Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Modern American Folk: The Rooftop Singers Best Of The Vanguard Years Is Fun Music!



The Good: Good vocals, Decent lyrics, Fun instrumental accompaniment.
The Bad: Repetitive sound, Generally simple music.
The Basics: Energetic and fun, The Rooftop Singers present a very general modern folk sound with roots in the swing tradition as they harmonize on the fun The Best Of The Vanguard Years.


With Pete Seeger as my Artist Of The Month, my father gave me a stack of discs to consider and eager as he was to share his music with me, he threw in a few discs that were not Pete Seeger. Among them was Best Of The Vanguard Years by The Rooftop Singers. Unfamiliar with them until I began spinning this disc, I had some trepidation when I began listening.

That sense of caution almost immediately dissipated amidst the sound of the trio of Erik Darling, Bill Svanoe and Lynne Taylor, better known together as The Rooftop Singers. The Rooftop Singers were active for only a few years in the early 1960s and their big hit appears to have been the album-opener "Walk Right In." The Rooftop Singers were part of the 1960s pop-folk music and they blend socially conscious lyrics with smooth vocal harmonies and minimal instrumental accompaniment. And while this might not be my complete cup of tea, it is certainly fun to hear and well worth recommending.

With twenty-seven songs and a running time of 65:26, Best Of The Vanguard Years is a compilation that presents the creative talents of The Rooftop Singers as both songwriters and performers. Of the twenty-seven songs, sixteen are written or co-written by members of the band and four are in the public domain (songs like "Swing Down, Chariot" and "Ha Ha Thisaway"). The rest are written by contemporaries of the band members and largely the album was comprised of music that was new to me.

That said, The Rooftop Singers present a folk-pop sound that seems to mix between folk's lyrical sensibilities and a minimal sound of swing music. "Shoes," for example has danceable guitarwork and little soulful crescendos that sound very much like muted swing music. If there were more instruments, most of the songs have two guitars and/or a banjo, this would be a big band sound. The result is a sound that is something that sounds distinctly more pop and swing oriented than the classic folk sound. Classic folk tends to be stark, with simple melodies that the listener can mimic to play on their own because it comes from an oral tradition. Songs like "Houston Special" have the men of The Rooftop Singers harmonizing instrumentally with one another and the overall sound is quite a bit richer than the simple, traditional folk sound.

That said, almost all of the music on The Best Of The Vanguard Years features a twelve-string and a six-string guitar with the occasional use of a banjo. The banjo is used as percussion and for those not, traditionally, into banjo music, it harmonizes with the guitars and sounds quite natural with the vocals, so it works, creating songs that are energetic or emotive. Most of the songs feature the guitar, though, and the men of The Rooftop Singers play them. When they aren't harmonizing with one another, the guitars work to create fun melodies that support the vocals without ever overwhelming them. Songs like "Cool Water" illustrate well how The Rooftop Singers used the instrumental accompaniment to support the vocals by helping the singers keep time as opposed to creating melodies that were more memorable than the lyrics. Conversely, the instrumental accompaniment on "Eighteen, Nineteen" instantly energizes the song and the tune is as boisterous as the up-tempo vocal performances.

As for the vocal performances, Best Of The Vanguard Years illustrates how impressive vocal performances can be when your group knows how to harmonize and the vocalists have great voices. The Rooftop Singers have both. Nowhere is this better exemplified than on "Swing Down, Chariot" where one of the men takes the lower range of the tenor register, the other takes the higher tenor range and Taylor harmonizes with a clear, sweet soprano voice. The men sing back and forth to one another and Taylor comes in on the refrain to offer some contrast. The energy to the song is both soulful and peppy and one can hear the connection between the performers while they sing it.

Throughout the album, the songs are presented as melodic harmonizations between The Rooftop Singers and the lyrics are almost all easy to hear and understand as the singers enunciate quite well. The variable element song to song seems largely to be Taylor's vocals and the feminine voice added to the song either blends with the men when she sings low or it moves the song into a different emotive range. "Those Brown Eyes" becomes more flirtatious, for example, when Taylor's vocals enter and the song becomes a loving ballad where one can almost imagine the passion between the singers.

Largely Best Of The Vanguard Years is a romantic folk album that sings about general America. There are love songs ("Those Brown Eyes"), songs about American industry ("Working On The Railroad"), the rebellious culture of youth changing the world ("Mama Don't Allow") and songs about people getting together and connecting ("Good Time!"). The songs are not as political as Dylan or Seeger - there are no explicit antiwar ballads or songs about the Civil Rights struggled, but the album connotes the idea of peace and brotherhood through simple communication ("Walk Right In"). Because there is no unified theme or sense of connected convention, Best Of The Vanguard Years becomes very accessible and inoffensive for any listeners.

The album is largely energetic and tunes like "I'm On My Way" are very easy to get stuck in one's head. Unfortunately, some of the songs get stuck in the listener's head simply because they are so repetitive and they have such simple tunes to them. Fortunately, none of the tracks are truly bad, so it's not the worst place to be. This album is ideal for anyone looking to shake up their musical routine with something new from an obscure group that if fun, smart and sounds good.

The best song is "I'm On My Way," the low point is the unmemorable "Twelve-String."

For other folk music reviews, please visit:
American Favorite Ballads, Volume 3 - Pete Seeger
Any Day Now - Joan Baez
Many Great Companions - Dar Williams

5.5/10

For other music reviews, please click here to visit the appropriate index page!

© 2011, 2009 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.

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