Project Description
THE BAMBOOS
“By Special Arrangement”
Album Review
Reviewer: Marissa Newman
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“The pacesetters of the Funk World.” – BLUES & SOUL MAGAZINE (U.K)
“One of the qualities that has made Melbourne’s the Bamboos one of our finest funk/soul outfits has been their willingness to step outside the genre’s increasingly popular expectations.” – THE AGE
“One man’s vision of Soul music’s evolving potential.” – ROLLING STONE
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Today The Bamboos’ have released the much-anticipated orchestral album ‘By Special Arrangement’. This project reinvents Bamboos songs within the setting of lush, sweeping strings, woodwind and brass, coaxing both the epic and intimate from classics taken from their eight studio albums. Dan Sultan, Tim Rodgers and Washington join long serving Bamboos vocalist Kylie Auldist, who is undeniably one of the country’s greatest soul singers on the record.
The album will be launched with a special concert at the Melbourne Recital Centre on August 15 – ‘The Bamboos Present by Special Arrangement: Symphonic Soul’. The concert will feature a ten-piece string section. The three special guest vocalists have been unveiled as Tim Rodgers, Washington and Urthboy. Alongside the full Bamboos band there will be twenty players altogether on stage, and together they will dig beyond the tracks on the new album to pull out more gems from their extensive back catalogue.
Also released today is the video for the strings version of the iconic song The Bamboos originally recorded with Tim Rodgers in 2012, ‘I Got Burned’. On this version of the song Ferguson’s guitar swaggers through voodoo drums while the strings swirl, tease and scorch the song around its edges, adding to the sexual tension that Tim Rodgers brings that made the original an Australian classic.
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The track follows on from the strings version of ‘I Never’ featuring Dan Sultan and the spell binding cover of London Grammar’s ‘Strong’ sung by Kylie Auldist.
The album’s stunning arrangements come from long-time Bamboos trumpeter Ross Irwin, who has arranged for the likes of Paul Kelly, Angus and Julia Stone, Passenger, Vance Joy, The Kite String Tangle as well as performances with the Adelaide and Queensland Symphony Orchestras.
Ross Irwin’s arrangements simultaneously tap into not just the cinematic but also the grand tradition of legendary soul arrangers such as Isaac Haye and Charles Stepney, as well as classic widescreen soul albums from the likes of Curtis Mayfield and Marvin Gaye. The album was recorded by long-time Bamboos co-producer/engineer John Castle, who has also worked with the likes of Vance Joy, Dean Lewis and Gretta Ray.
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All in all this is a great album that brings great pleasure to the listener. The album dives into exploration of orchestral genre while remaining true to the soul roots of the band. Each song on the album takes you through another journey and has you longing for more.
Keep Me In Mind
Is an unusual song with a great woodwind riff that encapsulates the whole song. Powered with strong clear vocals the song has a great sing-a-long feel. Upon listening to the song you are instantly relaxed and the song puts you at ease, which can be seen as ironic when one of the major lyrics of the song is ‘Don’t look behind, just keep me in mind’. This song is a great powerful start to the album and really highlights what the listener has to look forward to on this orchestral journey.
Eliza
This song features Washington. Although the song is not overly long in length it still packs a punch. The song has a great soul feel to it. Featuring powerful lyrics and a great powerful delivery of the vocals, this song has you hooked. Although under a minute long the song takes you on a journey and you feel like you know Eliza and feel the emotions that are being sung about.
Stranded
Wow, what an engaging song from the very first note. This song sucks you in with great vocals that make you feel the emotion, everyone can relate to feeling stranded at some point and I feel that this song brings comfort to that fact. The music behind the vocals is also engaging and makes the song a great one to listen to.
I Got Burned
This is my favourite song on the album by far. This song features Tim Rodgers and I think that his voice that makes me love the song so much. The song starts of with a great instrumental introduction before Rodgers lets loose with the vocals. This is a song that you should really check out and the video that goes along with the song, really shows how music can be sexy.
Strong
We all know London Grammar‘s original so I was a little nervous upon listening to this song as it is one of my favourites. However, I was so impressed and moved by the cover of this song. Kylie Auldist has the voice to pull this song off as well as really bring the soul to the song. Every word in this song is sung with so much emotion and passion and as the listener you can really tell. The video to this song is simple but effective and is worthwhile checking out.
I Never
This song features vocals from the always impressive Dan Sultan. The song is something that we can relate to with the lyric “I never thought I would fall this far”, we have all had times in our lives where we have fallen more than we thought was possible. The music behind this song adds suspense to the lyrics as well as introducing emotion into the listener. Musically this is my favourite song on the album, I feel that the backing music complements the song perfectly.
I Don’t Want To Stop
This song is something different, opening on a strong trumpet, you immediately feel like getting up to dance and the music behind the vocals has swing written all over it. This is a song that before you are even aware you will be bopping along to it. The song is just such a feel good song and is perfectly placed on the album.
Lit Up
A groovy piano intro opens this song really well, then the introduction of the rest of the instruments just gets you up on your feet. This song is the definition of soul music with an awesome groove. This is such a strong song on the album and came very close to being my favourite. It is a song that you can listen to on repeat and not get sick off as each time that you listen to the song you will pack up on something new. Such a clever and strong song.
Stop
This song is a majestic rendition of Sam Brown’s 1998 UK hit ‘Stop‘, this is such a familiar song however it is done it such a way that it becomes unfamiliar and that is something that I love about this song. The music behind the lyrics really cool bits of piano and that’s probably one of my favourite parts of this song. I love how the old is taken and given a new life.
The Truth
This is the final song on the album and what a way to finish the album. Right from the word go this is a powerful song. The instruments kind of wrap around you like a nice hug and the vocals are amazing. You can really feel the orchestral vibe that the band was going for in this song.
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Track List
1. Keep Me In Mind
2. Eliza feat. Washington
3. Stranded
4. I Got Burned feat. Tim Rogers
5. Strong
6. I Never feat. Dan Sultan
7. I Don’t Wanna Stop
8. Lit Up
9. Stop
10. The Truth
‘By Special Arrangement’ is on red double vinyl, CD and available to stream on all platforms now.
‘The Bamboos Present By Special Arrangement: Symphonic Soul’ is out on August 15th.
Tickets are on sale now from The Melbourne Recital Centre.
Connect with THE BAMBOOS
@OneBigLink
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