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Release Date: 09/11/2007
Run Time: 39:58
College football fight songs are fascinating when viewed in the abstract. They're marches, which are restricted in their form and vocabulary to begin with, and beyond that they're marches written to a specific purpose -- they have to cut through the sonic clutter of tens of thousands of people and get their attention. Given that, this impressively large collection of 33 college football fight songs, all expertly played by the Florida State University Marching Band, reveals quite a variety of approaches to the task. There are features in common, of course. Most of the pieces are short; the subtle relationships between the strains of a Sousa march, except in the unusually elaborate and harmonically ambitious Fight On March from Penn State University, mostly go by the wayside, although the University of Michigan's The Victors is given in its relatively unfamiliar complete form, with the familiar "hail to the victors valiant" tune in its proper place in the trio section. But the disc is full of surprises. The compositions seem to date from various times -- it would have been nice to know when, but the booklet contains no information at all other than a track list. Some composers try to seize the listener with a big Hollywood-style (or just late Romantic) flourish as an introduction. Some use familiar materials, either straight-up (the University of Georgia, perhaps surprisingly, uses Glory, Glory, aka John Brown's Body or The Battle Hymn of the Republic, as its fight song) or in a piecemeal allusion (Arizona State's Maroon and Gold, with its strong suggestion of Alabama Jubilee and entertaining bones-like castanets). And some composers just try to blast through the distraction with hell-for-leather music -- the Florida State musicians deserve major kudos for mastering a lot of music including the obviously difficult Hold That Tiger from Clemson University (track 8). The sound engineers impressively surmount the challenges involved in recording massed brasses. The only complaint here is the omission of any music from one of the South's historically black colleges and universities, where football band music has a distinct flavor and an acrobatic presentation that on fall Saturday afternoons draws audiences from far beyond the African-American community. (Consider Tennessee State's fight song: "I'm so glad I go to TSU!/I'm so glad I go to TSU!/I'm so glad I go to TSU!/Singing Glory Hallelujah, I'm so glad!") Note that while the texts of the songs are not sung, the chanted school names included in some of the pieces, including the home field Florida State Fight Song, are included. Miami U., from the University of Miami (the one in Florida, apparently, although this isn't clear), has an especially entertaining treatment of this idea, with the name spelled out at different speeds that lead up to a rousing "Fight! Fight! Fight!" Great fun for any football fan, or, indeed, for any lover of band music. ~ James Manheim, All Music Guide
Release Date: 09/11/2007
Run Time: 39:58
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