We enjoyed a 10-minute taste of 4-man, 4-woman San Francisco-based FWI at the 2005 Bay Area Regional (OK, actually they appeared as a septet, the maximum that may compete in the Harmony Sweeps). The group, first formed in 1996 as a quartet, love making music together and they wowed the crowd at the Regional with the Texas Swing tune "San Fernando Valley" Palestrina's incongruous, albeit lovely "Sicut Cervus," and the Jefferson Airplane Summer of Love psychedelic anthem, "White Rabbit," all included here. 11 a cappella songs in total, Billy Joel's "And So It Goes," the Rockabilly classics "Truck Drivin' Man" and "High and Lonesome," the very funny "Big and Stupid," our friend Richard Greene's "(Please Come Back and) Mess Me Up Again" and U2's brief, sublime harmonic gem "MLK" are favorites. "FWI At Last" is an impressive debut CD for FWI. |
