Album Review: THE ANDREW FISHER SONGBOOK, SimG Records

The Andrew Fisher Songbook is an album being released by SimG Records this week and is comprised of songs from composer Fisher’s original musicals. 

The album has 12 tracks, of which 10 are previously unrecorded – though you couldn’t pick out which ones haven’t been as they all have an air of familiarity to them. The songs, chosen by Fisher himself, have been selected as he believes they are satisfying to sing and offer a range of drama, comedy and pathos for the characters performing them.

Songs featured come from Gabriel, Big Mouse Strikes Again, Robin Hood and Alphabet Soup, and are sung by popular musical theatre voices such as Lauren Samuels, Daniel Boys and James Gillan. 

The album is well put together and the track listing allows the songs to flow nicely; complementing the previous or successive numbers. The CD has a particularly jazzy feel to it and this is perhaps based on the excellent orchestral arrangement that provides the tune for the tracks. It is truly wonderful.

‘At The Crossroads’, performed by Annalene Beechey, is beautifully sung but is also exceptionally perceptive and has a personal note within the lyrics, which is thought provoking and touching to listen to. 

Wendi Peters takes on ‘All Men Are Bastards’, which is the villain song from Fisher’s musical Alphabet Soup. It is fabulously funny and really allows her to show off her vocals and comedic acting skills. 

Everyone is excellent on the album but there are some real powerhouse voices on there; with the songs that they have been gifted allowing them to show off their vocal range and for that reason, there are a few several standout stars on the album. 

Daniel Boys belts out ‘Heaven’s Plan’s A Mystery’ from Gabriel, which we reviewed before Christmas; Lauren Samuels is exceptional as always with ‘Caught in the Rain’ with some hard notes to hit; and Molly Lynch smashes it out of the park with ‘Gloucester Road’, a song which portrays the heart-breaking realisation that the man she loves is cheating on her. The emotion she displays in the song is wonderful, and the tone to her voice is like silk. 

Definitely worth a listen, Besties! 

****’ Four and a half stars

Reviewed by: Emma Littler

The Andrew Fisher Songbook is released on 21 May here.