Dave's Music #98 The Accidentals - Reimagined
The Accidentals were a missed opportunity. We had a some what long day hot day listening to music on Saturday, and when Lori heard their drummer warming up, it really sounded loud and she was done with loud music for the day. It was a great festival that I wrote up in two posts Part 1 and Part 2. Note with no mention of the Accidentals, so now I'm fixing that; plus put together this schedule jpg to remind me of the days and artists we saw. (should have done it for the earlier posts...oops.)
After MCF, The Accidentals were touring with my new MCF favorite The Burney Sisters, so truly I knew this talented group was also great mentors. April (the sisters mom) posted in her FB thread about how their Reimagined release was outstanding. So I jumped at the recommendation. Now this release has become a companion; yep I stroll around working with a portable speaker clip playing my phone while I work. Why not take about 37 musicians with me? Ha... here they are at another missed opportunity, The Mile Of Music found a spot for them all.
So the album being named Reimagined I figured I was getting maybe a different look on some of their best material. I am not a follower of their music, so I needed to research them and the album.
First these two are self described band / orchestra nerds, from their web page
Long before glowing acclaim from NPR and Billboard, packed shows, unforgettable festival appearances, millions of streams, and collaborations with everyone from BTS to Kaboom Collective, the journey of The Accidentals commenced in a public high school classroom in Traverse City, MI. As the story goes, concertmaster violinist Savannah Buist, and cellist, Katie Larson, raised their hands at the request for volunteers to play a music boosters concert and wound up being musical soulmates.
Also on their web page was this cool education effort of theirs Improv for Orchestra, it made sense that they put on this album. Still no story about it.
So I searched and found a quick article that confirmed they were all re-releases of their favorite songs, and that Kaboom Collective was: The Cleveland-based Kaboom Collective gives students between the ages of 15-25 hands-on experience in scoring, arranging, recording, and more. The Accidentals entrusted the students with arranging 11 of their most beloved songs for orchestra, and the resulting album does not disappoint. I continued my search and found more in depth explanations of who Kaboom Collective was, like "The pair met Grossman, the Conductor and Director of the Studio Orchestra, when she reached out about recording one of The Accidentals’ songs with the orchestra. That process allowed Buist and Larson to work with an orchestra on a completely new level. “Liza was one of the most inspirational teachers we have had the pleasure of working with,” says Buist. “We learned more from her in a week than in any classroom we have been in.”
Neither article linked to their Bandcamp page, and you know me here we go:
1) Mangrove:
The cd starts with a series of images lyrically and builds the orchestral tension with flirting reeds, yes starting to take us place some place new.
Yes there is a very cool video with the group for this song:
2) Tooth and Nail
Since I mentioned the Burney Sisters earlier this song completely reminds my of Olivia's voice. The crescendo's are bona fide, and orchestration meandering as it ends leaves you wanting. Yes they did it right this time.
I will keep looking for videos and expect to see alternative or first versions which will help me understand the band better. I love this layout, they would easily fit into our house concert.. ha.
3) Eastern Standard Time
This has to be my favorite off the album as well as Michigan Again and Again. Both have great imagery from Michigan that brings me to my hometown on the other side of Lake Michigan, Manitowoc WI... heck just a ferry ride away. Very ethereal compared to say Pokey LaFarge's Central Time celebrated in the Dakota blog post and the "Hey Buddy you got the Time" playlist.
The original song's video has impressive imagery... I love both versions, but that orchestra adds so much.
4) Lady of the Lake
Plucks and snaps starting the Lady of the Lakes moves a long to beautiful chorus and yawning orchestral accents leading to a break oh's that are so reminiscent of another favorite female lead band SHEL. (right before this post they've only made three lists already)
Cool we get the orchestra official video version:
5) Cityview
A soft folky ballad feel, so easy to keep drinking from this bottle like a good Cabernet.
6) Memorial Day
I love the premise here... feels like it's all about living near Lake Michigan. You hope for summer and then it's over way too soon.
Of course as much as I love the cd, this acoustic stripped down version is very nice contrast. Kind of hear an accent similar to Missy Higgins or Holly Clausius Funny Holly is from Toronto, maybe it's a local area dialect that has an Australian feel.
7) Shoulders of Giants
Again the orchestration arrange plays and accents the vocals to become like a flower opening when they come to the chorus. Then sets a pace to then verse.
I haven't talked to much about lyrics... they don't write in the story songs I typically fawn over, but they are very poetic with stark imagery. I do like the songs, though when I mention "Favorites" it's usually the lyrics that make me come back to the songs. This stripped down version while I love it... boy that orchestrated one again is so strong.
8) Us
Did the orchestra just recreated butterflies? A very pop centric song with a little Lake Michigan that the orchestra talks back to the vocals.
9) Nightlife
I felt I was in an animated Disney or Pixar clips with waves of different shades of blue.
Of course I searched for a video only to find a 2015 post with a different and wonderful arrangement. Cue the beginning when I mention they are self described band nerds... pretty good company to be in.
10) Sleeve
They seemingly tried to pack as many words as they could in this song.
11) Michigan and Again
Brings me home, love it.
12) Crow's Feet
This has such a great line "Belligerent Cash Machine" The story and arrangement really made me think of "A day in the Life" off of Sargent Peppers especially as they go into detail about talking about a car crash. Yep just another day in their life. I top five song on the album.
On Dec 30th they released a video for this studio song, I love to add new video to the old releases. It gives me a reason to stop back.
I see this was a 2017 release... I love the contrast to the orchestrated version... I like them both.
Do I feel bummed I failed to stay to listen to them. Maybe, but I wouldn't have enjoyed it as much as I would now.
Here is a one click playlist for the videos included in the blog post.
I hope you loved the journey with 37 musicians. You can find and follow us on Facebook and as always Good Music has NO Expiration Date, so if you are listening to this ten years from now, it still will be awesome music. If this is a first time visit, check out the index of themes for past Reviews and Playlist editions and for the Reviews alone, click here.
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