Comments on: Greater Vision

By: Heidi

Heidi — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 02:36:57 +0000

Thanks for the video Daniel. They sang this song when I saw them in July (while Jason was still with them) and Gerald mentioned that he hadn’t been singing it for a long time – maybe even years – because it was no longer in his range. So he asked Lari to arrange a new one a bit lower for him. I love Champion of Love, and I’m so glad to be able to hear the man whom I consider the master of this song, singing it again.

By: Daniel J. Mount

Daniel J. Mount — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 14:04:28 +0000

Good analysis.

By: brady

brady — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 13:37:32 +0000

When the Cathedrals did the original version of “Champion Of Love” with Gerald on lead vocal, it was keyed at the very high end of all the vocalists’ ranges. They sang it fine, but from what I gather having talked to some of them, it wasn’t that comfortable–especially night after night. As people and voices mature and age, it’s basically not practical to keep singing a song that is consistently out of one’s comfort zone. I would suspect that the slightly lower key, which is still high in my opinion, is as much as to save Gerald’s voice as it is to allow for Jacob to hit the note. To make sure Gerald is able to sing this classic for years to come is probably their top priority and reason for lowering the song. Regardless, it’s still a great song, a southern classic, and no one sings it like Gerald.

By: Kyle

Kyle — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 01:32:41 +0000

I was gonna say….sounds a little lower than before….

By: Daniel J. Mount

Daniel J. Mount — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 23:38:36 +0000

Bev—please don’t misunderstand me. I love the words. I have them memorized, and have known them by heart for years.

But a song consists of two things: Lyric and Melody (with accompaniment for the melody). Without melodies, we would just have poetry.

Granted, not everyone needs to care about the little details, such as finding out which key is best for a particular singer. But if nobody cared about those details, we wouldn’t have music of this quality to listen to.

By: Bev

Bev — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 21:49:08 +0000

Wow, it doesn’t make a bit of difference what key you sing it in whether its abc or xyz but it is ONLY about the message. When we all get to Heaven it doesn’t matter what key we sing in.
Listen to the words next time and not what key it is sung in.

By: Sarah

Sarah — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 15:19:43 +0000

Cool.

By: Daniel J. Mount

Daniel J. Mount — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 10:48:35 +0000

Neat!

To answer one of the questions raised, I emailed Gerald Wolfe and he said that the new soundtrack was arranged and produced by Lari Goss for Wolfe’s upcoming project, which features a new version of the song.

By: Sarah

Sarah — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 03:09:38 +0000

Wow, I don’t know how anyone can pick out the keys like that, I can’t. I can just tell whether or not I can sing “that high” or “that low”.

BTW~Daniel, Dad went to Ohio this week and brought back a Record Player, 18 records(Old Cats included), an 8-track player and a whole big case of 8 tracks(with old Weatherfords, Blue Ridge Quartet, Kingsmen and more.).

By: Daniel J. Mount

Daniel J. Mount — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 10:29:57 +0000

Nathan—wow, good ear. It is indeed down, but by the slightest measure possible. The original track was Ab/Bb/B/C; this is a half-key lower, G/A/Bb/B.