Libera Dreams

I've been listening to a lot of Libera lately (trying to study for an exam) and obtained a renewed appreciation for Josh's voice, mostly from his more "recent" solos, like from Peace.

It's so hard--for me, its almost a three-way tie between Once in Royal David's City, How Can I Keep From Singing? and Lullaby. Still, I am going to go with Lullaby, because the sweet timbre and tenderness in his voice is so...there. Even more than in his other solos, IMHO.

Anyways, what is your favorite solo by Josh? I'm only including ones I've heard on albums and songs where he has a "main" solo.[/i]

This was hard!

Going Home - the first Josh solo I ever heard and one that greatly contributed to me falling for Libera. I still think the way he sings "break" in "break of day" sounds just like that - the new day breaking (luckily not his voice yet! ).

Love and Mercy - the verse that he sings ("I was lying in my room" etc.) never fails to hit me right in the heart. It's a legendary part of Libera music. So sweet. And ofcourse the "Mercy & Love" exclamation that ends the song.

Lullaby - Yes, I agree, it's a special solo. Very moving. A close second to the one I voted for, Faithful Heart. I voted for the latter because of the long notes he manages to hold and the overall convincing performance that warms my romantic heart. And the way his voice counters the harmonies in the background further in the song.

But -- maybe THIS is my favourite Josh solo of all, alas not included in the poll:

[youtube][/youtube]

Why do I like it so much? Because I think you can hear he is right on the threshold of his younger and his older voice. Because you can hear that it's live and not in the best conditions (soundwise and maybe also in different respects, for instance I get the feeling this is early in the afternoon for them while they are maybe still jet-lagged) and still he gives it his best and manages to shine. Because he took over a very favourite solo from Tom and really made it his own. Because he is so into his singing he makes some mistakes in the lyrics ("are" instead of "were). Because you can see him enjoying it and at the same time being very sincere and serious about his singing. Because he carries the song to its wonderful harmonic highlights - in this respect he makes me think of his role as a big boy helping the younger boys. All this makes this my favourite solo performance by perhaps my first ever favourite Libera soloist who made me love this group so very much.
(--edit: and also because he sang this when I saw them for the first time, in Dublin in 2009 )

So, like I said, choosing just one was hard, and many of the songs mentioned hold a place dear in my heart. Please regard what I just wrote as my small tribute to one of the most special soloists ever to grace the Libera line-up

Well it's so hard to choose one.

My favorite songs are Secret, How Can I Keep From Singing, and Lullabye.

Secret- This is such a mysterious song. Not only the lyrics, but also Josh's voice. Yeah, I heard Josh's voice was mysterious and dreamy in this song, but sweet at once.

How Can I Keep From Singing- Josh was flowing like a river. Quiet river. I feel calm and peace. Ah, this is REALLY soothe my soul.

Lullabye- Hmmm...this is so hard. I just feel something in this song. I feel sad and safe at the same time. Sad because of Josh will leave us sooner or later and it shown inside the lyrics clearly. Safe because well I do not really understand actually. But, I love to play this when I feel scare or sad. It's for making me calm.

And finally I choose Lullabye for my most favorite song of him!

Like your small tribute maartendas, it's nice to read

I agree with you all that it's a hard choice.
So many superb songs- Going Home, Time, Secret, Love & Mercy, Lullabye ...
Supposed to choose one, ok then, let it be Going Home

For me its Going Home or Time

maartendas wrote: But -- maybe THIS is my favourite Josh solo of all, alas not included in the poll:

[youtube][/youtube]

Why do I like it so much? Because I think you can hear he is right on the threshold of his younger and his older voice. Because you can hear that it's live and not in the best conditions (soundwise and maybe also in different respects, for instance I get the feeling this is early in the afternoon for them while they are maybe still jet-lagged) and still he gives it his best and manages to shine. Because he took over a very favourite solo from Tom and really made it his own. Because he is so into his singing he makes some mistakes in the lyrics ("are" instead of "were). Because you can see him enjoying it and at the same time being very sincere and serious about his singing. Because he carries the song to its wonderful harmonic highlights - in this respect he makes me think of his role as a big boy helping the younger boys. All this makes this my favourite solo performance by perhaps my first ever favourite Libera soloist who made me love this group so very much.
(--edit: and also because he sang this when I saw them for the first time, in Dublin in 2009 )

So, like I said, choosing just one was hard, and many of the songs mentioned hold a place dear in my heart. Please regard what I just wrote as my small tribute to one of the most special soloists ever to grace the Libera line-up

I can't believe that I forgot to include this in the poll! I should go back and put it in. It's such a special performance by Josh. Your comment was a wonderful tribute to him.

Edit: Ooops looks like I can't go back and add it in.

Personal opinion but am shocked anybody rates that you were there performance. Its shocking how out of tune some of it is. Its one of the worst performances ever i have seen. The bit after " your love lightens up the sky " makes my ears bleed. Its a mess.

plumpuff6 wrote:

maartendas wrote: But -- maybe THIS is my favourite Josh solo of all, alas not included in the poll:

Why do I like it so much? Because I think you can hear he is right on the threshold of his younger and his older voice. Because you can hear that it's live and not in the best conditions (soundwise and maybe also in different respects, for instance I get the feeling this is early in the afternoon for them while they are maybe still jet-lagged) and still he gives it his best and manages to shine. Because he took over a very favourite solo from Tom and really made it his own. Because he is so into his singing he makes some mistakes in the lyrics ("are" instead of "were). Because you can see him enjoying it and at the same time being very sincere and serious about his singing. Because he carries the song to its wonderful harmonic highlights - in this respect he makes me think of his role as a big boy helping the younger boys. All this makes this my favourite solo performance by perhaps my first ever favourite Libera soloist who made me love this group so very much.
(--edit: and also because he sang this when I saw them for the first time, in Dublin in 2009 )

So, like I said, choosing just one was hard, and many of the songs mentioned hold a place dear in my heart. Please regard what I just wrote as my small tribute to one of the most special soloists ever to grace the Libera line-up

I can't believe that I forgot to include this in the poll! I should go back and put it in. It's such a special performance by Josh. Your comment was a wonderful tribute to him.

Agreed, very nice comments, Maarten I also think you're right about the boys performing under difficult conditions. The acoustics in this place look very poor, and I wouldn't be surprised if they were jet lagged. I think the boys may be a bit affected by the fact they are in Japan where they don't speak the native language.

Still Josh does a fine job in making this song shine I wish I could have seen him perform it live.

dani wrote:Personal opinion but am shocked anybody rates that you were there performance. Its shocking how out of tune some of it is. Its one of the worst performances ever i have seen. The bit after " your love lightens up the sky " makes my ears bleed. Its a mess.

I guess it doesn't sound the best at times but I like it because the boys had to perform under difficult/less-than-optimal conditions. (It is very difficult to sing well when tired). Also, the studio probably didn't have good acoustics. I'm no authority on this, but I've heard that sometimes when performances are aired live, it actually sounds a lot different in the studio compared to what we hear over our TVs.

I wouldn't rate it quite as bad as Mrs Simon Cowell says , but dani does have a point in some respects that it did sound a little off-key not just with Josh but with the harmonies too. The second verse was much better though.

However compare it to this; jump to 3:17 for start of song

[youtube][/youtube]

...and I know which one I prefer of the two.

BrightEyes wrote:Still Josh does a fine job in making this song shine I wish I could have seen him perform it live.

The other point I wanted to make, was he performed it much better live in concert. Particularly during the Celtic Tour when I had the opportunity of listening to him sing it twice. He had to sing the last part of the song an octave lower due to voice changes, but he did a very fine job. Helped by the fact that he always looked the least nervous performer on stage.

Going back to the poll. Lullabye was good but I can't relate it to the video of Josh at the time. His voice was much too young for his casting in the video, therefore I will always regard 'TIME' as his un-official solo send off.

I've trumped for 'Going Home' as his best solo though. It announced his arrival on the solo platform and their version of Dvorak's classic was a vintage highlight of the Leiden DVD.

dani wrote:Personal opinion but am shocked anybody rates that you were there performance. Its shocking how out of tune some of it is. Its one of the worst performances ever i have seen. The bit after " your love lightens up the sky " makes my ears bleed. Its a mess.

You probably have a point there. But I like it anyway! Despite some flaws or 'the sound of dishes in the background' or any other noises. There is no rational explanation- but live performances are somehow different, therefore interesting and engaging.

JimmyRiddle wrote:I wouldn't rate it quite as bad as Mrs Simon Cowell says , but dani does have a point in some respects that it did sound a little off-key not just with Josh but with the harmonies too. The second verse was much better though.

However compare it to this; jump to 3:17 for start of song

[youtube][/youtube]

...and I know which one I prefer of the two.

LoL

I do get the fact with something like Libera that if one part is off key then it throws the rest of the boys off and so it becomes a bit of a mess . We all know how good they can be live so its shocking to see them this off key but im sure there was reasons but im still betting RP would like to burn that recording as it does not them no favours.

And im confused about the last part as the Tom Performance is much better than Josh's imo.

Also is that the same studio for both you were there's?

dani wrote:And im confused about the last part as the Tom Performance is much better than Josh's imo.

Also is that the same studio for both you were there's?

No I don't think so. To be fair I think the one with Tom, was in a studio that was better setup for sound. The other one you could hear the dishes clattering in the background and people were walking by outside the windows, so I don't think the sound was contained as best as it could have been.

This took me a good 20 minutes to decide, but I finally came to an agreement on Lullabye. I'm not quite sure why I choose this, but it might be because it is his last solo. I'm driven to tears everytime it comes on my iPod, and his tone quality in it is just so moving.
I don't even want to get started on how much I like his voice, because then I won't ever stop, but I have adored all of his solos. Going Home was the first of his solos I heard, so I was partial to that choice, but decided against it. I don't wanna type much more, because it might, unfortuntly, make me sound like a fangirl, so I'll just end with saying I love all of his solos and I think he is one of the greatest Libera legends

Love & Mercy, hands down

Plumpuff you might as well want to start a thread about Ed's solo? i'd be glad to vote