Our regular “Monday Radio Commercial Smackdown” returns next week. At the moment I’m attempting the impossible: preparing to announce PD Grad School and to accept registrations for my annual Radio Copywriting Masters Class.
In the meantime, this video might be a lot cooler than you’ll first think….
I’ve been a fan of The Bobs since their first album. Impossible to describe; “ya gotta be there.”
I hadn’t seen them in years, then caught them at McCabe’s in Santa Monica a few months ago.
In addition to their extraordinary songwriting and brilliant vocals, there’s something about their voice arrangements that simply seems to be on my exact inner frequency. (Yeah, I know that sounds New Age-ish.)
If the first excerpt on the video makes you think “novelty act” or “Oh, they sing songs from our grandparents’ time,” stick around to hear what they do with “White Room.”
THE BOBS – Promo Demo
The Bobs | MySpace Music Videos
Oh, they also hold an interesting historical footnote: They were dropped from National Public Radio when one of their topical songs offended a powerful Special Interest Group: American bee keepers.
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Weird! My band plays White Room so I know it well. That is like the WEIRDIEST version I’ve ever heard. (Weird is a good way.) I wonder what they’d do with Strange Brew?
The Bobs are fantastic! While you’re at it you should also check out the Swingle Singers whose a cappella version of the 1812 Overture – complete with a cappella canon fire – is also amazing!
@ CHRISTINA: They’re astonishingly good. What first got them noticed was their arrangement of “Helter Skelter,” and they used to do an incredible version of “Psycho Killer.”
Having said that, let me add:
The Bobs are not a cover band. Most of the material they do is their own, and their songwriting is extraordinary. (They often open their sets with one of my favorites: “Share A Load” — an exquisite piece about two people who meet in a laundromat.)
I’m tempted to keep gushing like this, but this is supposed to be a hard-bitten, slightly edgy blog…not a fanzine.
There are only two acts I’ve dragged all my friends to over years. One is Penn & Teller, whom I first saw about 30 days after they premiered the act in a small L.A. Theatre.
The other is The Bobs.
If you’re like me (and I know I am), go see them if you get the chance.
@ JOHN: I used to listen to The Swingle Singles when I was a teenager, pretending that listening to their classical arrangements of pop songs made me cultured.
They’re fine, don’t mean to knock them.
But The Bobs have far more in common with Randy Newman and Lyle Lovett than with the Swingle Singers.