664 The Jubilee Singers, Part 1

[Irwin]

[King Butter Turtle]

Yay! This season has gotten steadily better each week with little exception. It reminded me a lot of The Underground Railroad, not only for the historical era, but, the style and quality, as well. I like using the gallery and the first scene was classic "kid coming to Bernard for a story" except with Red Hollard, obviously. Also, that was Kendre Berry, right? If so, that's really cool! The only flaw is that it seems a little slow; more descriptive, like a documentary. Of course, since it's a three parter, the plot line is more complicated and it needs more exposition (especially with characters and such) and it got going at the end. Overall, "awesome", I can't wait to hear part II!

[American Eagle]

I approve of this episode! 5/5

Can't wait to hear Part II.

[jennifertwt]

This was Fantastic! The album started off 'okay', one has to expect a few bumps in what I still think of as a new 'series'. But the last three episodes have each been better than the last. I can't wait for parts 2 & 3, unfortunately, just going out and buying the ablum is not an option for me. I agree this would go great with The Underground Railroad for a themed album! My husband and I belong to a medieval re-enactment group and usually burn our own CD with 'historical' episodes for the road trip to events. They are not always 'medieval', but it's still fun.

I also LOVE the preview of Cause and Effect, that is definite 'must have'. Now I am two ablums behind plus some of the re-releases I want.

[Sapphire]

I give it 5 out of 5 stars! I loved it! I can hardly wait for the next part.

[Laurie]

This episode is fantastic!! 5/5

[The Top Crusader]

They talked about the Iron Monger, lol.

[Marvin D.]

5/5!!! I love music, and the people's voices were great!

[Peachey Keen]

Absolutely perfect! I love it when AIO does historical eps!
I also loved hearing Phil Proctor.

5/5 stars

Can't wait for part 2!

[ric]

I think these 3 are the best episodes in 51! 6/5 for all 3! I always enjoy an historical episode.

[Dallas R.]

Great work! It was fun, educational, and had the classic feel of an Odyssey story. It might be a bit hard for some kids to follow, but no more so than some of the other historical or biblical episodes.

I know I'm not alone saying this, but I miss Bernard. Not that I'm trying to compare the two, but Red just isn't the same. I won't complain too much though, because I like Red a lot better than if they had tried to recast Bernard.

Oh, and I think aiowiki is wrong. It says that Phil Procter plays George White, but I'm pretty sure he voiced Principal Spence.

[Jeremy]

Here's a recording of the Jubilee Singers from 1909 (over 100 years ago! ), singing "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot":



Jeremy

[jennifertwt]

FANTASTIC recording! Thanks for posting.

[Officer David Harley]

this episode puts me to sleep. I'm not kidding, when I first got the CD I listened through it once then I listened to it again and I fell asleep.


Officer David Harley

[Boswell]

I'm so excited to join the Vol. 51 discussion, after finally hearing the album last week!

I've never been a big fan of the historical episodes. Social studies was never exactly my favourite subject, and to top it all off, it's mostly American history with a very pro-American bias (early historical episodes unrealistically so). The Jubilee Singers, however, is one of my favourite historical episodes, and easily the best episode of Vol. 51.

Dave Arnold's writing was excellent: the dialogue was both authentic and dramatic, and delivered by top-notch actors. (It was great to hear Phil Proctor again!) Paul McCusker's direction was its usual fantastic self, and this episode really displayed his talent for this type of episode. I basked in John Campbell's score, which had been very light up to this point in the season, when it was composed by him at all. If Olivia and Red hadn't been in it, it would have made for a very nice Radio Theatre production...in fact, if they extended it and released it on its own, I'd buy it all over again.

In short, this was almost everything I could ask for in an Odyssey episode. Put together by the best talent in audio drama today, every aspect of it is entirely fulfilling. To the Odyssey Team: if we can have just one episode like this in every album, we are very lucky listeners!

[King Butter Turtle]

Boswell! I was just thinking about how the review threads are getting less and less fun these days; without people like Trent and Jonathan. My own in depth-ness has even been lacking recently. Your's is always a review I enjoy reading.

[LizzieG]

Before album 51, Dave Arnold had written only one episode. Finding out that he wrote this 3-parter was a welcome surprise, and I hope to see more scripts penned by him in the future. The behind-the-scenes feature of his coming up with the idea for this episode reminded me of Paul McCusker's story of coming up with the historical background for "East Winds, Raining"; in both cases, most of the source material came from one book. This episode also reminded me of "The Underground Railroad," and not just because both episodes tell engaging stories about African-American history. Both also feature an almost-entirely new cast as opposed to the usual crew (though who knows who the "usual crew" are now after the hiatus), and this host of new actors did a great job and sounded natural together. It's always refreshing to hear new voices, even though I never really tire of picking out the familiar ones. The overall score was as strong as the a cappella spirituals, and I thought that the bookends with Olivia and Red (and Frederick Douglass ) were nice and did a good job setting the tone and re-emphasizing certain themes. I also liked Bob Smithouser's small role.

The singing also set this episode apart from the "typical" historical adventure, and was the kind of episode that was bound to be a fan favorite from the get-go because of the ready-made (not to mention extraordinary) true story behind the show. I know it takes work translating and condensing a historical account into a radio drama, but knowing right off the bat that you have a solid plot and plenty of real-life incidents -- not to mention music! -- to draw from is half the battle. You also don't have to worry about misportraying much-beloved characters, or being accused of having an unrealistic plot, etc., because this episode (and others like it) takes place outside the world of Odyssey. I'm reminded of something I read the other day in "Writing as Craft and Magic": "The quality of your writing is a direct function of the quality of your material. ... Material matters most."

The second part had a lot of good scenes, especially the "sing us a song" scene, which really conveyed the discrimination that was, sadly, all too prevalent in those post-Civil War years. Growing up, I knew that the Civil War ended slavery, but I didn't realize what a long road it was from freedom in name to true equality. I'm glad there's now an episode addressing the hardships of the Reconstruction period for African-Americans. The turning point in Oberlin, Ohio, was a powerful scene too. If the first episode introduced the characters and the school's dilemma and the second portrayed the bitter sting of injustice and poverty, the third was a wonderful dénouement -- a triumphant, joyous celebration of victory over the past and perseverance through the hardest of times. Indeed, what man uses for evil, God can, and does, turn around and use for good.

These episodes awoke some of my historical curiosity and encouraged me to do a little research of my own on the Jubilee Singers. I may just have to find that book Dave Arnold read!

[jennifertwt]

There is a BBC radio documentary about the Jubilee Singers I found online. I also think the Jubilee Singers would be a great start to releasing an Odyseey orchestrated album. That would be Fan-tastic!

[Woody]

Pretty boring, if you ask me.