The Go Sound/The Kirby Stone Touch

I confess I never quite "got" the Kirby Stone Four. It's true that they brought a fresh sound to the familiar songs of the Great American Songbook and made the slight material (e.g.., "Hambone") sound more entertaining than it deserved to be. And occasionally their arrangements caught a note of sophistication and modern harmonies--e.g. Arlen's "When the Sun Comes Out"--that should appeal to fans of The Four Freshman or The Manhattan Transfer. But for the most part they relied--and heavily--upon hooks and gimmicks. First of all, why all of the extra singers (including females) for a group calling themselves the K. S. Four? 2ndly, is all of that reverb really necessary? Doesn't it cover up more than heighten or spotlight the arrangements and voices? Thirdly, why is virtually everything--including the ballads--taken at medium to up tempo--and usually with that irritating Louis Prima-style shuffle rhythm that the Squirrel Nut Zippers and other groups brought back in the neo-swing movement of the late 1990s?Although some reviewers refer to the music as swinging, it's such a forced, contrived, overly-obvious kind of swing that a better word to describe it might be "peppy."All the same, compared to Chad Mitchell, the Brothers Four, the Lettermen, Johnny Mathis, and, yes, I'm afraid the Beach Boys, these guys are like hot Tabasco sauce. They were definitely closer to being on the right track than the tepid, spineless and frequently smarmy coffee-house music that briefly caught the public's fancy before the Beatles, the Stones, and deafening amplification loud enough to be heard in 3 states from outdoor festival stages simply conquered the entire field.[Since this transfer was made when studios were still willing to spend money on digitalizing master tapes, the audio quality is definitely superior to many recent reissues. The decision to reproduce the original liner notes from the Columbia albums will not be appreciated by any contemporary of the group--the typeface is so minuscule as to be unreadable. A shame, because I'm barely able to distinguish some familiar names who deserve credit--like drummer Ed Shaughnessy.]

A quartet with a unique sense of swingin' music.I appreciated arrangements very ecletic!Thank you!

I've always enjoyed the unique sound of this group and this cd provides plenty of it.

This double CD from the lesser known boy group (Four Lads, Four Freshmen) is good fun to listen to with superb vocalizing on all sorts of music, from the classic "You're My Thrill" to the Kirby Stone-penned "Lassus Trombone." These are for the most part upbeat selections and only one selection clocks in a more than 3 minutes, that being the Harry Warren and Arthur Freed hit "Coffee Time."The Kirby Stone Four had a much different sound compared to the other guy groups and there is a nice variety of female voices on these tunes as well.

Great to see this material available once again. They didn't record a huge number of albums but what hey did was top quality and with a very tight vocal unique sound. If you like The four aces , The four lads, the Ames brothers etc, you'll like this. good selection of songs too with things like "Coffee Time" "Buck Dance" an uptempo "Spring Is Here" "When thew Sun Comes Out. Highly recommended.