From: Andy
Message:
I saw the Royle Family chrimbo special for the first time last night.
Had me in fits:
In the bathroom Denise's water has just broken. Enter Jim, sits down on
the toilet and turns on D's birthing tape. The sound of Ave Maria fills
the small room. At the same time haunting, seasonal, joyous, magical.
Jim: 'Are you sure it wasnt just a big piss, denise-love?'
So in light of this here's my top 5 Ave Maria covers* (all Shubert
interpretations unless otherwise stated):
1) Maria Callas (Verdi interpretation)
2) Stevie Wonder. I thought at first the track was pitched up cos he
sounds a little squeaky, but i guess he was just young when he recorded
this. Its definitely him tho. Placed at no. 2 due to the excellent and
unexpected use of harmonica.
3) Carpenters. Nice vibes. Classic beautiful voice. Nice strings
programming. I knew a girl at college who thought she had the late Karen
Carpenter's voice. We fell out when i told her she didnt. She went out
with my housemate just to spite me. Happy days.
4) Roy Black. Dont know who Roy is, and the producers might have put a
little too much reverb on his voice (unless they recorded it in a cave
during the war), but the guy's got a nice voice all the same. They
managed to fit quite a large choir into the rear of the cave, but the
strings are a little too overpowering to be able to hear them properly.
5) Thievery Corporation. Possibly a classical techno classic. I darent
say any more.
To get to this final list the other following versions were played and
eliminated: Gheorghe Zamfir plays the panpipes, chris cornell from
soundgarden, joan baez, frank sinatra, harry connick jr and, wait for
it: bobby mcferrin(!) and yoyo ma.
*all downloaded ad hoc this morning. Sadly, the Freddie Mercury/Michael
Bolton and Placido Domingo versions were unavailable. I didnt download
the Celine Dion track out of principle.
