There are two types of CDs. The first type, you hear either one song or the whole CD just by chance, and you are immediately hooked.
You devote your musical life to that CD for the next couple of weeks until it quickly gets old and gets ejected from your car stereo and barely ever returns.
If it does happen to return, you never listen to it with as much passion as you had felt for it during those first weeks.
Then there is the second type of CD, exemplified by Vocal Point’s ?a UR all-female a cappella group ? latest release.
Their new CD, called “Signs Point to Vocal Point,” is the type of CD that you don’t run to Borders the second you hear it to buy yourself a copy but it’s the type that you return to like a comfortable old shoe.
Perhaps it doesn’t start as your favorite CD, but over time it grows on you and as you start to learn all the words, your love for it becomes exponential.
The first time I listened to Vocal Point I didn’t have a strong opinion about our all-female a cappella group.
Throughout the year I had seen them perform in Rochester Sings! and the other concerts of all the a cappella groups.
Vocal Point provided a good representation of female songs by singing “Fallin’,” by Alicia Keyes, and “Wide Open Spaces,” by the Dixie Chicks.
Listening to those songs performed in the concerts brought the enjoyment of the original versions. Who wouldn’t have enjoyed them in an a cappella concert?
However, my passion in those concerts always rested in the Yellowjackets and the Midnight Ramblers. Surprisingly, after having Vocal Point’s new CD in my stereo for a couple of days and continually listening to it, their voices definitely began to grow on me, and I began to enjoy Vocal Point’s talent not just the songs that they were singing.
Not only was I singing along to the main words sung by the soloists, but I also began singing the background parts with the rest of the group and felt like I was part of their team.
Tracks
The CD lures you in from the very start with sophomore Samantha Nelson’s amazingly Aretha Franklinesque voice when she sings the solo in “Ain’t Too Proud to Beg.”
From the first time I listened to Vocal Point in the a cappella concerts, I was convinced that Nelson stole the show with her soloist performance of “Fallin’,” by Alicia Keys. Her performance on this CD in the first track gives the original “Fallin'” some close competition.
The CD progresses with a good potpourri of songs originating from all different types of music. A good representation of teenybopper pop is represented with performances of “Say My Name” and “Bye Bye Bye.”
Soloist and senior Catey Juravich in “Say My Name” sounds exactly like Beyonc and the whole song is a perfect a cappella rendition of this song.
I’m a little biased toward senior Annie Keller, sophomore Genevieve Chawluk and junior Betsy Angell’s performances in the country pop song, “Wide Open Spaces,” the girl group Dixie Chicks being one of my favorite groups.
Thus, after I heard Vocal Point sing it at their concert, and then again on their CD, I was sold. I can keep this track on repeat for a good hour and still be smiling by the end of it.
Other tracks of this CD include a strong arrangement of “Cherish” where you could see just how strong this group’s harmony is.
Overall, if you are looking for a good CD to play over and over again, then support Vocal Point ? you won’t regret it!
Hauptman can be reached at mhauptman@campustimes.org.
