CD: All Angels
With All Angels, what you see is what you get: four attractive young (the oldest is 18, the youngest 16) women who are impeccably dressed, styled and groomed and sing like angels. It doesn't sound that new but all of those factors are music to the record company's (and it seems the UK music buying public's) ears.
The all girl group have clearly been put together to capitalize on a trend (read: make money). Artistic sensibilities aside, that is what a group like this is all about at the end of the day, which is a shame as each of the girls have different, distinct and interesting backgrounds (one is even a qualified pilot!). This format (not to mention the arrangements) doesn't really allow them to shine as individuals. Still, there's no 'I' in group and so we must assess All Angels on what they are: a popera girl-group who are taking the UK by storm, reaching number 9 on the pop charts and selling 33,000 albums in one week.
Their self-titled debut album is a collection of the tried and true (Ave Maria, Flower Duet and Silent Night), the popular (Songbird, Windmills of your Mind and Robbie William's Angels) as well as more classical pieces (Salve Regina, Agnus Dei and Ave Verum Corpus). Thankfully, the CD manages to strike the right balance between the different pieces with an unusual (for popera) emphasis on the classical, a fact that has obviously attracted buyers looking for something a little different in an already saturated marketplace.
Although the song selection may be different a lot of the arrangements aren't wonderful. While the girls sound lovely and harmonise very well their voices all sound the same and so more time needed to be spent on working out ways to differentiate them while making their overall sound unique. As it is it sounds like a lot of other albums with high production values and a lot of money to spend on a live orchestra.
While the song choice and the girl's pleasant sounding voices (not to mention their youthful appeal) will ensure this album stands out, one can only hope that the next album will correct some of the problems on this CD while continuing to present audiences with different and unusual songs. We certainly do not need another version of You Raise Me Up.
