Pop Covers in the Style of Gregorian Chant
Masters of Chant X: The Final Chapter is the 10th and final studio album by the band Gregorian, representing the culmination of their 15-year career covering popular songs in the style of Gregorian chant, a unique angle that, while admittedly somewhat gimmicky in nature, has garnered them international attention, allowing them to tour Europe, China and Japan. The project is led by Frank Peterson, who initially conceived the idea in 1998, as a new direction for a project that was originally formed to be more standard pop-oriented in the style of bands like Enigma. They released their first album, Masters of Chant, in 1999 and have continued to perform and release albums in the Gregorian style ever since. Masters of Chant X is their farewell album, marking Gregorian’s retirement.
The album features 12 covers ranging from classic Beatles fare such as “In My Life,” to spirituals such as “I Shall Be Released,” and more modern pop songs such as Tears for Fears’ “Shout,” as well as two originals: a theme song which introduces the album and an outro entitled “Good Night Companion.” Overall the record delivers roughly what one would expect from the project: the arrangements are campy, featuring plucky nylon string accompaniment and marchy, heavily reverbated snare as percussion and often sounding like the background music for a fantasy videogame. Novelty and humor are both heavily relied upon as selling points, which gives the tracks little in the way of replay value, other than perhaps the strength of the original songwriting.
The songs at least are well selected for this purpose; all are well known ringers that lend themselves well to being covered. The fortunate exception is the outro track, “Good Night Companion,” a heartfelt original that thanks the listener for their support over the years and reminisces about the band’s career. This song turns the album’s weaknesses on their head; whereas on the covers the campy arrangements give the tracks a kind of stock, going-through-the-motions feel, on the outro it lends the song a heart-on-it’s-sleeve sincerity that is honestly touching. This song gives the album some of the merit it’s otherwise lacking, and gives the listener good reason to stick around after the novelty of the cover songs has worn off.
