Young at Heart

Whitburn Band
Conductors: Andrew Duncan and Michael Marzella
Total Playing Time: 68.22

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The origins of this disc lie in a sampler recording made by Whitburn Band in December 2004 demonstrating the now extensive catalogue of band arrangements published by Warner Brothers. Although effectively a commercial spin off from that sampler we would guess that Andrew Duncan had a fair hand in the CD's production given that his arrangements figure prominently in the Warner catalogue.

In fact there are three conductor/arrangers represented in all namely Duncan himself, Steve Sykes and Philip Harper, all of whom seem capable of producing more arrangements than you could shake their respective batons at.

Whitburn and Flowers in particular have benefited strongly from the arranging skills of Messrs Duncan and Harper and as a result both bands have made their mark on the entertainment scene. So, with the quality of the arrangements themselves in safe hands we come to the quality of the music; or more to the point the suitability of the music for arrangement in the first place and it's here that things have the potential to going awry.

The idea behind the disc is a progressive journey from the Cole Porter of the 1920's to the present day. When the journey takes in the likes of Grease, Robbie Williams, Scooby Doo and Harry Potter there is clearly no lack of variety but not all of the material works with equal ease. Andy Duncan tries his level best to get something out of the various songs from Grease that we have all come to loath or love (and you will detect that we clearly subscribe to the former category!) but what we get is a disjointed cobbling together of music that is best destined for Paul Merton and his ever useful Room 101.

For different reasons Steve Sykes' arrangement of classic Queen Hits, united under the banner Queen Rules! again possesses the ingredients to polarize opinion. Steve Sykes does manage to tie the likes of Bohemian Rhapsody, Another One Bites the Dust and the inevitable We Are the Champions into some semblance of logical progression by nattily using passages from Bohemian Rhapsody as links between the various songs, but what X Factor addicts and Simon Cowell would make of the band's singing and clapping of We Will Rock You is anyone's guess.

Steve Sykes also provides the arrangement of Robbie Williams' Angels and let's make no bones about it, Robbie Williams fan or not, this really is a fine song. All goes pretty well with the flugel solo to start things off but it's when we get to the chorus that the woodenness sets in and we limp our way through to the next verse. Full credit to the band however for making a fine effort and the link on trombones to the final reprise of the chorus does redeem things somewhat.

Scooby Doo, Where Are You? and I'll Be There For You (best known as the theme from Friends) both come from Andy Duncan and as long as you can live with the happy clappy element of I'll Be There For You it's a good example of how on occasions an arranger with the talent of Duncan can take something that ought not to work and make something of it.

And so to the notable successes. Philip Harper comes up trumps every time although it is fair to say that he also has the best music to work with. The Cole Porter Medley that kicks the disc off, De-Lovely, is arranged both attractively and unpretentiously and Whitburn give an equally appealing airing that makes for an effective opener.

The music of Howard Shore and John Williams respectively utilized in the selections form "Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban are both gifts for the band arranger, packed with the kind of drama and effect that works so well for the medium. Philip Harper takes full advantage and of the two, Lord of The Rings comes off with particular success, from the sonorous, mysterious sounds of the opening to the exciting clashes of the battle scenes; it's irresistible stuff. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is no less appealing even if the welding of the various themes sit slightly less comfortably than Lord of the Rings. Both arrangements get secure and committed performances from the band who clearly enjoy themselves immensely.

If there is a surprise package it is Andy Duncan's Symphonic Suite drawn from the score of Mary Poppins. It may not sound too exciting on paper and the classification as a "Symphonic Suite" may be overstating the point somewhat but the familiar tunes come off surprisingly well, due in no small measure to the arranger's imaginative and effective treatment of them. Duncan's selection of Cartoon Classics succeeds for the same reasons (that is if you can live with the "That's All Folks" at the end) with The Pink Panther, The Flintstones and The Simpsons amongst its targets.

Having just fended off the challenge of arch rivals Scottish Co-Op to take the 2005 Champion Band of Scotland title, Whitburn seem to be a band in the ascendancy at present although they will no doubt be disappointed that they were unable to improve on their third place at the 2004 Brass in Concert Championship at this year's contest. That said there is certainly no shortage of confidence in their playing here and Andy Duncan continues to add weight to their corner through his prolific catalogue of arrangements.                                  

One final oddity. Playing the disc on our computer using Windows Media Player the play list brought up a recording of new wave dance music recorded at the 2004 God's Kitchen Global Gathering. Mmmm…..we wonder what happened there?! Could it be that someone somewhere is trying to save a bit of money with the CD's? Either way it doesn't reflect particularly satisfactorily on the producers of the recording and should have been spotted before the disc got into the public domain.

Christopher Thomas

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