I have heard Idina Menzel's version if that's what you mean.

Really? Clearly you have never seen the list of ballroom and Latin CDs available - there are hundreds, no thousands, with new ones added every week, most with about 20 tracks on each. My home collection numbers about 250 cds, our studio collection must be in the region of 800. Hardlyt self limiting!

The really really special thing about Strictly is that it is live all the way. The ban have consistently been top top quality and are recognised and rated very highly in the business, as they should be. They have a string of stunning singers. Very often I avoid looking at some of the worst of the dancers and just listen to the stunning singing performances.
The choices of songs are down to producers who are trying to appeal to a wide variety of tastes and as a result I regularly hear songs that I dislike intensely. But that's PART OF LIFE !! People need to grow up and realise that other people in the world have different tastes to them !

When the producers insist on a totally unsuitable pop song for a tango for example, why don't the dancers and the band get together and perform a tango version of it?

As a major Kate Bush fan, I thought Hayley did a good job and does not deserve all the criticism. WH is a very hard song to sing and she did it justice given the fact that the song was abridged and the band don't have a lot of time to rehearse. I have heard much worse Kate Bush tribute singers who do her songs for a living.

What do you think the dancers would rehearse to in the studio all week?

The situation is that the producers pick some number. The professional (I think) has to work with an edit of that in the rehearsal studio and then Dave and his merry men have to do their damnedest to recreate that edit live, so that the dancers are working to something very close to what they rehearsed to.

The show would be hugely diluted by just playing an edit of the original recording - it needs (IMHO) a live band, and within the constraints (space, time, budget) Dave Arch, his singers and musicians produce a fantastic sound, covering a huge range of styles.

The world of professional musicians is well over subscribed, like actors, more of 'em than students on "meedja studies." There are also huge numbers of gifted amateurs.

A joke amongst many of the professionals is;

"How can you recognise a professional musician's car?"

"It's the one with the pizza delivery sign on the top."

Dave's band comprises musicians who are really at the top of their game. They can pretty much play anything at a drop of a hat. So it irritates me slightly when people who appear to know naff-all about it, start criticising their performance.

This probably got overlooked because of the quality of the dance.
The guitarist would have been given his band part at fairly short notice and seen a note in the margin saying, "play like Santana."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQLODYQBVJg

Daisy, you're spot on there.

They're trying too hard now and in doing so moving further away from the original (successful) concept.

Folk, enjoyed seeing a latin american dance to a classic song that worked with the dance. Something evocative and of a particular time.

Again, i feel the producers are too busy looking over their shoulder at X FACTOR.

Trying to be all things and appeal to everyone of all ages. It just aint possible.

Yet again, as in so many of your posts, you make a very valid and important point.


If the 'wrong' music is chosen, don't blame the band, blame the lack of professional judgement that the production team seem to display more often this year.

I say this every year, but it's worth repeating to explain the problems facing the band's singers, when people criticise them.

Historically, songwriters earned their money from the sales of sheet music. This was because before WWll in the USA., the biggest market for sheet music, there were more pianos in homes than radios. In fact the "hit parade" was based on the sales of sheet music rather than those of records until the fifties.
If you were a songwriter, it would be a waste of time writing something that needed a vocal range of four octaves, if you were hoping people would buy it to, "sing around a piano" as was the practice in many homes before WWll, and from where would come your principal income.
So the range of the "top line" was usually always written within a range of little more than the average range of the regular purchasers, not much more than an octave and a half.
Think of most of the classic ballroom tunes from stage musicals, by Gershwin, Cole Porter, Rogers and Hammerstein/Hart, Irving Berlin, etc,, in fact think any Sinatra tune.

These the bands singers can sing well, without straining their voices, though most have a greater range than what I've mentioned.

You can't always replicate the stuff made in recording studios. Any studio recording can be changed to any key you like with the technology which has been available for a couple of decades.
Nor can the band singers always replicate songs where the original artist has an unusually wide vocal range.
It isn't possible. But the numpty Strictly producer thinks it is.

That's a good subversive idea. The producer is tone deaf so probably wouldn't notice the song has been improved.


It is clear from the evidence that Louise Rainbow is tone deaf.


The BBC has proudly named the Executive Producer - she is Louise Rainbow

http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/lat...louise-rainbow

Not sure what it is at the end of that rainbow but it is certainly not a crock of gold.

I've noticed an absence of Lance Ellington this year.

I think he's only been on when Tommy is off.
And I think that's only once.

I assume that's because he and Tommy are vocally similar and the music choices have been more rock style so that other chap has been getting all the work.

I miss Lance. I think he has a nice sound.

This other chap sounds a bit harsh.

According to his web site, Lance is touring at the moment. But no dates are shown.
It probably pays better than Strictly. Band musicians and singers aren't particularly well paid. Maybe the singers have to commit to a certain number of programmes.

A lot of the music on Strictly, no longer suits his style, shows how bad things have become, musically.

For those unaware, he had a pretty well known dad. His quartet were regularly featured in the radio programme, "The Goon Show" in the fifties and sixties.

Here he is with a "big band."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CG2qcrZUarM

Chris Madin

I can't open the link at work, but is he Ray Ellington's son? I never knew that.

Yes he is. I think he has a better voice than his dad.

I think all of them do a great job considering the songs are all chopped up to fit the dance and they don't get much rehearsal time.

And obviously liking or disliking the tone of individual singers is a personal thing.

I prefer Lance's tone to the other two guys, but I appreciate it's Tommy's gig and that the new guy's voice is better suited to the rock type songs.
I do miss Lance's honeyed tones.


And yes he is Ray Ellington's son, and he was also half of the duo Koffee & Kreme.

Couldn't disagree more! The music has me wincing time after time.
Defying Gravity for instance - song from a musical - written to be performed live so there's no excuse. If the notes are too high for the singer adjust the arrangement, use a different singer, anything rather than make me worry about the poor girl's hernia!

Seems like lots of people here are more preparerd to make excuses for bad performances from the band than they are for the contestants!

What a lot of misery. Cheer up and enjoy the show.

Err. Or the producer's should select music suited to the singers at hand with due consideration for the dance and dancer's character. Not rocket science. The producer should stop using her random music generator and get the professionals to choose appropriate music.

The SCD singers couldn't perform "Queen of the Night" either I am sure.

Let's not make it "feast or famine," yes a few tunes give the band problems, I'd say an increasing number given the choices of the numpty producer Louise Rainbow.

But give the band and particularly the singers a half decent tune and they cope very well.

Let's stop blaming the band for the stupidity of someone else.

I did notice that the singer cracked in one of her high notes in defying gravity but I'm not surprised. It was the end of a long show and she was probably shattered. Remember that the band and singers have had a rehearsal in the morning and dress run later on so this is the third time they've had to perform everything that day.

I think one dodgy note is forgivable and we shouldn't compare their performance to the original artist's. The original artist quite often had songs written for them, could have been auto-tuned on recordings and most importantly would have had a lot more time to practise the songs than the band and singers on Strictly. People don't realise how much practise singers need to do to get every note in the right place, get used to where you are going to breath and then lastly put some energy, musicality and emotion in to it.

I loved Defying Gravity but I thought it was a completely inappropriate song choice for a tango. I have no idea how Frankie and Kevin did such a good dance to a song with a very unclear beat! The producer needs to add more traditonal music back in to the mix and consult the pro dancers and Dave Arch more.

Best listening to the SCD youtube with your eyes shut and compare. Gobsmackingly impressive. Yes I remember the dance but not the playing.

This is the Santana live to compare

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWO_eojWezg

I agree - poor Hayley Sanderson - she sings the whole show long, gets a difficult song right at the end and just doesn't quite make the high note at the finish. BUT the rest of it she sang very well indeed !! Time to focus on the positive rather than that tiny negative, she does an excellent job.