Geoff and his wife Kathy filmed this. He borrowed those tools from his father's gardening shed and he also used them in his cover of Jimmy Dean's "Big Bad John" He said we keep sending him back to the mines. I am old enough that I remember hearing Tennesse Ernie Ford singing this on TV back in the 60s. I'm sure he would say to Geoff "Bless Your Pea Pickin' Heart".
That's so cool! And very cool - there certainly was some incredible music in the 60s, and Tennessee Ernie Ford was definitely a great man to listen to.
Sixteen tons is one of my favorite songs. I actually found Geoff looking up covers of this song, and his blew me away. And through Geoff I found voiceplay. It’s been a nonstop rabbit hole since
My Grandfather worked in the coal mines of Western Pennsylvania. A Very, dangerous difficult job to say the least,and especially 100 years ago. Underground mining in 50 to 52 degree temperatures year around, in a damp/wet, dark environment in a coal seam as low as 24" to 26" vanes. You had your carbide light, lunch box, snuff box and yes, a canary to detect methane or whatever other poisonous gases that could suffocate you and your tools. 75 years after my Grandfather worked in the local mines, I worked in a Hardware store that had sold to the miners leather mining belts, metal lunch boxes, helmets, carbide pellets, lights and in the back room we still had the hand drills that they used to hammer into the seams. He had to supplement his income to support his family by working other jobs. He cut hair, carpenter, roofer amoung others. Hard, hard life............
My goodness - that sounds like it was an extremely risky and draining life. Of course the carbide lamps would have been a risk as well - I didn't even think of that. I'm glad things are safer and regulated now, but my goodness what people had to go through for us to learn we had to do that...
Geoff has said that so many of the songs that are highly requested for him to do have a very static format of verse, chorus, verse, chorus, bridge, verse, chorus, with little or no change in the arrangement throughout, and his goal is to find a way to open that up to something more interesting without losing sight of what made the original song memorable. And I am amazed at the way he continually finds new ways to do that. I am so enjoying your reactions. I totally just love to see and hear people discover how wonderful Geoff and VoicePlay are, so I watch a lot of reactions. As fun as it is to see someone just sit there wide-eyed and slack-jawed as they watch, it is so much more enjoyable to watch you go back and give us an intelligent discussion of what is going on musically, visually and theatrically as well. Geoff and VoicePlay's closed captions often add those wonderful little Easter-Egg comments, so I always try to have them on, especially when I'm watching one of their new videos for the first time. Geoff is very conscious of the need to have captions. His wife, Kathy, who you've have seen credited as production manager for both Geoff and VP, and who appeared in a cameo in Monster Mash, was also a singer when they first met. While still a young woman, they discovered that she was suffering from severe degenerative hearing loss and it took a long time for her to get with doctor who could find a really good hearing aids solution for her. (Geoff has a fantastic non-music video on his site discussing hearing loss, very interesting to watch). But because of her depending on closed captioning, he said he just finds it natural to have captions on all the time and makes a real effort to make sure his videos are properly captioned.
I'm so glad that you're enjoying my work, and thank you for the kind words! I'm catching up to the captions - unfortunately I recorded several videos before I saw comments tipping me off to them. A couple of people have mentioned Kathy's struggle with hearing loss, and I'm going to check that video out. I don't have hearing loss, and I recognise that it's nowhere near as serious, but I have had a permanent case of tinnitus for over 16 years now, so I sympathise with anyone who has to face any kind of challenge with hearing.
@@davidkreacts my 15 year old has tinnitus as well as sensory processing issues. Fun times ... not. There is an essential oil that helps some people with tinnitus called helichrysum. It did help my son but he decided the scent was worse than the sound.
@@shirleykarr560 Oh, I haven't come across that - thank you - I'll give it a go. I hope for your son's sake and mine that they discover an effective way to help this. It's not fun, but I have learned to cope with it over time. I hope he does too, if he hasn't already.
I listened to that one a few months back. Their way of educating us to be aware and hopefully if you see something that might help Kathy, do send the info to Geoff and Kathy.
Another thing that I really get a kick out of is how Geoff and his clones all interact with each other. When straw boss Geoff finished his line, he leans forward and looks to lead Geoff as if they are different people. It is a little uncanny. Several reactors wondered who “the other singers” were in his cover of Misty Mountains as he has some impressive work done changing his hair and beard. The same thing happened to a few in Headless Horseman. That has to be tough. Since most of his solo work is done only by he and Kathy, I can only imagine that Kathy is helping him with the timing, as when they each turn toward lead Geoff. In the behind the scenes for his Ghost Riders in the Sky, there was one part when he turned the wrong way. He just shook his head and calmly requested a retake. After a minimum of one take for each of the five characters, and that doesn’t include closeups, he just sails through with like the professional he is.
Absolutely - it is incredible how coordinated this all is. I can only imagine what a pleasure it is to work with someone doing something like this in a way that is so creative and doing it so professionally.
Thank you so much for engaging my enjoyment and understanding of this historic piece. I thoroughly enjoyed Tennessee Ernie Ford's version as a young person in the 60s, but this version by Geoff is just phenomenal!
The company store went at least one step worse than what you described. They also allowed "store credit" so you could end up in serious debt where you could not ever stop working because you owed more than you could ever earn. This is my favorite song of Geoff's
David, I'm loving your analyses. I've heard this song dozens of times, and I never picked up on some of these nuances, such as the "Bless my soul" 26:56 resetting the song to the beginning, just as the poor miner's life is an endless unbreakable cycle of drudgery. Brilliant insights! I look forward to working my way through your VoicePlay and Geoff playlists.
Good to see you again. I do like the format you are using. I feel that it gives you a chance to hear it then go deeper on the second go through. Do turn up the video volume just a bit. Big Bad John is also from my childhood. Three of his solos are among my absolute favorites - Blackbird, High and Dry and Shenandoah. Oh and his new one is Ghost Riders in the Sky. And he did a fun one with a cover of Elvis Presley's "Way Down". My goodness, I have to admit he hasn't done a subpar video anywhere. Love 'em all.
Thank you so much! Yeah, I screwed up the volume on this one - not sure if it's RUclips's compression or my headphones being noise cancelling, but the difference was much starker once I posted it. The next video should be better. So many more videos to look at! ;-)
A friend posted this on my Facebook page shortly after it was released, it was my introduction to Geoff. That lead me to Voiceplay and then I found out that there were people on RUclips who did reactions. I have been lost in this maze for over a year and a half. 1. Kathy just smacked the camera for those pickax shakes. 2. Straw boss Geoff looks mean on that line; I think the straw boss may be the one who was delivering bad news for the big boss. I appreciate your format and deep analysis as well as the scripted commentary you add when editing. I also like the case of the Geoff giggles you get when you listen. Always here for Geoff and Voiceplay!
Thank you for another great reaction and analysis! I don’t know how many times I’ve watched Geoff’s Sixteen Tons video, but you still managed to reveal new things I hadn’t noticed. Love it! 🥰 Keep the reactions to Geoff and VoicePlay coming and I’ll be here. Really enjoy your enthusiasm. 😍👍
Yeah, the company store was basically a workaround for minimum wage laws. The reason it's so closely associated with mining, is because mines were often located in remote areas, and the mining company would typically own all the land around the mine. They'd put in employee housing on company land, very near the mine entrance, and a company store on company land, very near the employee housing, and other necessary things like a school if the employees had children; but nobody else could come along and put in a non-company store to compete or undersell them, because there were no available plots of land nearby, the company owned it all. So they were able to charge enough at the store, that employees ended up needing to borrow against future wages (which the company _graciously_ allowed them to do) for basic necessities like food and clothing. Thus it was impossible for employees to save up enough money to ever move away in pursuit of a different job, and there were no other jobs in town because the company owned everything, so you just had to work for them. It was pretty much tantamount to slavery in all but name, but it was legal, for a while. Eventually, various legal reforms eliminated the practice.
It sounds like a very brutal machine to be a part of! Nowadays it seems hard to imagine people getting away with that kind of thing, but then I guess it's always happening in one form or another.
Great reaction, and I really appreciate the lengthy analysis. Because if there's one thing that Geoff (and VoicePlay) will consistently do, it's give you a lot to dissect. As long as you care to pick apart the threads of his arrangements, and discuss/marvel at his vocal technique, I am there to watch and listen. Same with VoicePlay. Feeling like making a documentary-length reaction/breakdown and analysis of one of their Minis? Cool, lemme just top up my water... Seriously, it's like getting a peek under the hood of a McLaren; you're getting to see the inner workings of something at the pinnacle of its craft. I will definitely be watching, and re-watching, these analyses!
Jayyy! Back with reaction, how fun!!! The fanlore is that he borrowed his father's tools and then went back for them again in Big Bad John. Most Geoffs are filmed at Pattycake. In most Geoffs work are small Easter Eggs, like the light with halo effect you notice here. I promise you, somebody will point them out to you,if you don't notice them yourself. Geoff is a stickler for small details in his works. He plans meticiously beforehand to minimize the actual work while filming.
True! There's a delightful clip Geoff shared in the BTS, of his little boy helping him carry (drag) the sledgehammer from Papa Castellucci's tool shed, singing Big Bad John. One of the BBJ clones is identical to 16 Tons because Geoff and Kathy thought fans would get a kick out of it.
Love the format you seem to have settled on -- uninterrupted view with reaction, then another watch with analysis. I really enjoy the perspective you bring with your professional knowledge, the details you're able to bring to our attention. There are plenty of YTers who just react for the entertainment value with no insight offered. Doesn't hurt that your voice reminds me of Jon Oliver. 🙂 Fun that you picked up on the differences in the clones, even though they look alike in this one. Usually need at least one viewing per clone, plus one for the overall effect. The Monsters in Monster Mash for example, or the Ghosts in Ghost Riders in the Sky are such distinctive characters. Once you've explored Geoff and VoicePlay, then add in a little Home Free (What's Left of My Heart, Workin' for A Livin', Brother, All About That Bass) and HF's bass Tim Foust solo stuff (Come Go With Me, In My Room), you might want to dabble with The Bass Gang. Each member has a solo channel, and they're awesome together. Tomi is in Europe, Bobby and Peter are in the US (Peter Barber is a professional bass opera singer and does reactions/analysis) and then Marwan is in Egypt and he's only 18. For Geoff and VP, as you may have already learned, watch with captions on and keep watching until the end. There's often an extra little bit, like in Way Down. (I really hope that one's high on your to-do list; it's fabulous and not getting nearly the attention it deserves.) Even in older videos like What Does the Fox Say, there might be goofiness after the credits roll.
Thank you! I'm glad the format seems to be going down well. (Also, not the first time I've had the Jon Oliver comparison! :-D ) I agree - I feel like I could make these videos twice as long and still have things to say, but I don't want to exhaust either myself or my audience! Home Free definitely coming soon, as well as Tim, The Bass Gang, and a variety of others. I hadn't made the connection between The Bass Gang's member Peter being mentioned and Peter Barber the reactor - glad to know they're the same - thank you. Unfortunately I'd recorded several videos before I got the memo on the captions - they will be coming soon.
Crossing fingers for this to avoid the withering gaze of the enforcement arm, since the comparison between the versions is quite instructive. In a just world this would definitely be fair use.
Fingers crossed. The only copyright claim on the video so far is for Geoff's version, and of course that's ignored since VP allow fair use openly. I'm glad you found it interesting. :-)
Rats. I thought I had the volume sorted. Seems like I fixed my level, but the RUclips playback volume still needs adjusting. Got a couple more videos recorded at similar levels, but hopefully I’ll have this sorted after that. Thanks for bearing with me. Not sure if it's my headphones or RUclips's compression, but things sound much better balanced before I upload these... 😕
Another great reaction & analysis! I would also recommend Voiceplay's cover of "I Can't Make You Love Me" for absolutely heartbreakingly beautiful vocals--it is way under-viewed (possibly because it is not theatrical), but so so good.
I heard the same thing about the snapping fingers. I also like Geoff used the tools of the mining trade. My high school history teacher taught us about the horrible things that miners had to put up with. They were paid in scrip (not money) only used for food, clothing, rental home, doctors, pharmacies, etc. all of which were owned by the mine owners. The men really did owe their soul to the company store.
@@davidkreacts I was coming in to mention this. From what I remember from when I was young, we learned that the pay options were 1. All cash monies. 2. All scrip. 3. Some combination of the two. But the catch was, if you opted for cash, you got (say, for example) $50. But for the same work, if you opted for scrip, you got $100 in scrip. And if you went for combination, you’d get $25 of each. The company store was priced in both, but the mine employees were encouraged to open accounts and buy things on account that then were paid for with the pay checks before any remaining pay was given to the employees. So, they literally were trapped because to buy the things needed for the family, you got a better pay check with scrip, but you couldn’t shop elsewhere. You were REQUIRED to live in the town owned by the mining company, so your rent was also taken from your paycheck, the houses were almost never taken care of, so if you wanted your house to be livable, you had to find ways to fix it yourself, and you would not be recompensed for those repairs or improvements, of course. So you’d buy all these things on account, but your scrip paycheck wouldn’t cover everything, so you’d now owe more and the next paycheck would be the same. It was legal slavery and if the miner died, the family was thrown out with nothing, but then taken to court for the amount due on the account.
During the depression, after the dustbowl wiped out my grandparents farm, my grandfather had to go work in a coal mine. They only paid in scrip and he had very little to send back to my grandmother and the kids back in North Dakota. Eventually he ended up in debt truly in debt to the company store. It took him over a year to get out under their thumbs. When they moved to Northern California and my grandfather started working for a Lumbermill, they also wanted to pay him in scrip. He demanded cash and was paid significantly less than his coworkers. And yes the prices were different for the workers and who received their money in scrip. I was in junior high school when I first went to the company store which was the only store in town at that time. There were two prices and that was in the 1950s or 1960s. It was the beginning of the payday advance scam that has destroyed so many people.
@@janetdw I do feel for your family, it was a horrible way to have to live. I grew up in the era and area of the Florida Cape Canaveral. Educated men and a very few women from across the country came, demanding good education for their kids. I feel so fortunate, and grateful that I learned how many Americans never got the opportunity. It has shaped all of my 71 years and made me a better person for it. I grieve for what passes as a decent education today and what that means for today's children who will be the next adults. People deserve so much more.
I love your reactions so far. I’d like to make a suggestion. The volume of the song was very low. You might want to turn that up a bit, unless there was a reason you kept it low. I’m so happy when I see others discovering Geoff and VoicePlay. I fell in love with their music a year ago and I enjoy seeing others react to them for the first time. Please don’t stop.
Thank you! Yeah, I really screwed up the volume in this video, but I really liked the patter of both my reactions and the breakdown, so decided to keep it.
@@davidkreacts it's good to see you enjoy Geoff & Voice Play your reactions are priceless. Please turn up the volume on the music. Please don't talk during the music. It's great to hear your breakdowns at the end.
May I suggest for your next Geoff cover you do Big Bad John? It has a very similar vibe and of course it’s awesome. Enjoying your reactions please keep it up! 🏴❤️
Happy to see David K in my notifications. You can’t go wrong with any Geoff video. They are all great. Geoff hasn’t said which Geoff is which in this video but having watched all his videos many times, I believe I know their personalities and singing style enough to tell them apart. Some may disagree but to me, from left to right. Jeoph, Goff, Geoff, and Jeff on the right. Jeff is my favorite. Jeoph gets the most solos. Only in Way Down and Ghost Riders has he told us which is which. They have name tags in Way Down. In Ghost Riders you get to meet Daryl (second from left in that video). Daryl is also in some other videos but not credited. He had to work his way into the group. Daryl has become Geoff’s favorite. So I know we will see more of him.
Since you mention that you like musical theater, I really think you should listen to two pieces by Voiceplay.. Phantom of the Opera, which is an older piece, and If I Were A Rich Man/Girl . I would love to watch your reactions to both of those pieces. I really enjoy watching you discover Geoff and Voiceplay. As far as Pentatonix, Hallelujah is a good place to start your trip down the rabbit hole! As for HomeFree, Man of Constant Sorrow seems to be where most people start, but honestly my favorite from them is Listen To The Music! Happy Listening!
I saw they had those videos when I wandered through their channel. Both on my list (though goodness me, it's a long list!). I'll check the others out too. :-)
Going through your Geoff/VP videos. Yes, I really enjoy it that you watch and react first, and then go back to analyse! Also, the extra Geoffs usually are called Geoffettes in the community and have their own names, which you will learn in time ;) (Way Down and Ghost Riders introduce the names)
Thank you - glad that you're enjoying my work. :-) I'm come to learn a lot more about Geoff's doppelgängers since recording this - Way Down will likely be coming up fairly soon, so I'm looking forward to the official introduction!
Geoff does do wonders with call and response, sometimes very subtle, sometimes in your face, but always magnificent! "Far Over The Misty Mountains Cold" is a really great demonstration of that 😉
Often they would use songs in mines to help people keep pace and both maintain breath and dig more efficiently in the mines, but also… if your singing partner one spot down or around the corner was suddenly quiet for a few reps you generally needed to either call the medic or call for everyone to run… so they could call a coroner. This song verymuch sort of felt like the workers that are stuck going into the mines, everyday, for the rest of time, because that collapse caught them all. And now they are singing to stay and work off their eternal debts
There's always so much I wanna say! Lol. I love the format. Getting to hear a run through and then going back for the breakdown/analysis is perfect. I think that's a great way for us to see a genuine reaction from you and then still get the advantages of hearing the analysis. I am absolutely loving getting to witness your journey of discovery with Geoff and VoicePlay. I'm sure with this fan group you've heard by now that Geoff and Layne do the arranging and they are both geniuses at it. They excel at things like dissonant chords, syncopated rhythms, arpeggio and knowing exactly when to use a pause or dropping out the harmonies for a moment to make the movement more dramatic. That's also helped along by their theatrical nature, lol. I want to recommend about a thousand things from them but I know you already have a list going, so I'll just wait for the next vid, lol. I didn't get a notification for this one so I've gotta go make sure I've got them turned on. See ya soon!
Thank you so much, Traci. Yes, I'm so impressed by both Geoff and Layne (Layne arrangement reaction dropping Saturday). You're right - my list currently translates to probably two years of reactions! ;-) No idea how to prioritise it, but I'll get there. Glad you're enjoying the videos!
I love your format - pure reaction first, detailed analysis after. Sixteen Tons was my intro to Geoff and then through that I discovered VoicePlay and Oogie Boogie's Song and all of the rest from then on. I grew up with Sixteen Tons. My father was a basso profundo. So all his best friends from choir (and they toured the world and cut records etc back in 1960/70s) were also basso profundos. When they'd come for dinner they would pick up my guitars and sing. The neighborhood was vibrating. Of course, they sang songs most suited to their voices so Sixteen Tons was always on their reportoire. I listened as a kid to the versions by The Platters and Golden Gate Quartet, only heard Ford much later. Geoff's version is, IMHO, the best.
Thank you very much. Yes, this would be a solid introduction, that's for sure! Oh, I can only imagine what that sounded like! What a wonderful way to be introduced to music and singing. You're not the only one that says this is the best version - I've only heard Ford and this to my knowledge. I'll have to check those others out - I do enjoy both groups, but I can't imagine them beating Geoff's performance.
You posted this one when I was at work, so I'm just now getting to see it, but as usual, it was an amazing analysis. As others have pointed out, because of Kathy's hearing loss, Geoff is very aware of captioning for his videos, so having captions on for his videos is always an extra treat. I think outside of Geoff and VP, I would like to see you react to some Bass Gang songs, and the individuals that make up the Bass Gang, Marwan Ayman, Tomi P., Bobby Bass, and Peter Barber.
Thank you so much! I've finally started catching up with the captions thing - too many videos recorded ahead of time and I hadn't seen the comments yet. I am wondering if I'm missing something though - I keep seeing auto-generated captions that don't appear to be created by Geoff (very odd "misheard" word in one of my next videos). Are those the ones everyone is talking about? Bass Gang is absolutely on my list, and I saw Peter react to a VP video, so I'm interested to hear him sing - he's obviously very, very well aware of how to use a bass voice!
@@davidkreacts I think some videos don't have the "official" captions from VP, unfortunately. And Peter Barber is a bass opera singer, so yeah he knows what he's doing. 😁
Geoff and Layne do most of the arrangements for VoicePlay, they are the best at that! Like I heard Geoff say, they're not karaoke singers. They keep enough of the original to transmit its vibe, but they also add their own spin; what I call the VP Trademark signature. They are always so amazing!! You'll meet Jeff, Jeoph and Goff when you watch his "Way Down" video. I hope you do that one soon!! Thanks for another great reaction! 🔥
Thank you again! Way Down got bumped up the list precisely so that I can meet them! Should be doing that in a small number of weeks - just have a couple more things to do first.
The clones' names: Jeff, Jeoph (pronounced Gee-off) and Goff are based off of misspellings and mispronunciations of Geoff's name. We meet Daryl (the 4th clone) in Ghost Riders in the Sky. Geoff said that the clone looked like a Daryl so the name stuck.
The person who refereed to Geoff, Jeff, and Geoph, was probably referring to Geoff's Elvis Presley video, Way Down. 😄 You spoke of the company store. There is also an overlooked line about a "high toned woman." This big rugged coal miner can kill a man, but can only be tamed by his girlfriend.
You're right - I did miss that line - thanks for pointing that out. (SO much in all of these videos. It's hard to catch it all.) I'll be checking out Way Down some time before long - had lots of recommendations for it.
This was my introduction to Geoff and I became instantly obsessed, quickly followed by VoicePlay. This is a great old song and Geoff's arrangement is a wonderful, fresh rendition. I can't describe this in musical terminology, as you so expertly did in your analysis but for me, despite the change in tempo, I thought Geoffs rich bass gave a slightly darker tone and the higher harmonies felt slightly plaintive at times making the lyrics even more poignant! Thank you for a thoroughly enjoyable reaction and analysis, I look forward to the next one. 🙂👍
To feed your liking of accapella : there is Voctave, Rockapella, Street corner symphony, The real group, Rajaton, Club for five, The swingles/Swingle singers,; more classical, Voces8, The king's singers: Bass, Avi Kaplan (ex-pentatonix), The bass gang : "weird" stuff the HU, and asian throat singing .........
Thank you for the recommendations! I love The HU - only seen a couple of their videos though, so may well add them in. Lots of other fabulous groups to check out - thanks.
Don’t forget my favorite a cappella group: Home Free! They also have a Basso Profundo named Tim Foust that is awesome! Suggest you start with Man of Constant Sorrow to get a good sampling of each of the 5 mens voices.
To recommend something completely different, This Life is Mine by Jeff Williams featuring Casey Lee Williams. It's from an American anime-like RWBY, song by the arranger's daughter, Casey, who started singing professionally for the series at 13. This particular song is more late teens, but I feel it's a good introduction to both Casey's voice and Jeff's musical talents. I am in the camp of "don't hesitate to pause for spontaneous admiration, replay parts that are awesome. As long as the initial playthrough isn't more than, say, twice the video length, I am fine. Enjoyed the reaction, and hope you enjoy making them.
Thanks for the recommendation - I know of RWBY, but haven't knowingly heard any music from it. I'll check it out, for sure. Glad you enjoyed the video, and thank you. Yes, loving these, and there will be more. :-)
Great reaction David. Thanks for pointing out all that. I never noticed those expressions and stuff before. I don't know if anyone mentioned but when the camera shakes Kathy hit it to make it shake to look like the tools did that.
Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed. :-D I love the inventiveness of the camera shake! Must have been challenging to replicate that across all four takes as well!
“It’s not easy to do just enough”. One of my favourite VoicePlay Christmas songs is “O Little Town of Bethlehem”. It doesn’t have many views (perhaps because it’s a bit older), but I love it! My sister (who is not a big VoicePlay fan) once called it boring, but to me it’s just the perfect balance where all these beautiful voices get to soar (Geoff and Eli are the most prominent in it, but note also that Layne is singing too, there’s no percussion). It’s featuring two Geoffs - I think that Tony was officially still the baritone of the group, but did not sing in all their songs anymore, so Geoff is doubled in it). I would love to hear what you have to say about it! To me, it really is just perfectly enough!😊 I enjoyed your reaction as always, I’m glad that you started this and will continue! I’ve heard other acappella groups, but only VoicePlay got me immediately hooked, just because they fit my taste and humour. I almost always find interesting things and/or humour in their voices, arrangements and videos and I’m so glad to see you catch all of that and more!
That sounds really interesting - thank you for the recommendation. I love O Little Town, partly because there are already multiple versions of the actual melody/harmony, so seeing what people do with it can be really fun. I'll check it out for sure.
The interactions between the Geoffs is fantastic in every video. Loved the deep dive into this! I love Nightwish. A little bit off of that, but I wonder how you'd react to BabyMetal (my favorites are Karate and Gimme Chocolate).
May i suggest a wonderful singerby the name of Dan Vasc. Classicaly trained in opera, sings a variety of genras. Multi lingual & has an absolutely beautiful voice. You wont be disappointed. 😊❤
I absolutely adore both Voiceplay and Geoff solo, so I totally want you to check out pretty much their entire catalogues over time. 😊 But if you want to branch out and capture additional audiences for this channel, I’m going to highly recommend that you react to Dimash, Jinjer, and Peyton Parrish, without researching ahead of time so you can react “fresh,” because there are some real surprises. Others are already recommending you check out Home Free and Pentatonix, and of course they’re wonderful and you should , but they mostly share the same audience as Voiceplay. When it comes to acapella you also need to react to The Bass Gang-they’re newer and still building a following but they are also amazing. But again, more or less the same audience. With Dimash, start with the 2017 version of SOS (this is the performance that introduced him to the world, and it really is the best introduction-then you can appreciate the progression of his singing and career from there). Be prepared for seriously rabid fans. With Jinjer, go with Pisces Live Session (I suspect they won’t be your cup of tea over the long run, but people make a hobby of watching first time reactions to this piece, so there’ll be a huge audience for you there). And with Peyton Parrish, go with Valhalla Calling (Miracle of Sound is also involved-he actually originated the song, but Peyton took it to an entirely new level with his performance). And recently, they released a new version of the song with Eric Holloway, who is a true Oktavist-you’re going to feel his voice down to your toes. And again, do no advance research. There are some huge surprises. 😎
To the whole "company store" culture: the worst abusers of the system used to charge their workers for absolutely everything, the tools they used daily, the food the company provided for lunch ( typically without the "employee" knowing they were being charged AND weather or not the ate the food provided ), the housing provided by the company, the coal used for cooking and heating, the oil used ( mostly coal oil which was a byproduct of mining anyway ) for lighting, transport to the work site...you name it they charged for it. Which had the net effect of the "employee" owing more than they made in a given week of work. Straw boss: from what I'm given to understand that is usually someone who takes on the role of "boss" who wasn't appointed by the company. Think unofficial shift leader. One who's athority is entirely derived from them agreeing with the foreman and can be blown away in an instant if they step out of line with the company. Blown away like a straw in the wind, so to speak. Geoff, like most creatives, as you will no doubt know, is a self diagnosed perfectionist. He has learned, as we can see with every piece he offers to the world, that "perfect is the enemy of good enough". I wouldn't worry about the volume thing. Technical difficulties when you're first starting are part of the journey. I can't speak for anyone else, but I'm here for that part, too. You'll find a balance that works for you, so I don't think anyone is concerned. Other groups: Some things to note about reacting to other groups is the way that their labels handle reactors. While most companies have accepted that reacting is a part of the music industry now, not all of them are happy about it. Some of them, talking to YOU Sony, are very particular when it comes to copywrite claiming and fair use issues. Frequent pauses, with the breaks used for commentary, is the typical cure for videos being taken down due to copywrite claims. The worst "offender", if they can be called such, is Sony for Pentatonix. Home Free's label, I'm not sure who that is, don't seem to be quite such sticklers about such things, but may require more editing than videos for Voice Play to avoid being taken down. Just little FYI's and advice to, hopefully, help you navigate the new world you've stepped into. As always, fun reaction. I love hearing your take on what the artist, or artists, are doing in the piece you're reacting to. See you in the next one!
Thank you so much for the information, comments and encouragement! I also appreciate the heads-up re labels - I have been very glad to see that the copyright stuff that pops up on my videos is all in the vein of "we see it, but the owners don't care", and the Universal recording in this video didn't even register. It had occurred to me that others might not be so generous, but I'm glad to know what's what there.
@@davidkreacts VoicePlay will never block as they do not have a record label. They do copyright so that they can get some income, but they do not block as they don’t have a publicity arm like those with record labels to. They rely on reactors for a lot of their publicity and exposure. Some reactors will reverse the video so that we’re getting a mirror affect to try to fool the copyright police. It’s a little disturbing when you aren’t prepared for it and of course subtitles wouldn’t work, but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do. Others will go ahead and mask it either by making it semi transparent or placing something over the video. Personally if you’re going to have to do that, I would go with it semi transparent so we can sort of see where we are in the song.
@@janetdw I know that among a lot of the Voiceplay fans I know and talk to, using tricks to dodge copyright claims is one of the quickest ways to lose respect for a reactor. Those who I see doing those things you suggested immediately go on my do not watch list. These creators spend LOTs of time and money creating these videos, and with covers they themselves deal with copyright claims and income sharing (for example, The estate of the Sixteen Tons writer gets a significant percentage of the income from Geoff's cover here) So, yes, Geoff and Voiceplay's distrubution vendor automatically copyright claims reactions (not Geoff himself, the process is automated.) If I really like a reactor, I would MUCH rather be given the option to support them directly (through Patreon, RUclips tipping mechanisms, merch, etc) than for them to compromise the viewability of their reaction and their ethics to boot.
Here are two videos you might like. They are of the same song, performed by two groups. Hide and Seek (Ding Dong) is the title. Both groups use the same lead singer. One group is Voiceplay, and the other is The Bass Gang. Both versions are creepy and fun, but very different.
@@davidkreacts You are welcome to do a full hour comparing the two. We will not mind. I dare say you have noticed you suddenly attracted the VP and GC crew... we prowl looking for new reactions and reactors.
@@leechowning8728 I might do - it would probably be more like 90 minutes since I'm up to 50 already with Horseman, but it genuinely is tempting. And yes, I did catch that - I had 0 subscribers on this channel less than 20 days ago! Delighted to have you along. :-D
Still loving the reactions, as others said, this and Big Bad John are quite on point as Geoff covers, as his voice just goes down and mines for lower. As for other groups suggestions, a younger group of mostly a cappella music is The Bass Gang. They're scattered in three continents and met each other because, as name suggests, they all sing low. They recently covered Bones, and I also loved their Emperor's New Clothes, but their latest collab is also a nice trip down spooky lane, Ding Dong with Lauren Paley
It’s nice that you put in a clip of Tennessee Earnie Ford’s version too! I love both versions, but Geoff’s the most. I wanna recommend VoicePlay’s “The Greatest Show Medley” and “If I were a Rich Man/Girl”. My favourites change from day to day, but right now they’re it! For Halloween, VoicePlay’s “Hide and Seek” and “In the Hall of the Mountain King“ are awesome, if you have the time to record them before Halloween 👻 😊.
I come to see these reactions to share the joy I have in VoicePlay and Geoff of course. This one is ofren recommended, not my favourite but no problem with it either. I agree that some songs, his in particular, do build to a climax, which is lost with frequent interruptions. Same with ViocePlay of course. (Hoist the Colours is an extreme example of that.) Of the bass voices often referred to I do believe that Geoff's is the smoothest and richest. I love how you love his voice. Sharing the joy is a wonderful thing. Geoff and VoicePlay normally have physical sets, and mostly built by themselves. They do it all. :) Behind the scenes videos for patrons give us a lot of insights as to the fun they have in doing it. His acting skills are such that it's easy to forget that it isn't four or five different people. Some first time even reactors ask if it's brothers.
I think the love and care they put into their videos is so evident - it's fantastic seeing what they create. Totally understand people thinking it's not just Geoff - the variety in his characterisations is fantastic.
As an introduction to Home Free, I suggest "Zombies vs. Hillbillies - Survivor (VoicePlay vs. Home Free)". They are also great, and their bass, Tim Foust, is known to have broken sound systems with his lows. As far as my taste for acapella goes, I first heard of Pentatonix, and was impressed (Mitch's highs are out of this world!), and I liked Avi (bass) the best. That took me to Home Free's "Ring of Fire" with Avi. Then I got pretty deep into Home Free and followed them on the Sing-Off, where they won season 4 (same where VoicePlay participated). Then "Survivor" took me to VoicePlay, and I fell in love with their creativity, quality, variety of genres, and of course Geoff's rich, full and velvety voice! Every now and then I listen to Home Free, but I'm a VoicePlay fan at heart! ❤
That's an awesome journey - thank you for sharing. Without knowing more (other than a few early Pentatonix songs), I feel like I'll always have a soft spot for VP, if only for the comprehensive productions that they do, but I'm excited to discover the others, for sure.
Well now that you brought up sea shanties... VoicePlay has a pirate song that Geoff arranged called Hoist The Colours. I would love to see you react and analyze it. I just saw you did hoist the Colours! Gotta go see it!
You said something about who wouldn’t get out of the way after that “step aside”? Me. That’s who. That’s growly tone is just the sexiest thing to me and I’d be too distracted hearing the tone to hear the words. 😏 And I LOVE your format of watch then dissect. I wish others would do things the same way. I’m working my way through the rest of these this weekend, you’ll probably see a few more comments along the way, but I just wanted to welcome you to the rabbit hole. A bit late maybe, but stil. 😊
That's a reasonable point - either immediate response or complete freeze - totally fair. ;-) Glad that you enjoy the format - I think that the length puts many people off, which is probably why it's not so common, but I think it's how I produce the best content. Hope that you continue to enjoy my work. :-)
Oooooh, if you like Nightwish, have you heard Kamelot, or Leaves Eyes? Or Sonata Arctica? Those are three of my favorite symphonic metal bands. Any time Kamelot tours here near me, I’m there!
Leaves Eyes I’ve heard a few songs of, and I listened to quite a lot of Sonata Arctica back in the day. Kamelot are new to me, I believe. I’ll check them out!
Another thing the forman would have been white collar and the strawboss would usually have been the most senior actual worker. Not always but frequently.
Hi! I really enjoy your analysis of these awesome musicians! I don't have any professional experience with music, but I really enjoy learning about it, so your breakdowns have been very informative. If you're a fan of metal, you should definitely check out Jinjer (pronounced like ginger, the spice). They are a 4-piece Ukrainian metal band that mix many different genres into their music, and they are all phenomenal musicians. Their current drummer (Vlad) is actually a piano virtuoso, so you might enjoy his take on drumming. I think you will also enjoy their musical arrangements from a music theory perspective since that seems to be very interesting to you. They love to take everything they know about songwriting and arranging and mix it around to make something new. They are a group that many reactors react to, mainly for the lead singer Tatiana (she is absolutely amazing), but I think the rest of the band are amazing as well and something you might like (the bassist Eugene is my personal favorite, but I love them all). The guitarist (Roman) is also amazing at making unique and ear-catching riffs. Everyone reacts to the "Pisces" Live Session first, which is a good introduction, but their music has definitely grown since then. "Perennial", "Teacher, Teacher", and "Judgement and Punishment" are good ones to hear a more current sound of their music. Some of my favorite songs from them are "Vortex", "Home Back", and "Wallflower" ("Wallflower" especially), but honestly all of their music is amazing. I feel like you will really like "Wallflower" , as there are jazz qualities to it, but I would wait to hear this song until you hear a few of their other songs first. Again, thank you for sharing your reactions to this, and have a wonderful day! - Megan
Thank you so much for your comments and the suggestion of Jinger - they sound like they're right up my street. I will definitely get to them soon. :-) Hope you have a wonderful day too.
Love your reactions. I just love Geoff and VoicePlay. I will follow you and your breakdowns. Please give my favorite singer Angelina Jordon a look. I think, I Put A Spell On You is good place to start. She is 9 and does her own arrangements. VoicePlay and Geoff are also on my top five. Keep up you great work.
Another awesome react! And I have thoughts! Bear with me! 1) "There's a weight to this song" Yes there is; Sixteen Tons of it! (Sorry, not sorry.) 2) The strike of the mallet mimics the sound of a pickaxe - kind perfect for a mining song. 3) On the lyric, "And I walked to the mine", Geoff walks the notes up, giving us a really neat sound cue, for lack of a better term. 4) About the chords of this song. There might be 2 or 3 chords at most in the original song (I've played the song on my guitar once or twice), which adds to the simplicity of the song so we pay more attention to the story we're being told. I think Geoff adds maybe one or two more in this arrangement. Oh! I just listened to Geoff's cover of "Big Bad John" by Jimmy Dean. I'd love to see your reaction to it.
Thank you! I enjoy all of these thoughts. Love that there's so much in these videos - I feel like I'll be discovering or shown new things for ages! Getting to Big Bad John at some point - my goodness my list is long now though!
Check out VoicePlay doing "The Dragonborn Comes". It's a song in the video game "Skyrim". They feature Omar Cardona on this. Omar and Eli are gamers, and they include the dragon Shouts and singing in the dragon tongue. The whole group get into costumes as characters in the game. It's very cinematic.
Pentatonix is more focused on EDM and pop music, although they have done some decent traditional stuff as well, particularly around Christmas. Some of the best or most impressive things they've done include Sing (easily their best original piece), Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies, Daft Punk medley, and their cover of Sound of Silence. One thing you'll notice is that any time VoicePlay and Pentatonix have done the same song, the VoicePlay version is generally noticeably superior. The most extreme example of this is You're A Mean One Mr. Grinch; I thought PTX's version was good, _until_ I saw VoicePlay's version, which totally blew it out of the water.
Interesting - I appreciate you sharing your thoughts. When I heard Pentatonix originally, many years ago now, I certainly wasn't as immediately taken with them as I was with VP, but I'm looking forward to revisiting them. My musical taste is definitely more in the right vein to enjoy them than it used to be.
Response to both your reaction to Sixteen tons and Hoist the Colors If you wish to see a video with most of the names of there past collaborators I would recommend “Just Sing” (SUBTITLES ON) it is a few years old but it will give you a hint on some of the other colab's names. They do a lot of FUN videos and a lot of serious ones. They also put little jokes here and there almost everything they do is filmed at Patty Cake productions (Layne is a co-owner) with former Voiceplay member Tony Wakim A fun video of Voiceplay you may enjoy is Zombies Vs Hillbillies Survivor (Voiceplay VS HomrFree) some reactors I think you may get some extra from are “The Charismatic Voice”, “Jennifer Glatzhofer “ and “Peter Barber” I always feel they give unique additions to the videos. Acapella groups I think you may also enjoy Home Free (mostly Country) Pentatonix The Bass Gang (Newer group 4 bass singers) Maytree (South Korean group mostly dose shorter videos but they are unique) yes Geoff and Voiceplay have been known to comment and talk to some of there reactors in fact Geoff's backup vocals “Goff, Jeoph, Jeff, and Daryl “ are a reaction to the reactors and all mis-pronouncements to his videos. on Geoff's channel there is a 2 part series “How To Sing LOW” that Geoff talks about how to do subharmonics and some other things . Both Voiceplay and Geoff Castellucci release a video about monthly and they both have a lot of Halloween Content so you may end up missing that till next year (or do them out of season) Recommended Voiceplay Videos from what I understand you like Hall of the Mountain King (no words) Dream On The Greatest Showman Medley The Phantom of the Opera they also have a series of ACA top 10 videos (I think they are mostly live mic not pre recorded ) as well as some live videos (they don't need to pitch correct) Some Geoff Castellucci videos I think show his capability Blackbird House of the Rising Sun Shenandoah
Hey, love the reactions. You gotta check out Voice Plays latest offering "Ding Dong" for Halloween....it's really good. On a side note, check out"When your crush asks you how high you can sing" by Tim Waurick. It's only just over 1 minute long but it's really cool.
Thank you! Yes, that's on my list, though might be a bit post-Hallowe'en. Got videos planned for Monday. Is that the Tim who's a barbershop tenor and can hold notes a ridiculously long time? I heard him sing recently, and while I forget the name of the quartet, they're on my shortlist for new groups.
@@davidkreacts Thanks for the reply. Yes, that's the guy. I know you're going to be blown away by the music you've yet to hear. On a side note, if you love a good bass voice then please can you react to "Hoist the colors" by "The Bass Gang". I'm not going to spoil the surprise but it's an absolute must for a reaction.
Thank you for your reaction, I enjoyed it. Just for fun, (not to compare versions) it may be interesting for you to check out Home Free's Tim Foust's live performance of this piece (only piano and voice with no studio effects.) ruclips.net/video/YwIqR1OBkbs/видео.html Tim and Geoff have pretty much the same range, in all registers. They are both exceptionally talented, and they both have "multiples" of themselves in their solo songs. To complete the triad of the best basses in a cappella (IMO), you may want to check out Avi Kaplan's solo work. ("Change is on the rise" is a great song). All three artists often arrange their songs beautifully, and both Tim and Avi are also incredible songwriters. One of my favorite VP songs that gets no attention is "Waiving through a window," well worth a listen.😺
Thank you! I will definitely check that out - it would be interesting to see the differences between them, but also just to hear Tim sing this. I will be getting to PTX and Avi soon - trying not to introduce too many new elements all at once, but I know they have some cool Xmas stuff, so probably in the coming month. :-) I'd be intrigued to hear Waving Through... I'm not a big Dear Evan Hansen fan, but that is a spectacular song.
Random guesses from a totally ignorant guy about one of your side-notes. I don't suppose work songs was a big thing in mining - sailors were, at least, working in an environment with fresh air supply. Mines? i believe, were incredibly hot, cramped, and the air was continuously full of dust (from breaking away the rocks). I do think certain pulmonary disorders were very frequent among miners. So, singing out in such an environment does not seem as likely. Plus, my random guess is, mining needs much less in terms of coordinated moves. Sailors do often need to move together - say, for example, rowing together, or pulling on a rope together at the same time, to add their strength together. I'd think mining is less like that - you are basically just chipping away at a piece of stone, in a space so small that one many can barely fit. But, I may be totally wrong, there may be work chants in mines, too. My first thought when hearing the snaps was that it was actually a representation of pick-axe strikes. Another representation of the monotonous, going-nowhere, never-ending job of a miner. In Geoff's version, they do get replaced by actual tool noises, after a while, so I guess this was his thought as well... Thank you for the r&a, it was great fun!
@@davidkreacts He and Peter Hollens are both insanely talented. Nick mostly does Disney songs and his range is insane. I have heard him singing the low bass of Scar from the Lion King and then turned around and ding Jasmine’s part in a Whole New World.
I am going to skip recommending any of Geoff's videos, or anything recent of VoicePlays, because I get the idea that all of these have been recommended and are probably on your list already. Since you are into musical theatre, I will dig deep into the Voiceplay archives and recommend the ACA Top 10 Broadway medley. This is going to be different than most of what you have seen before with Voiceplay, because it is significantly less produced and more like what you would experience from them in a live setting. It is just them sitting in one of their living rooms and singing a live take together of this medley of their top ten Broadway numbers (as of 2014 when they released the video.)
Ooh - thank you for the recommendation! I'd been told about the ACA Top 10, but I don't think the fact that one is Broadway has been highlighted yet. That's a definite bump up the list right there!
I'd love to, but these videos take a long time to produce, and combined with working two jobs, it's not possible at the moment. Hoping I'll be able to in the future.
Geoff and his wife Kathy filmed this. He borrowed those tools from his father's gardening shed and he also used them in his cover of Jimmy Dean's "Big Bad John" He said we keep sending him back to the mines. I am old enough that I remember hearing Tennesse Ernie Ford singing this on TV back in the 60s. I'm sure he would say to Geoff "Bless Your Pea Pickin' Heart".
That's so cool! And very cool - there certainly was some incredible music in the 60s, and Tennessee Ernie Ford was definitely a great man to listen to.
Sixteen tons is one of my favorite songs. I actually found Geoff looking up covers of this song, and his blew me away. And through Geoff I found voiceplay. It’s been a nonstop rabbit hole since
I hear that!
My Grandfather worked in the coal mines of Western Pennsylvania. A Very, dangerous difficult job to say the least,and especially 100 years ago. Underground mining in 50 to 52 degree temperatures year around, in a damp/wet, dark environment in a coal seam as low as 24" to 26" vanes. You had your carbide light, lunch box, snuff box and yes, a canary to detect methane or whatever other poisonous gases that could suffocate you and your tools. 75 years after my Grandfather worked in the local mines, I worked in a Hardware store that had sold to the miners leather mining belts, metal lunch boxes, helmets, carbide pellets, lights and in the back room we still had the hand drills that they used to hammer into the seams. He had to supplement his income to support his family by working other jobs. He cut hair, carpenter, roofer amoung others. Hard, hard life............
My goodness - that sounds like it was an extremely risky and draining life. Of course the carbide lamps would have been a risk as well - I didn't even think of that. I'm glad things are safer and regulated now, but my goodness what people had to go through for us to learn we had to do that...
Geoff has said that so many of the songs that are highly requested for him to do have a very static format of verse, chorus, verse, chorus, bridge, verse, chorus, with little or no change in the arrangement throughout, and his goal is to find a way to open that up to something more interesting without losing sight of what made the original song memorable. And I am amazed at the way he continually finds new ways to do that.
I am so enjoying your reactions. I totally just love to see and hear people discover how wonderful Geoff and VoicePlay are, so I watch a lot of reactions. As fun as it is to see someone just sit there wide-eyed and slack-jawed as they watch, it is so much more enjoyable to watch you go back and give us an intelligent discussion of what is going on musically, visually and theatrically as well.
Geoff and VoicePlay's closed captions often add those wonderful little Easter-Egg comments, so I always try to have them on, especially when I'm watching one of their new videos for the first time. Geoff is very conscious of the need to have captions. His wife, Kathy, who you've have seen credited as production manager for both Geoff and VP, and who appeared in a cameo in Monster Mash, was also a singer when they first met. While still a young woman, they discovered that she was suffering from severe degenerative hearing loss and it took a long time for her to get with doctor who could find a really good hearing aids solution for her. (Geoff has a fantastic non-music video on his site discussing hearing loss, very interesting to watch). But because of her depending on closed captioning, he said he just finds it natural to have captions on all the time and makes a real effort to make sure his videos are properly captioned.
I'm so glad that you're enjoying my work, and thank you for the kind words! I'm catching up to the captions - unfortunately I recorded several videos before I saw comments tipping me off to them. A couple of people have mentioned Kathy's struggle with hearing loss, and I'm going to check that video out. I don't have hearing loss, and I recognise that it's nowhere near as serious, but I have had a permanent case of tinnitus for over 16 years now, so I sympathise with anyone who has to face any kind of challenge with hearing.
@@davidkreacts my 15 year old has tinnitus as well as sensory processing issues. Fun times ... not. There is an essential oil that helps some people with tinnitus called helichrysum. It did help my son but he decided the scent was worse than the sound.
@@shirleykarr560 Oh, I haven't come across that - thank you - I'll give it a go. I hope for your son's sake and mine that they discover an effective way to help this. It's not fun, but I have learned to cope with it over time. I hope he does too, if he hasn't already.
I listened to that one a few months back. Their way of educating us to be aware and hopefully if you see something that might help Kathy, do send the info to Geoff and Kathy.
I don’t remember which video I saw this comment on but someone said his voice is “honey poured over thunder “. I agree
That is SUCH a good description!
His cover of the classic american song "Shenandoah" is wonderful.
I'm really looking forward to that one - such a stunning song to begin with. Will get to it in a bit.
Another thing that I really get a kick out of is how Geoff and his clones all interact with each other. When straw boss Geoff finished his line, he leans forward and looks to lead Geoff as if they are different people. It is a little uncanny.
Several reactors wondered who “the other singers” were in his cover of Misty Mountains as he has some impressive work done changing his hair and beard. The same thing happened to a few in Headless Horseman.
That has to be tough. Since most of his solo work is done only by he and Kathy, I can only imagine that Kathy is helping him with the timing, as when they each turn toward lead Geoff.
In the behind the scenes for his Ghost Riders in the Sky, there was one part when he turned the wrong way. He just shook his head and calmly requested a retake. After a minimum of one take for each of the five characters, and that doesn’t include closeups, he just sails through with like the professional he is.
Absolutely - it is incredible how coordinated this all is. I can only imagine what a pleasure it is to work with someone doing something like this in a way that is so creative and doing it so professionally.
Thank you so much for engaging my enjoyment and understanding of this historic piece. I thoroughly enjoyed Tennessee Ernie Ford's version as a young person in the 60s, but this version by Geoff is just phenomenal!
You are most welcome. Ford's version will always be incredible, but Geoff's eclipses it in my opinion also.
The company store went at least one step worse than what you described. They also allowed "store credit" so you could end up in serious debt where you could not ever stop working because you owed more than you could ever earn. This is my favorite song of Geoff's
So incredibly insidious - I'm very glad most of us at least don't live with that kind of restriction now.
David, I'm loving your analyses. I've heard this song dozens of times, and I never picked up on some of these nuances, such as the "Bless my soul" 26:56 resetting the song to the beginning, just as the poor miner's life is an endless unbreakable cycle of drudgery. Brilliant insights! I look forward to working my way through your VoicePlay and Geoff playlists.
Good to see you again. I do like the format you are using. I feel that it gives you a chance to hear it then go deeper on the second go through. Do turn up the video volume just a bit. Big Bad John is also from my childhood. Three of his solos are among my absolute favorites - Blackbird, High and Dry and Shenandoah. Oh and his new one is Ghost Riders in the Sky. And he did a fun one with a cover of Elvis Presley's "Way Down". My goodness, I have to admit he hasn't done a subpar video anywhere. Love 'em all.
Thank you so much! Yeah, I screwed up the volume on this one - not sure if it's RUclips's compression or my headphones being noise cancelling, but the difference was much starker once I posted it. The next video should be better. So many more videos to look at! ;-)
A friend posted this on my Facebook page shortly after it was released, it was my introduction to Geoff. That lead me to Voiceplay and then I found out that there were people on RUclips who did reactions. I have been lost in this maze for over a year and a half.
1. Kathy just smacked the camera for those pickax shakes.
2. Straw boss Geoff looks mean on that line; I think the straw boss may be the one who was delivering bad news for the big boss.
I appreciate your format and deep analysis as well as the scripted commentary you add when editing. I also like the case of the Geoff giggles you get when you listen.
Always here for Geoff and Voiceplay!
Thank you so much! I'm really glad you enjoyed. :-) This is definitely a phenomenal video to introduce people to Geoff with.
By far one of the greatest reactions. So genuine! I love what you bring to the scene.
Thank you so much!
You pointed out things I’ve never heard before, what a great analysis. Thanks! 😀
You're very welcome - glad I could bring something new. :-)
Thank you for another great reaction and analysis! I don’t know how many times I’ve watched Geoff’s Sixteen Tons video, but you still managed to reveal new things I hadn’t noticed. Love it! 🥰 Keep the reactions to Geoff and VoicePlay coming and I’ll be here. Really enjoy your enthusiasm. 😍👍
Thank you - and I'm so glad! I keep going back and listening to it again - it's hypnotic!
Big john needs to follow this. . But I agree with B.J Speck, those are some of Geoffs Best!!!
That's on the list. Will be getting to it in due course, for sure!
Yeah, the company store was basically a workaround for minimum wage laws. The reason it's so closely associated with mining, is because mines were often located in remote areas, and the mining company would typically own all the land around the mine. They'd put in employee housing on company land, very near the mine entrance, and a company store on company land, very near the employee housing, and other necessary things like a school if the employees had children; but nobody else could come along and put in a non-company store to compete or undersell them, because there were no available plots of land nearby, the company owned it all. So they were able to charge enough at the store, that employees ended up needing to borrow against future wages (which the company _graciously_ allowed them to do) for basic necessities like food and clothing. Thus it was impossible for employees to save up enough money to ever move away in pursuit of a different job, and there were no other jobs in town because the company owned everything, so you just had to work for them. It was pretty much tantamount to slavery in all but name, but it was legal, for a while. Eventually, various legal reforms eliminated the practice.
It sounds like a very brutal machine to be a part of! Nowadays it seems hard to imagine people getting away with that kind of thing, but then I guess it's always happening in one form or another.
Sometimes, the mining company would even pay in credits which had to be spent in the company store.
@@par500dragon7 Oof - what an existence!
Great reaction, and I really appreciate the lengthy analysis. Because if there's one thing that Geoff (and VoicePlay) will consistently do, it's give you a lot to dissect. As long as you care to pick apart the threads of his arrangements, and discuss/marvel at his vocal technique, I am there to watch and listen. Same with VoicePlay. Feeling like making a documentary-length reaction/breakdown and analysis of one of their Minis? Cool, lemme just top up my water... Seriously, it's like getting a peek under the hood of a McLaren; you're getting to see the inner workings of something at the pinnacle of its craft. I will definitely be watching, and re-watching, these analyses!
Thank you so much - that is very kind, and I'm really glad you're enjoying my videos. Maybe I will do a long one one day - could be fun. :-D
Jayyy! Back with reaction, how fun!!!
The fanlore is that he borrowed his father's tools and then went back for them again in Big Bad John.
Most Geoffs are filmed at Pattycake. In most Geoffs work are small Easter Eggs, like the light with halo effect you notice here. I promise you, somebody will point them out to you,if you don't notice them yourself. Geoff is a stickler for small details in his works. He plans meticiously beforehand to minimize the actual work while filming.
Truth!
True! There's a delightful clip Geoff shared in the BTS, of his little boy helping him carry (drag) the sledgehammer from Papa Castellucci's tool shed, singing Big Bad John. One of the BBJ clones is identical to 16 Tons because Geoff and Kathy thought fans would get a kick out of it.
Thank you! That's so cool - and the precision really shows through in his work - I love it!
I will have to check that out!
Just a bit of trivia. Geoff's wife filmed this. He said the camera shake effect was achieved by her tapping the camera.
That's so subtle and so brilliant! Fits in completely with the aesthetic I'm putting together for their videos.
On the "high toned woman make me walk the line" part, did you catch that smirk/smile Geoff (#2) almost dropped the shovel?
I totally missed that, but now I've gone back and watched it and that's great! So many little details in these videos!
Love the format you seem to have settled on -- uninterrupted view with reaction, then another watch with analysis. I really enjoy the perspective you bring with your professional knowledge, the details you're able to bring to our attention. There are plenty of YTers who just react for the entertainment value with no insight offered. Doesn't hurt that your voice reminds me of Jon Oliver. 🙂
Fun that you picked up on the differences in the clones, even though they look alike in this one. Usually need at least one viewing per clone, plus one for the overall effect. The Monsters in Monster Mash for example, or the Ghosts in Ghost Riders in the Sky are such distinctive characters.
Once you've explored Geoff and VoicePlay, then add in a little Home Free (What's Left of My Heart, Workin' for A Livin', Brother, All About That Bass) and HF's bass Tim Foust solo stuff (Come Go With Me, In My Room), you might want to dabble with The Bass Gang. Each member has a solo channel, and they're awesome together. Tomi is in Europe, Bobby and Peter are in the US (Peter Barber is a professional bass opera singer and does reactions/analysis) and then Marwan is in Egypt and he's only 18.
For Geoff and VP, as you may have already learned, watch with captions on and keep watching until the end. There's often an extra little bit, like in Way Down. (I really hope that one's high on your to-do list; it's fabulous and not getting nearly the attention it deserves.) Even in older videos like What Does the Fox Say, there might be goofiness after the credits roll.
Thank you! I'm glad the format seems to be going down well. (Also, not the first time I've had the Jon Oliver comparison! :-D )
I agree - I feel like I could make these videos twice as long and still have things to say, but I don't want to exhaust either myself or my audience! Home Free definitely coming soon, as well as Tim, The Bass Gang, and a variety of others. I hadn't made the connection between The Bass Gang's member Peter being mentioned and Peter Barber the reactor - glad to know they're the same - thank you.
Unfortunately I'd recorded several videos before I got the memo on the captions - they will be coming soon.
Crossing fingers for this to avoid the withering gaze of the enforcement arm, since the comparison between the versions is quite instructive. In a just world this would definitely be fair use.
Fingers crossed. The only copyright claim on the video so far is for Geoff's version, and of course that's ignored since VP allow fair use openly. I'm glad you found it interesting. :-)
Rats. I thought I had the volume sorted. Seems like I fixed my level, but the RUclips playback volume still needs adjusting. Got a couple more videos recorded at similar levels, but hopefully I’ll have this sorted after that. Thanks for bearing with me. Not sure if it's my headphones or RUclips's compression, but things sound much better balanced before I upload these... 😕
Another great reaction & analysis! I would also recommend Voiceplay's cover of "I Can't Make You Love Me" for absolutely heartbreakingly beautiful vocals--it is way under-viewed (possibly because it is not theatrical), but so so good.
Thank you - I actually saw that and have it flagged to watch some time before too long. So many videos, but I'll definitely do it.
I heard the same thing about the snapping fingers. I also like Geoff used the tools of the mining trade. My high school history teacher taught us about the horrible things that miners had to put up with. They were paid in scrip (not money) only used for food, clothing, rental home, doctors, pharmacies, etc. all of which were owned by the mine owners. The men really did owe their soul to the company store.
Oh wow - I'd heard of scrip, but had never thought to look up its context. That's brutal!
@@davidkreacts I was coming in to mention this. From what I remember from when I was young, we learned that the pay options were 1. All cash monies. 2. All scrip. 3. Some combination of the two. But the catch was, if you opted for cash, you got (say, for example) $50. But for the same work, if you opted for scrip, you got $100 in scrip. And if you went for combination, you’d get $25 of each. The company store was priced in both, but the mine employees were encouraged to open accounts and buy things on account that then were paid for with the pay checks before any remaining pay was given to the employees. So, they literally were trapped because to buy the things needed for the family, you got a better pay check with scrip, but you couldn’t shop elsewhere. You were REQUIRED to live in the town owned by the mining company, so your rent was also taken from your paycheck, the houses were almost never taken care of, so if you wanted your house to be livable, you had to find ways to fix it yourself, and you would not be recompensed for those repairs or improvements, of course. So you’d buy all these things on account, but your scrip paycheck wouldn’t cover everything, so you’d now owe more and the next paycheck would be the same. It was legal slavery and if the miner died, the family was thrown out with nothing, but then taken to court for the amount due on the account.
@@EbonRaven Damn - what a life to be so controlled and limited. I'm grateful that things have come along since then.
During the depression, after the dustbowl wiped out my grandparents farm, my grandfather had to go work in a coal mine. They only paid in scrip and he had very little to send back to my grandmother and the kids back in North Dakota. Eventually he ended up in debt truly in debt to the company store. It took him over a year to get out under their thumbs.
When they moved to Northern California and my grandfather started working for a Lumbermill, they also wanted to pay him in scrip. He demanded cash and was paid significantly less than his coworkers. And yes the prices were different for the workers and who received their money in scrip. I was in junior high school when I first went to the company store which was the only store in town at that time. There were two prices and that was in the 1950s or 1960s.
It was the beginning of the payday advance scam that has destroyed so many people.
@@janetdw I do feel for your family, it was a horrible way to have to live. I grew up in the era and area of the Florida Cape Canaveral. Educated men and a very few women from across the country came, demanding good education for their kids. I feel so fortunate, and grateful that I learned how many Americans never got the opportunity. It has shaped all of my 71 years and made me a better person for it. I grieve for what passes as a decent education today and what that means for today's children who will be the next adults. People deserve so much more.
Once again, beautiful reaction. Thank you. I love your channel!
Thank you so much!
I love your reactions so far. I’d like to make a suggestion. The volume of the song was very low. You might want to turn that up a bit, unless there was a reason you kept it low. I’m so happy when I see others discovering Geoff and VoicePlay. I fell in love with their music a year ago and I enjoy seeing others react to them for the first time. Please don’t stop.
Thank you! Yeah, I really screwed up the volume in this video, but I really liked the patter of both my reactions and the breakdown, so decided to keep it.
@@davidkreacts it's good to see you enjoy Geoff & Voice Play your reactions are priceless. Please turn up the volume on the music. Please don't talk during the music. It's great to hear your breakdowns at the end.
May I suggest for your next Geoff cover you do Big Bad John? It has a very similar vibe and of course it’s awesome. Enjoying your reactions please keep it up! 🏴❤️
I have a couple more planned, but that's definitely on the do-it-soon list. Thank you so much!
Happy to see David K in my notifications. You can’t go wrong with any Geoff video. They are all great. Geoff hasn’t said which Geoff is which in this video but having watched all his videos many times, I believe I know their personalities and singing style enough to tell them apart. Some may disagree but to me, from left to right. Jeoph, Goff, Geoff, and Jeff on the right. Jeff is my favorite. Jeoph gets the most solos. Only in Way Down and Ghost Riders has he told us which is which. They have name tags in Way Down. In Ghost Riders you get to meet Daryl (second from left in that video). Daryl is also in some other videos but not credited. He had to work his way into the group. Daryl has become Geoff’s favorite. So I know we will see more of him.
I've touted Bass Gang again, just saying.
@@carinarodebak9419 yes still wanting Bass Gang and Emporers new clothes is my favorite
Haha - I didn't realise those names were official! That's amazing! Looking forward to seeing more of them soon.
Don't worry, both - I'll get there (though it might be a few weeks).
Your reactions are both enjoyable and informative. Kudos
Since you mention that you like musical theater, I really think you should listen to two pieces by Voiceplay.. Phantom of the Opera, which is an older piece, and If I Were A Rich Man/Girl . I would love to watch your reactions to both of those pieces. I really enjoy watching you discover Geoff and Voiceplay. As far as Pentatonix, Hallelujah is a good place to start your trip down the rabbit hole! As for HomeFree, Man of Constant Sorrow seems to be where most people start, but honestly my favorite from them is Listen To The Music! Happy Listening!
I saw they had those videos when I wandered through their channel. Both on my list (though goodness me, it's a long list!). I'll check the others out too. :-)
Going through your Geoff/VP videos. Yes, I really enjoy it that you watch and react first, and then go back to analyse!
Also, the extra Geoffs usually are called Geoffettes in the community and have their own names, which you will learn in time ;) (Way Down and Ghost Riders introduce the names)
Thank you - glad that you're enjoying my work. :-)
I'm come to learn a lot more about Geoff's doppelgängers since recording this - Way Down will likely be coming up fairly soon, so I'm looking forward to the official introduction!
Geoff does do wonders with call and response, sometimes very subtle, sometimes in your face, but always magnificent! "Far Over The Misty Mountains Cold" is a really great demonstration of that 😉
Oh, I'm very excited about that one. I love the original, so keen to see what he does with it!
My all time favorite!
More Voiceplay and Geoff ❤❤❤❤
On their way!
Often they would use songs in mines to help people keep pace and both maintain breath and dig more efficiently in the mines, but also… if your singing partner one spot down or around the corner was suddenly quiet for a few reps you generally needed to either call the medic or call for everyone to run… so they could call a coroner. This song verymuch sort of felt like the workers that are stuck going into the mines, everyday, for the rest of time, because that collapse caught them all. And now they are singing to stay and work off their eternal debts
That makes complete sense to me - thank you for the information. I know what you mean - it's quite sad in some ways.
Great reaction. This one is lots of fun. 😊Geoff's version, for me is much warmer. X
Thank you so much. And yes, I have to agree. The Tennessee Ernie Ford version is fabulous, but Geoff's has eclipsed it for me.
There's always so much I wanna say! Lol. I love the format. Getting to hear a run through and then going back for the breakdown/analysis is perfect. I think that's a great way for us to see a genuine reaction from you and then still get the advantages of hearing the analysis. I am absolutely loving getting to witness your journey of discovery with Geoff and VoicePlay. I'm sure with this fan group you've heard by now that Geoff and Layne do the arranging and they are both geniuses at it. They excel at things like dissonant chords, syncopated rhythms, arpeggio and knowing exactly when to use a pause or dropping out the harmonies for a moment to make the movement more dramatic. That's also helped along by their theatrical nature, lol. I want to recommend about a thousand things from them but I know you already have a list going, so I'll just wait for the next vid, lol. I didn't get a notification for this one so I've gotta go make sure I've got them turned on. See ya soon!
Thank you so much, Traci. Yes, I'm so impressed by both Geoff and Layne (Layne arrangement reaction dropping Saturday). You're right - my list currently translates to probably two years of reactions! ;-) No idea how to prioritise it, but I'll get there. Glad you're enjoying the videos!
I love your format - pure reaction first, detailed analysis after.
Sixteen Tons was my intro to Geoff and then through that I discovered VoicePlay and Oogie Boogie's Song and all of the rest from then on.
I grew up with Sixteen Tons. My father was a basso profundo. So all his best friends from choir (and they toured the world and cut records etc back in 1960/70s) were also basso profundos. When they'd come for dinner they would pick up my guitars and sing. The neighborhood was vibrating. Of course, they sang songs most suited to their voices so Sixteen Tons was always on their reportoire. I listened as a kid to the versions by The Platters and Golden Gate Quartet, only heard Ford much later. Geoff's version is, IMHO, the best.
Thank you very much. Yes, this would be a solid introduction, that's for sure!
Oh, I can only imagine what that sounded like! What a wonderful way to be introduced to music and singing. You're not the only one that says this is the best version - I've only heard Ford and this to my knowledge. I'll have to check those others out - I do enjoy both groups, but I can't imagine them beating Geoff's performance.
Geoff writes his own captions, and they can be really fun.
Unfortunately I recorded a bunch of videos before comments about these were posted, but I'll be adding them. :-)
You posted this one when I was at work, so I'm just now getting to see it, but as usual, it was an amazing analysis. As others have pointed out, because of Kathy's hearing loss, Geoff is very aware of captioning for his videos, so having captions on for his videos is always an extra treat.
I think outside of Geoff and VP, I would like to see you react to some Bass Gang songs, and the individuals that make up the Bass Gang, Marwan Ayman, Tomi P., Bobby Bass, and Peter Barber.
Thank you so much! I've finally started catching up with the captions thing - too many videos recorded ahead of time and I hadn't seen the comments yet. I am wondering if I'm missing something though - I keep seeing auto-generated captions that don't appear to be created by Geoff (very odd "misheard" word in one of my next videos). Are those the ones everyone is talking about?
Bass Gang is absolutely on my list, and I saw Peter react to a VP video, so I'm interested to hear him sing - he's obviously very, very well aware of how to use a bass voice!
@@davidkreacts I think some videos don't have the "official" captions from VP, unfortunately.
And Peter Barber is a bass opera singer, so yeah he knows what he's doing. 😁
You’ll lose your mind with his cover of Way Down. Also the Oogie Boogie song he did with Voice Play. He’s a beast.
Oogie Boogie is coming on Saturday! And I'm looking forward to Way Down - people have hinted that it's epic.
Great reaction! You really need to hear his version of Shenandoah!
I absolutely do! Looking forward to that one, though have a few more to go before I get to it.
Geoff and Layne do most of the arrangements for VoicePlay, they are the best at that! Like I heard Geoff say, they're not karaoke singers. They keep enough of the original to transmit its vibe, but they also add their own spin; what I call the VP Trademark signature. They are always so amazing!!
You'll meet Jeff, Jeoph and Goff when you watch his "Way Down" video. I hope you do that one soon!!
Thanks for another great reaction! 🔥
Thank you again! Way Down got bumped up the list precisely so that I can meet them! Should be doing that in a small number of weeks - just have a couple more things to do first.
The clones' names: Jeff, Jeoph (pronounced Gee-off) and Goff are based off of misspellings and mispronunciations of Geoff's name. We meet Daryl (the 4th clone) in Ghost Riders in the Sky. Geoff said that the clone looked like a Daryl so the name stuck.
The person who refereed to Geoff, Jeff, and Geoph, was probably referring to Geoff's Elvis Presley video, Way Down. 😄 You spoke of the company store. There is also an overlooked line about a "high toned woman." This big rugged coal miner can kill a man, but can only be tamed by his girlfriend.
You're right - I did miss that line - thanks for pointing that out. (SO much in all of these videos. It's hard to catch it all.) I'll be checking out Way Down some time before long - had lots of recommendations for it.
@@davidkreacts Oops. I actually had the line wrong. 🤪
This was my introduction to Geoff and I became instantly obsessed, quickly followed by VoicePlay. This is a great old song and Geoff's arrangement is a wonderful, fresh rendition. I can't describe this in musical terminology, as you so expertly did in your analysis but for me, despite the change in tempo, I thought Geoffs rich bass gave a slightly darker tone and the higher harmonies felt slightly plaintive at times making the lyrics even more poignant! Thank you for a thoroughly enjoyable reaction and analysis, I look forward to the next one. 🙂👍
It's a spectacular introduction, for sure! I'm glad that you enjoyed my work - thank you so much!
To feed your liking of accapella : there is Voctave, Rockapella, Street corner symphony, The real group, Rajaton, Club for five, The swingles/Swingle singers,; more classical, Voces8, The king's singers: Bass, Avi Kaplan (ex-pentatonix), The bass gang : "weird" stuff the HU, and asian throat singing .........
Thank you for the recommendations! I love The HU - only seen a couple of their videos though, so may well add them in. Lots of other fabulous groups to check out - thanks.
Don’t forget my favorite a cappella group: Home Free! They also have a Basso Profundo named Tim Foust that is awesome! Suggest you start with Man of Constant Sorrow to get a good sampling of each of the 5 mens voices.
To recommend something completely different, This Life is Mine by Jeff Williams featuring Casey Lee Williams. It's from an American anime-like RWBY, song by the arranger's daughter, Casey, who started singing professionally for the series at 13. This particular song is more late teens, but I feel it's a good introduction to both Casey's voice and Jeff's musical talents.
I am in the camp of "don't hesitate to pause for spontaneous admiration, replay parts that are awesome. As long as the initial playthrough isn't more than, say, twice the video length, I am fine.
Enjoyed the reaction, and hope you enjoy making them.
Thanks for the recommendation - I know of RWBY, but haven't knowingly heard any music from it. I'll check it out, for sure.
Glad you enjoyed the video, and thank you. Yes, loving these, and there will be more. :-)
I recommend Geoff's cover of Ain't No Sunshine! It is awesome!
Thank you - I'll definitely get to it - such a wonderful song to begin with.
Great reaction David.
Thanks for pointing out all that. I never noticed those expressions and stuff before.
I don't know if anyone mentioned but when the camera shakes Kathy hit it to make it shake to look like the tools did that.
Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed. :-D
I love the inventiveness of the camera shake! Must have been challenging to replicate that across all four takes as well!
@@davidkreacts
Yeah. He didn't show it in his behind the scenes video but did say it.
Loved your reaction to this! Very enternaining AND informative with such infectious enthusiasm, to boot. Thank you for this.
You are very welcome! I'm glad you enjoyed it. Lots more coming. :-D
“It’s not easy to do just enough”. One of my favourite VoicePlay Christmas songs is “O Little Town of Bethlehem”. It doesn’t have many views (perhaps because it’s a bit older), but I love it! My sister (who is not a big VoicePlay fan) once called it boring, but to me it’s just the perfect balance where all these beautiful voices get to soar (Geoff and Eli are the most prominent in it, but note also that Layne is singing too, there’s no percussion). It’s featuring two Geoffs - I think that Tony was officially still the baritone of the group, but did not sing in all their songs anymore, so Geoff is doubled in it). I would love to hear what you have to say about it! To me, it really is just perfectly enough!😊
I enjoyed your reaction as always, I’m glad that you started this and will continue!
I’ve heard other acappella groups, but only VoicePlay got me immediately hooked, just because they fit my taste and humour. I almost always find interesting things and/or humour in their voices, arrangements and videos and I’m so glad to see you catch all of that and more!
That sounds really interesting - thank you for the recommendation. I love O Little Town, partly because there are already multiple versions of the actual melody/harmony, so seeing what people do with it can be really fun. I'll check it out for sure.
The interactions between the Geoffs is fantastic in every video. Loved the deep dive into this!
I love Nightwish. A little bit off of that, but I wonder how you'd react to BabyMetal (my favorites are Karate and Gimme Chocolate).
Thank you! And yes, they absolutely are. :-)
I haven't come across BabyMetal before - I shall give them a listen.
May i suggest a wonderful singerby the name of Dan Vasc. Classicaly trained in opera, sings a variety of genras. Multi lingual & has an absolutely beautiful voice. You wont be disappointed. 😊❤
I absolutely adore both Voiceplay and Geoff solo, so I totally want you to check out pretty much their entire catalogues over time. 😊
But if you want to branch out and capture additional audiences for this channel, I’m going to highly recommend that you react to Dimash, Jinjer, and Peyton Parrish, without researching ahead of time so you can react “fresh,” because there are some real surprises. Others are already recommending you check out Home Free and Pentatonix, and of course they’re wonderful and you should , but they mostly share the same audience as Voiceplay. When it comes to acapella you also need to react to The Bass Gang-they’re newer and still building a following but they are also amazing. But again, more or less the same audience.
With Dimash, start with the 2017 version of SOS (this is the performance that introduced him to the world, and it really is the best introduction-then you can appreciate the progression of his singing and career from there). Be prepared for seriously rabid fans.
With Jinjer, go with Pisces Live Session (I suspect they won’t be your cup of tea over the long run, but people make a hobby of watching first time reactions to this piece, so there’ll be a huge audience for you there).
And with Peyton Parrish, go with Valhalla Calling (Miracle of Sound is also involved-he actually originated the song, but Peyton took it to an entirely new level with his performance). And recently, they released a new version of the song with Eric Holloway, who is a true Oktavist-you’re going to feel his voice down to your toes.
And again, do no advance research. There are some huge surprises. 😎
Well I'm certainly going to continue - that's for sure. :-) Thanks for the recommendations too - I'll definitely try some of those out blind.
To the whole "company store" culture: the worst abusers of the system used to charge their workers for absolutely everything, the tools they used daily, the food the company provided for lunch ( typically without the "employee" knowing they were being charged AND weather or not the ate the food provided ), the housing provided by the company, the coal used for cooking and heating, the oil used ( mostly coal oil which was a byproduct of mining anyway ) for lighting, transport to the work site...you name it they charged for it. Which had the net effect of the "employee" owing more than they made in a given week of work.
Straw boss: from what I'm given to understand that is usually someone who takes on the role of "boss" who wasn't appointed by the company. Think unofficial shift leader. One who's athority is entirely derived from them agreeing with the foreman and can be blown away in an instant if they step out of line with the company. Blown away like a straw in the wind, so to speak.
Geoff, like most creatives, as you will no doubt know, is a self diagnosed perfectionist. He has learned, as we can see with every piece he offers to the world, that "perfect is the enemy of good enough".
I wouldn't worry about the volume thing. Technical difficulties when you're first starting are part of the journey. I can't speak for anyone else, but I'm here for that part, too. You'll find a balance that works for you, so I don't think anyone is concerned.
Other groups: Some things to note about reacting to other groups is the way that their labels handle reactors. While most companies have accepted that reacting is a part of the music industry now, not all of them are happy about it. Some of them, talking to YOU Sony, are very particular when it comes to copywrite claiming and fair use issues. Frequent pauses, with the breaks used for commentary, is the typical cure for videos being taken down due to copywrite claims. The worst "offender", if they can be called such, is Sony for Pentatonix. Home Free's label, I'm not sure who that is, don't seem to be quite such sticklers about such things, but may require more editing than videos for Voice Play to avoid being taken down.
Just little FYI's and advice to, hopefully, help you navigate the new world you've stepped into.
As always, fun reaction. I love hearing your take on what the artist, or artists, are doing in the piece you're reacting to. See you in the next one!
Thank you so much for the information, comments and encouragement! I also appreciate the heads-up re labels - I have been very glad to see that the copyright stuff that pops up on my videos is all in the vein of "we see it, but the owners don't care", and the Universal recording in this video didn't even register. It had occurred to me that others might not be so generous, but I'm glad to know what's what there.
@@davidkreacts VoicePlay will never block as they do not have a record label. They do copyright so that they can get some income, but they do not block as they don’t have a publicity arm like those with record labels to. They rely on reactors for a lot of their publicity and exposure.
Some reactors will reverse the video so that we’re getting a mirror affect to try to fool the copyright police. It’s a little disturbing when you aren’t prepared for it and of course subtitles wouldn’t work, but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do.
Others will go ahead and mask it either by making it semi transparent or placing something over the video. Personally if you’re going to have to do that, I would go with it semi transparent so we can sort of see where we are in the song.
@@janetdw That makes a lot of sense. Good to know that's an option, and takes barely any time. I appreciate the suggestion.
@@janetdw I know that among a lot of the Voiceplay fans I know and talk to, using tricks to dodge copyright claims is one of the quickest ways to lose respect for a reactor. Those who I see doing those things you suggested immediately go on my do not watch list. These creators spend LOTs of time and money creating these videos, and with covers they themselves deal with copyright claims and income sharing (for example, The estate of the Sixteen Tons writer gets a significant percentage of the income from Geoff's cover here) So, yes, Geoff and Voiceplay's distrubution vendor automatically copyright claims reactions (not Geoff himself, the process is automated.) If I really like a reactor, I would MUCH rather be given the option to support them directly (through Patreon, RUclips tipping mechanisms, merch, etc) than for them to compromise the viewability of their reaction and their ethics to boot.
Here are two videos you might like. They are of the same song, performed by two groups. Hide and Seek (Ding Dong) is the title. Both groups use the same lead singer. One group is Voiceplay, and the other is The Bass Gang. Both versions are creepy and fun, but very different.
Interesting - thank you. I might even try to do a double-video, though that might be a lot!
@@davidkreacts That would be fun to watch!
@@davidkreacts You are welcome to do a full hour comparing the two. We will not mind. I dare say you have noticed you suddenly attracted the VP and GC crew... we prowl looking for new reactions and reactors.
@@leechowning8728 I might do - it would probably be more like 90 minutes since I'm up to 50 already with Horseman, but it genuinely is tempting.
And yes, I did catch that - I had 0 subscribers on this channel less than 20 days ago! Delighted to have you along. :-D
If you really wanna hear Geoff ’s range listen to high and dry. His range is absolutely amazing
Thank you - I will definitely do so. Trying desperately to prioritise a very long list, but it's there!
Yes. Geoff says that one is his favorite!
Still loving the reactions, as others said, this and Big Bad John are quite on point as Geoff covers, as his voice just goes down and mines for lower.
As for other groups suggestions, a younger group of mostly a cappella music is The Bass Gang. They're scattered in three continents and met each other because, as name suggests, they all sing low. They recently covered Bones, and I also loved their Emperor's New Clothes, but their latest collab is also a nice trip down spooky lane, Ding Dong with Lauren Paley
Thank you for the recommendations! I'll definitely look at those. :-)
It’s nice that you put in a clip of Tennessee Earnie Ford’s version too! I love both versions, but Geoff’s the most. I wanna recommend VoicePlay’s “The Greatest Show Medley” and “If I were a Rich Man/Girl”. My favourites change from day to day, but right now they’re it! For Halloween, VoicePlay’s “Hide and Seek” and “In the Hall of the Mountain King“ are awesome, if you have the time to record them before Halloween 👻 😊.
I'm glad you enjoyed! Thank you for the recommendations. I'm hopeful I'll get one more recorded before Monday, so trying to get that done. :-)
I come to see these reactions to share the joy I have in VoicePlay and Geoff of course. This one is ofren recommended, not my favourite but no problem with it either. I agree that some songs, his in particular, do build to a climax, which is lost with frequent interruptions. Same with ViocePlay of course. (Hoist the Colours is an extreme example of that.) Of the bass voices often referred to I do believe that Geoff's is the smoothest and richest. I love how you love his voice. Sharing the joy is a wonderful thing. Geoff and VoicePlay normally have physical sets, and mostly built by themselves. They do it all. :) Behind the scenes videos for patrons give us a lot of insights as to the fun they have in doing it. His acting skills are such that it's easy to forget that it isn't four or five different people. Some first time even reactors ask if it's brothers.
I think the love and care they put into their videos is so evident - it's fantastic seeing what they create. Totally understand people thinking it's not just Geoff - the variety in his characterisations is fantastic.
@@davidkreacts It really is. :)
As an introduction to Home Free, I suggest "Zombies vs. Hillbillies - Survivor (VoicePlay vs. Home Free)". They are also great, and their bass, Tim Foust, is known to have broken sound systems with his lows.
As far as my taste for acapella goes, I first heard of Pentatonix, and was impressed (Mitch's highs are out of this world!), and I liked Avi (bass) the best. That took me to Home Free's "Ring of Fire" with Avi. Then I got pretty deep into Home Free and followed them on the Sing-Off, where they won season 4 (same where VoicePlay participated). Then "Survivor" took me to VoicePlay, and I fell in love with their creativity, quality, variety of genres, and of course Geoff's rich, full and velvety voice!
Every now and then I listen to Home Free, but I'm a VoicePlay fan at heart! ❤
That's an awesome journey - thank you for sharing. Without knowing more (other than a few early Pentatonix songs), I feel like I'll always have a soft spot for VP, if only for the comprehensive productions that they do, but I'm excited to discover the others, for sure.
So enjoying your reactions!
Thank you!
Well now that you brought up sea shanties...
VoicePlay has a pirate song that Geoff arranged called Hoist The Colours. I would love to see you react and analyze it.
I just saw you did hoist the Colours! Gotta go see it!
Ooh - Star Kids are new on me - I'll add them to the (albeit now very extensive) list.
You said something about who wouldn’t get out of the way after that “step aside”? Me. That’s who. That’s growly tone is just the sexiest thing to me and I’d be too distracted hearing the tone to hear the words. 😏
And I LOVE your format of watch then dissect. I wish others would do things the same way.
I’m working my way through the rest of these this weekend, you’ll probably see a few more comments along the way, but I just wanted to welcome you to the rabbit hole. A bit late maybe, but stil. 😊
That's a reasonable point - either immediate response or complete freeze - totally fair. ;-) Glad that you enjoy the format - I think that the length puts many people off, which is probably why it's not so common, but I think it's how I produce the best content.
Hope that you continue to enjoy my work. :-)
Oooooh, if you like Nightwish, have you heard Kamelot, or Leaves Eyes? Or Sonata Arctica? Those are three of my favorite symphonic metal bands. Any time Kamelot tours here near me, I’m there!
Leaves Eyes I’ve heard a few songs of, and I listened to quite a lot of Sonata Arctica back in the day. Kamelot are new to me, I believe. I’ll check them out!
Another thing the forman would have been white collar and the strawboss would usually have been the most senior actual worker. Not always but frequently.
Ah, good to know - thank you.
Hi! I really enjoy your analysis of these awesome musicians! I don't have any professional experience with music, but I really enjoy learning about it, so your breakdowns have been very informative. If you're a fan of metal, you should definitely check out Jinjer (pronounced like ginger, the spice). They are a 4-piece Ukrainian metal band that mix many different genres into their music, and they are all phenomenal musicians. Their current drummer (Vlad) is actually a piano virtuoso, so you might enjoy his take on drumming. I think you will also enjoy their musical arrangements from a music theory perspective since that seems to be very interesting to you. They love to take everything they know about songwriting and arranging and mix it around to make something new. They are a group that many reactors react to, mainly for the lead singer Tatiana (she is absolutely amazing), but I think the rest of the band are amazing as well and something you might like (the bassist Eugene is my personal favorite, but I love them all). The guitarist (Roman) is also amazing at making unique and ear-catching riffs. Everyone reacts to the "Pisces" Live Session first, which is a good introduction, but their music has definitely grown since then. "Perennial", "Teacher, Teacher", and "Judgement and Punishment" are good ones to hear a more current sound of their music. Some of my favorite songs from them are "Vortex", "Home Back", and "Wallflower" ("Wallflower" especially), but honestly all of their music is amazing. I feel like you will really like "Wallflower" , as there are jazz qualities to it, but I would wait to hear this song until you hear a few of their other songs first. Again, thank you for sharing your reactions to this, and have a wonderful day! - Megan
Thank you so much for your comments and the suggestion of Jinger - they sound like they're right up my street. I will definitely get to them soon. :-) Hope you have a wonderful day too.
Love the reaction and breakdown!
Thank you!
Blackbird has to be on your list. It really shows his 5 octave range.
It is! Won't be for a few weeks, probably, but it's coming.
Love your reactions. I just love Geoff and VoicePlay. I will follow you and your breakdowns. Please give my favorite singer Angelina Jordon a look. I think, I Put A Spell On You is good place to start. She is 9 and does her own arrangements. VoicePlay and Geoff are also on my top five. Keep up you great work.
Thank you so much! Goodness - arranging at 9?! That's astonishing. I'll definitely check her out.
Another awesome react! And I have thoughts! Bear with me!
1) "There's a weight to this song" Yes there is; Sixteen Tons of it! (Sorry, not sorry.)
2) The strike of the mallet mimics the sound of a pickaxe - kind perfect for a mining song.
3) On the lyric, "And I walked to the mine", Geoff walks the notes up, giving us a really neat sound cue, for lack of a better term.
4) About the chords of this song. There might be 2 or 3 chords at most in the original song (I've played the song on my guitar once or twice), which adds to the simplicity of the song so we pay more attention to the story we're being told. I think Geoff adds maybe one or two more in this arrangement.
Oh! I just listened to Geoff's cover of "Big Bad John" by Jimmy Dean. I'd love to see your reaction to it.
Thank you! I enjoy all of these thoughts. Love that there's so much in these videos - I feel like I'll be discovering or shown new things for ages! Getting to Big Bad John at some point - my goodness my list is long now though!
@@davidkreacts That's the beautiful power of music, performance. You're always discovering new things with every watch and from others' perspectives.
Check out VoicePlay doing
"The Dragonborn Comes".
It's a song in the video game "Skyrim". They feature Omar Cardona on this. Omar and Eli are gamers, and they include the dragon Shouts and singing in the dragon tongue. The whole group get into costumes as characters in the game.
It's very cinematic.
That is high on my list, and I'm looking forward to checking it out! Will be some time in the new year, after the holiday season. :-)
Pentatonix is more focused on EDM and pop music, although they have done some decent traditional stuff as well, particularly around Christmas. Some of the best or most impressive things they've done include Sing (easily their best original piece), Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies, Daft Punk medley, and their cover of Sound of Silence. One thing you'll notice is that any time VoicePlay and Pentatonix have done the same song, the VoicePlay version is generally noticeably superior. The most extreme example of this is You're A Mean One Mr. Grinch; I thought PTX's version was good, _until_ I saw VoicePlay's version, which totally blew it out of the water.
Interesting - I appreciate you sharing your thoughts. When I heard Pentatonix originally, many years ago now, I certainly wasn't as immediately taken with them as I was with VP, but I'm looking forward to revisiting them. My musical taste is definitely more in the right vein to enjoy them than it used to be.
Voctave!! Watch their great movie medley!! Trust me!!
You're on! I have a long list that I'm trying desperately to figure out how to prioritise, but I'll get there!
Response to both your reaction to Sixteen tons and Hoist the Colors
If you wish to see a video with most of the names of there past collaborators I would recommend “Just Sing” (SUBTITLES ON) it is a few years old but it will give you a hint on some of the other colab's names.
They do a lot of FUN videos and a lot of serious ones. They also put little jokes here and there
almost everything they do is filmed at Patty Cake productions (Layne is a co-owner) with former Voiceplay member Tony Wakim
A fun video of Voiceplay you may enjoy is Zombies Vs Hillbillies Survivor (Voiceplay VS HomrFree)
some reactors I think you may get some extra from are “The Charismatic Voice”, “Jennifer Glatzhofer
“ and “Peter Barber” I always feel they give unique additions to the videos.
Acapella groups I think you may also enjoy
Home Free (mostly Country)
Pentatonix
The Bass Gang (Newer group 4 bass singers)
Maytree (South Korean group mostly dose shorter videos but they are unique)
yes Geoff and Voiceplay have been known to comment and talk to some of there reactors in fact Geoff's backup vocals “Goff, Jeoph, Jeff, and Daryl “ are a reaction to the reactors and all mis-pronouncements to his videos.
on Geoff's channel there is a 2 part series “How To Sing LOW” that Geoff talks about how to do subharmonics and some other things .
Both Voiceplay and Geoff Castellucci release a video about monthly and they both have a lot of Halloween Content so you may end up missing that till next year (or do them out of season)
Recommended Voiceplay Videos from what I understand you like
Hall of the Mountain King (no words)
Dream On
The Greatest Showman Medley
The Phantom of the Opera
they also have a series of ACA top 10 videos (I think they are mostly live mic not pre recorded ) as well as some live videos (they don't need to pitch correct)
Some Geoff Castellucci videos I think show his capability
Blackbird
House of the Rising Sun
Shenandoah
Thank you for all the recommendations! I really appreciate it. I'll get to as many of these as I can as I work through my now very extensive list!
Hey, love the reactions. You gotta check out Voice Plays latest offering "Ding Dong" for Halloween....it's really good.
On a side note, check out"When your crush asks you how high you can sing" by Tim Waurick. It's only just over 1 minute long but it's really cool.
Thank you! Yes, that's on my list, though might be a bit post-Hallowe'en. Got videos planned for Monday.
Is that the Tim who's a barbershop tenor and can hold notes a ridiculously long time? I heard him sing recently, and while I forget the name of the quartet, they're on my shortlist for new groups.
@@davidkreacts Thanks for the reply. Yes, that's the guy. I know you're going to be blown away by the music you've yet to hear.
On a side note, if you love a good bass voice then please can you react to "Hoist the colors" by "The Bass Gang". I'm not going to spoil the surprise but it's an absolute must for a reaction.
Check out voiceplay’s medley for Wicked-it is a masterpiece!
That was actually my first reaction on this channel - and yes, it definitely is!
Thank you for your reaction, I enjoyed it. Just for fun, (not to compare versions) it may be interesting for you to check out Home Free's Tim Foust's live performance of this piece (only piano and voice with no studio effects.) ruclips.net/video/YwIqR1OBkbs/видео.html Tim and Geoff have pretty much the same range, in all registers. They are both exceptionally talented, and they both have "multiples" of themselves in their solo songs. To complete the triad of the best basses in a cappella (IMO), you may want to check out Avi Kaplan's solo work. ("Change is on the rise" is a great song). All three artists often arrange their songs beautifully, and both Tim and Avi are also incredible songwriters. One of my favorite VP songs that gets no attention is "Waiving through a window," well worth a listen.😺
Thank you! I will definitely check that out - it would be interesting to see the differences between them, but also just to hear Tim sing this. I will be getting to PTX and Avi soon - trying not to introduce too many new elements all at once, but I know they have some cool Xmas stuff, so probably in the coming month. :-)
I'd be intrigued to hear Waving Through... I'm not a big Dear Evan Hansen fan, but that is a spectacular song.
Random guesses from a totally ignorant guy about one of your side-notes. I don't suppose work songs was a big thing in mining - sailors were, at least, working in an environment with fresh air supply. Mines? i believe, were incredibly hot, cramped, and the air was continuously full of dust (from breaking away the rocks). I do think certain pulmonary disorders were very frequent among miners. So, singing out in such an environment does not seem as likely.
Plus, my random guess is, mining needs much less in terms of coordinated moves. Sailors do often need to move together - say, for example, rowing together, or pulling on a rope together at the same time, to add their strength together. I'd think mining is less like that - you are basically just chipping away at a piece of stone, in a space so small that one many can barely fit.
But, I may be totally wrong, there may be work chants in mines, too.
My first thought when hearing the snaps was that it was actually a representation of pick-axe strikes. Another representation of the monotonous, going-nowhere, never-ending job of a miner. In Geoff's version, they do get replaced by actual tool noises, after a while, so I guess this was his thought as well...
Thank you for the r&a, it was great fun!
I would love to hear your thoughts on hos latest. I See Fire.
I love this content plees reaction too Nick pitera cover one man disney medly movie hope you like it was amazing good
Thank you, Izabell! I appreciate the recommendation - I'll add it to my list. :-)
@@davidkreacts He and Peter Hollens are both insanely talented. Nick mostly does Disney songs and his range is insane. I have heard him singing the low bass of Scar from the Lion King and then turned around and ding Jasmine’s part in a Whole New World.
@@janetdw Wow - that's impressive!
You had to shop at the company store because you were not paid in cash but vouchers only redeemable at the company store.
Indeed - I can't imagine that was a very pleasant existence.
I am going to skip recommending any of Geoff's videos, or anything recent of VoicePlays, because I get the idea that all of these have been recommended and are probably on your list already. Since you are into musical theatre, I will dig deep into the Voiceplay archives and recommend the ACA Top 10 Broadway medley. This is going to be different than most of what you have seen before with Voiceplay, because it is significantly less produced and more like what you would experience from them in a live setting. It is just them sitting in one of their living rooms and singing a live take together of this medley of their top ten Broadway numbers (as of 2014 when they released the video.)
Ooh - thank you for the recommendation! I'd been told about the ACA Top 10, but I don't think the fact that one is Broadway has been highlighted yet. That's a definite bump up the list right there!
You need to increase your output volume, it's to low.
I'd love to, but these videos take a long time to produce, and combined with working two jobs, it's not possible at the moment. Hoping I'll be able to in the future.
Your volume on the music is too low.
Unfortunately I over-compensated for a previous problem in this one - I think I've got the balance about right since. :-)