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Plucked from a wet afternoon of busking Bizet and Puccini to passersby on the Piazza in Covent Garden in the spring of 2001, soprano Rebecca Knight and mezzo Karen England soon found themselves singing in slightly larger venues: the FA Cup and Champions League soccer finals. That the management company doing the plucking had recently performed a similar Cinderella crossover act for Russell Watson offered portent, and indeed the Babes–the moniker began as a joke–were soon o… More >>
Ideas Product
#1 by clare on May 26, 2010 - 12:52 am
This album promises to deliver and truly does not! The ‘rags to riches’ story is cute but their delivery of music is far from that. With so many wonderful albums now available to classical and classical crossover music lovers – such as AMICI FOREVER, JOSH GROBAN, MARIO FRANGOULIS – all with a unique, honest sound and with lush orchestrations, yet true to their roots I fail to understand how your reviewers can rate this album! I can only assume they have not bought any of the others I mentioned so I seriously suggest they do!
Rating: 1 / 5
#2 by opera lover on May 26, 2010 - 1:02 am
I really don’t recommend purchasing this CD. My biggest fear is that a customer who is new to opera may buy this CD and think that these tinny voices are what opera is about. In my opinion, the sloppy, commercialized remixes are a mockery of all the beauty opera possesses. The “Babes’” voices are terrible, too…poor technique and no ring. If you’d like to listen to some opera, try Puccini.
Rating: 1 / 5
#3 by Braden on May 26, 2010 - 3:54 am
From reading all these reviews, you get a idea that this CD is a classical crossover album. I am a huge fan of Bond, who do a major classical crossover with beats of different music: dance, house, trance, salsa, etc. So, I bought the CD with the intentions of listening to a somewhat similar tracks.
Let me tell I was extremely dissapointed. I do appreciate their voices, do not get me wrong. Their voices are very beautiful. I may not be completely entitled to say this because I am not a fan of opera and I do not critic much opera songs, but I am a musically diverse person, I listen to trance, rock, classical, you name it; I probably heard it somewhere. I like some opera, the melodies of the violins and instruments with the beautiful vocal work of the singers is amazing at times. This CD, for the more general listeners, is more opera, than well, opera. This is nothing of a crossover, but more of a fresher opera. New age yes, but still opera. Perhaps it is due to my love of beats of rock, electronica, and classical, but opera is unique in the way that it really does not have a beat; the focus is moreso on the vocal works.
All I can say is, the songs are familiar you will have a good time listening to some. A CD filled with relaxing, put-you-to-sleep music, but not something I recommend people other than opera fans to listen to on a listening basis. This is nothing of a crossover, and the only thing that you can consider one is on the bonus track CD, with the Lakme H20 (Vibetribe Mix), which is the worst re-mix I have heard. The beat is exactly like hip-hop, three beats, that repeat the entire song. The only thing that changes is the vocals of course, but the mix added did nothing for the song. Just by looking at the cover and the cheap graphics, you get a feeling of unsureness.
Don’t get me wrong they have beautiful voices, but it’s not an easy-listening CD for the general audience. Once again, this is a fresher sound of opera, but I would never consider it close to a crossover.
Rating: 3 / 5
#4 by Erica Anderson on May 26, 2010 - 6:21 am
I am not really big on opera music. Most of it I find overwhelming for my ears to handle. Still not all of it bad. I love Puccini’s music as well as the well known “Flower Duet” as well as “O Fortuna”. I enjoy the music of pop divas Sarah Brightman and Charlotte Church who are classically trained vocalists yet their music is also pop-friendly. What the string quartet Bond did for classical music, Opera Babes does for opera music which is make the traditional music more accessible for music lovers who aren’t exactly wild about opera music, including me. The first time I listened to “Beyond Imgaination”, I was a bit overwhelmed by the vocals of Karen England and Rebecca Knight as well as orchestral arrangements (one of the reasons why I usually don’t care for opera music in general). The more I listen to “Beyond Imagination”, the more my ears grows accustomed to the duo’s gorgeous soprano voices. Granted that the women are very attractive (like the women in Bond), the primary focus should be on their vocals. I actually like them more than Charlotte Church who has a tendency to oversing ala Celine Dion. The two tracks on this cd that really stands out for me is the breathtaking title track and Beethoven’s “Ode II Joy”. I thought those two tracks really showcased the women’s voices. I keep playing those songs over and over. I also thought they did a wonderful job on “Un Bel Di” from “Madame Butterfly”. I guess the only flaw I found with this cd is that the songs that Karen and Rebecca chose were predictable but then again you really don’t want to scare off potential listeners with some obscure tracks. And maybe the orchestral arrangements were a bit too much at times like during “O Fortuna” and “Un Bel Di”. Still, “Beyond Imagination” is a solid debut album from Karen and Rebecca. I look forward to hearing more from them.
Rating: 5 / 5
#5 by Anonymous on May 26, 2010 - 6:38 am
this album is great for any crossover fan. The Operababes with their own unique story sing beautifully together on this CD. Many of the songs are given original lyrics, like Ode to Joy, and new twists, like the Flower Duet. Any opera fan can appreciate the wonderful aria “un bel dì”, as well as new listeners. It is a great buy for any music fan.
Rating: 5 / 5