbet colored outfits and nailed the silly fun of the B-52's signature Love Shack.  They were campy and over the top and yet still musically on point.  Complete with "tin roof...rusted" exuberance, it was their best performance by a mile. 



Street Corner Symphony did Come On Eileen originally made famous by Dexy's Midnight Runners -- and no I knew who sang the original without being told because KROQ played that song 450,000 times one summer.  I wish they had gone for the rolled-up overalls to complete the homage, but sartorial choices aside, it was a good performance.  I wasn't as blown away as the judges, but they did show their vocal flexibility and variety.

Groove for Thought sang and turned a song I didn't like -- You Make My Dreams Come True by Hall and Oates -- even more painful to listen to.  But that quickly faded to memory as the Oregon boys  On the Rocks put on their best vocal performance to date with what was supposed to be the silly, guilty pleasure song Kyrie.  Instead, they brought out a new lead singer who elevated this cheesy song and made you forget all about the redundantly named Mr. Mister and the original embarrassingly-bloated version.  This was a standout performance and did what the judges asked them to do -- move them from entertainers to artists.

Also rebounding was Committed.  They took on the Backstreet Boys' I Want it That Way and this time they brought the beautiful harmonies and the rich variety of voices that makes them the group with the most depth.  They were a bit sloppy in places and they need a little direction to keep them from straying too far from the melody, but the have the most pure voices in the competition.

The jazzy group was dismissed, as was only right and proper, and we are left with five strong groups.  I will note, however, that the guy who sang their swan song was the best singer in the bunch and had he been given a lead perhaps I wouldn't have been sticking pins in their voodoo dolls.  No, as long as they went jazzy, I was going to go stabby.

Handicapping the rest, I still put Street Corner Symphony in the lead -- they have the best combination of strong voices, great blending of sounds, and traditional a cappella tools of any of the remaining groups.  The Backbeats are the most vulnerable as they have only shined with a heavy dose of kitsch -- when they sing straight, they're just not strong enough.  And we know that the fix is in forJerry Lawson and the oldsters, although the why is beyond me.  Perhaps the powers that be think the way to combat illegal downloading of music is to only sign artists whose fans lack computers??  But with a fan base that is too old to remember the name of the group by the time they pass by the WalMart greeter on the way to the CD section, I don't think it's a wise business decision.

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