Wednesday, February 2, 2011

The Very 1st Album

The first full album that St. Philip's Choir (now Libera) ever recorded was "Sing For Ever" in 1988. It is no longer commercially available and very hard to find second-hand.

Well, Liberic is a member of the French forum, and he found one for sale here. This is a site called "In Quires and Places Where They Sing." Colin is in charge of it, and it has an amazing discography of pre-CD recorded church music. That means music only on LP's, 78rpm records or tapes. On the left side of the home page is an online shop, and this is where Liberic was lucky enough to find this rare St. Philip's tape!  :)

I had seen the front of this recording before. Thank you to Liberic for the pictures of his.


But I had never seen the back of it before. How cool is this?!!!  :D


It says, "In the course of one week recently, the boys of St. Philip's Choir appeared on 'Top of the Pops', sang a Mozart mass at Chichester Cathedral and recorded backing vocals for a film soundtrack. It wasn't a typical week, but the span of musical style and presentation was quite familiar.

With the serenity of songs like 'Sing For Ever' and 'Deep Peace,' the calm of hymms like 'The Lord's My Shepherd', and the catchy rhythms and sheer joy of 'San Damiano' and 'Light the Candles', the choir has won a name for itself on a variety of TV programmes from 'Wogan' to the 'Val Doonican Show', from 'Blue Peter' to 'The Rock Gospel Show.'

The boys - who come from schools in Croydon - sing the regular services at St. Philip's church, Norbury. They range in age from 8 to 13 though many stay on when their voices change to sing with the men's section of the choir. With the choir's mix of traditional and popular, new boys to the choir have to show that they can cope with basic dance steps, as well as sit perfectly still for a 15 minute sermon!"

There is so much new information for me there! Wish we had videos of the "Wogan Show" or "The Rock Gospel Show." But the part I like best is the very last line! Basic dance steps and sitting perfectly still?! If you can't sit still in church by age 7, I'll loan you my parents. lol That ought to do it! I was sitting still by age 3! :D 

2 comments:

  1. Readers may be interested to know that I have put put up for auction on ebay the exceptionally rare LP issue of 'Sing for Ever' Don't miss this opportunity to obtain the stunning LP with its full sized 12 inch photo cover.

    Once small point regarding my website and collection. It does include CDs - the recordings range from the very first 78rpm record right through to the latest CD releases.

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  2. Hi, Colin! Thank you for the great information! :)

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