Rockapella is a band you’ve probably heard, even if you haven’t
\nheard of them. Anyone who has endured the plethora of commercials
\non American television has seen this a capella quintet appear in
\ncommercials for Folger’s coffee. (They’ve also been the “house
\nband” for the TV show
\nWhere In The World Is Carmen Sandiego?<\/i>)<\/p>\n
But for all the success they’ve had worldwide, they are just
\nabout to release only their second album in America – aptly named
\nRockapella 2<\/i>. Although these guys are hardly the next thing
\nin boy bands (they’ve been together since 1987), they have the
\nsound and magic that rivals any of the bands out there today – and
\nthis could well be the time for their star to rise, especially with
\nsuch a strong album.<\/p>\n
The group – Barry Karl, Elliott Kerman, Scott Leonard, Jeff
\nThacher and Kevin Wright – brings back memories of many different
\nartists. Rhythmically, I can hear tinges of Bobby McFerrin in the
\nvocal percussion department. Vocally, you can hear the influences
\nof groups like Boyz II Men and the Backstreet Boys, even though
\nRockapella very much has their own sound that comes through
\nclearly. But the pop sensibility is there, as heard on the lead
\nsingle “Tempted” (yes, a cover of the Squeeze classic).<\/p>\n
The true magic on
\nRockapella 2<\/i> isn’t in the Squeeze cover, though. Instead,
\nit’s found on several other tracks, such as “Doorman Of My Heart”
\n(which almost has a comical calypso beat to it), “Bring Some Love”
\n(which should be the next single, if I could call it) and “This
\nIsn’t Love”. In fact, of the 11 full-length tracks featured here,
\nthere is barely a lemon to be seen or heard. There’s a minor slip
\nat the start of the album, which doesn’t quite get off as smoothly
\nas they would have liked on “That’s The Way”. Fortunately,
\nRockapella quickly recovers and is able to salvage the track.<\/p>\n
What strikes me about
\nRockapella 2<\/i> is that it’s a fun disc to listen to – and it
\nshows people that you don’t necessarily need electric guitars and
\npounding drums to lay down a solid beat. (It does sound at times
\nlike some type of a beat box is being used, although the liner
\nnotes assure the listener that everything you hear comes from the
\nband members themselves.)<\/p>\n
The one question I have about this disc: why include the two
\nFolger’s jingles? I guess there’s a kitsch value, but they really
\ndon’t add too much to the disc itself. It’s not that big of a deal,
\nthough – I mean, we’re talking about 78 seconds worth of material,
\nhardly anything for me to bust a vein about.<\/p>\n
\nRockapella 2<\/i> is a disc that undoubtedly proves the talent of
\nthis group, and they could well give some of the boy bands out
\nthere a run for their money if they’re given a fighting chance in
\nthe marketplace. Pick it up. Give it a chance. You’ll be surprised
\nhow quickly you get sucked in to their world – and you won’t want
\nto leave.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":25346,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[6295],"rating":[5613],"class_list":["post-36552","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-rockapella","rating-rating-a-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/36552","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36552"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/36552\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25346"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36552"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36552"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=36552"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=36552"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}