Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Birthday Countdown 1990

1990 was the year of Mariah Carey's debut CD, and there's no way I'm going near any of those songs. Nothing else really appealed to me, so today I give you an a capella spiritual.

Over My Head was performed by Kathleen Battle on the CD and VHS (!) Spirituals in Concert (released in 1990). The entire recording is amazing - Ms. Battle and Jessye Norman were both in the prime of their careers and sing the crap out of the selections. I picked Over My Head because it doesn't require a backing track - sadly, there are no backing tracks available for any of the music on this CD.

Why do I like it? Kathleen Battle's voice is a beautiful thing. Here's her version, if you want to know what it should sound like:


About my version - As I am not a world famous coloratura soprano, I lowered the key a bit. I also did not perform it as slowly as she did, more because I ran out of breath than by choice. But this is ok to me, although not something I would sing again for humans. 6.5 out of 10, unless you compare it to the original - in that case, it is a .01!




Tomorrow - 3 fairly solid choices - I just need to settle on one!



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