[rayword45]

Day 64: Rev by Faux Paz (Album Choice: YoshL)

I have no idea what the hell I'm about to listen to is. What I do know is that it's obscure as fuck. Based on a quick YouTube search, this seems to be an a cappella group from University of Maryland. Spotify says Copyright 2013 A Cappella Records. Well, based on that information, my expectations are a big "...What the hell?".

This is an album made-up of covers, so obviously a large part of my enjoyment is based on my opinion of the source material. And some (or rather most) of the song choices are horrid. The first song is Neon Trees and that's enough to make me unhappy. As a matter of fact, the only band I like here that's being covered is The Smiths. The rest ranges from "Why should I care?" (Sara Bareilles, Florence + The Machine) to "Ugh..." (Kanye West (screw you /mu), OneRepublic) to "What the hell were they thinking?" (Celine Dion needs no pair. Alone she stands as an example). The majority falls in the first category thankfully, so my bias is limited.

So, the music itself... Uhh... I don't know how to judge this kind of music at all. I thought Jazz was hard, I thought instrumental metal was hard, but this, this is a whole different level. The group works well with each other, everything is synced well and the pitches are good. Does the usage of a drum machine negate this as a "true" a cappella album. If so, whatever. If not, who cares? The best part of this album is the vocal percussion, I honestly wish they dropped the drum machine and put more of an emphasis on that.

Some short notes

-I hate The Wanted and I hate Coldplay, so Glad You Came/Lovers In Japan is obviously the worst thing ever
-The rapping in Lost In The World is gross
-I thought The Lonely was going to be an Eleanor Rigby cover based on the start. Imagine my sadness when it turns out to be Christina Perri.

So overall, sometimes these guys are way more enjoyable than their source material (Gravity and some others I don't wanna relist), sometimes they... aren't (Marchin' On, and go up and you'll be able to infer at least three more examples). I am using WAY too many ellipses in this review, so let's end it before it gets worse. I totally don't regret listening to this album, in fact it makes me want to see a live a cappella show. That must mean it was good. On the other hand, some of these songs were horrible. How do I rate this thing?

Best Track: Stop Me
Rating: 6/10 (I just went with the benchmark. This was easily the most baffling album yet)