Kyle Boreing
Jul 23, 2010
Observations
DVD Review: Sing Out America Vol. 3 – Cathedral Quartet
I’ve seen different volumes of Bill Traylor’s early 80′s TV show, Sing Out America, for several months on DVD. They first came to my attention via Wes Burke’s review of Volume 5 (Gold City), and I finally ordered a copy of the Cathedrals’ volume last week.
I must say that I agree with Daniel Mount’s take on the video quality – early 80′s video source is surprisingly clear – which goes to show that Traylor must’ve held on to those masters. The packaging, however, is somewhat on the cheap; the actual disk, while appearing to be screen-printed, is actually a DVD+/-R, and the artwork itself looks like it was done in PrintShop.
The song list also isn’t in any particular order (and in at least one case, is entirely wrong). The actual song list found on the DVD is as follows:
Going Home
I Don’t Want To Live No More Without Jesus
Step Into The Water
Then Came The Morning
I’m Telling The World About His Love
I’m Going Home Some Day
Mexico
You Can Walk On The Water
It’s So Peaceful
We Shall See Jesus
The DVD menu and package actually lists “We Shall Be Caught Up,” which appears no where on the disc, and lists “Then Came The Morning” twice, while not listing “It’s So Peaceful” at all. Oddly enough, the album cut of “Wade Right In” is played during the menu (along with footage of Traylor interviewing the Cathedrals), although neither the song nor any interviews are actually featured.
Packaging problems aside, the footage that is here appears to have been taken from three different taping sessions. The vocal lineup for all the songs consists of George Younce, Glen Payne, Mark Trammell, and Kirk Talley, with Roger Bennett on piano, and all but one of the songs are done in the standard piano/bass instrumentation (“Mexico” uses a track, although it is NOT lip-synced).
The stage sets and camera blocking are noticably cheesy, with one in particular being four circular platforms for the singers. I guess the idea at the time was to create a music video-type recording, but it just seems to restrict the performances (that, and the fact that Glen has absolutely NO slack on his microphone cord!!).
The lack of an audience also seems to play against a group who is known for it’s connection with its listener. Whoever did the editing for the DVD left about two or three seconds of camera footage after each song, where the group seems a bit uncomfortable, just waiting for the director to say “cut,” as opposed to applause. Granted, the Jubilee didn’t have an audience either, but the presence of other artists on the set surely raised the performance value, as opposed to taping each song in an empty set with just a camera crew, as appears to be the case here.
From a historical standpoint, however, this is definitely worth a watch. The view gets a nice example of the Cathedrals as they really emerged as a top group, with all of the songs here coming from either their 1982 Something Special album or their 1983 Live In Atlanta release. It’s also fun to see Kirk Talley and Mark Trammell trading off bass duties during Mark’s feature.
