Reviews for
"The Jubilee Singers I, II & III" [#664, 665, 666]

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*All ratings are based on a 5 star scale unless otherwise noted.

 

Part One

 

Review by Amy

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I give it 5 stars, because it is about history.

 

 

Review by ricrocflow (Town of Odyssey)

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Best 3 episodes on Vol. 51. And they actually followed through on the gallery idea!

 

 

Review by King Butter Turtle (Town of Odyssey)

 

Yay! This season has gotten steadily better each week with little exception. It reminded me a lot of The Underground Railroad, not only for the historical era, but, the style and quality, as well. I like using the gallery and the first scene was classic "kid coming to Bernard for a story" except with Red Hollard, obviously. Also, that was Kendre Berry, right? If so, that's really cool! The only flaw is that it seems a little slow; more descriptive, like a documentary. Of course, since it's a three parter, the plot line is more complicated and it needs more exposition (especially with characters and such) and it got going at the end. Overall, "awesome", I can't wait to hear part II!

 

 

Review by American Eagle (Town of Odyssey)

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I approve of this episode! 5/5

Can't wait to hear Part II.

 

 

Review by jennifertwt (Town of Odyssey)

 

This was Fantastic! The album started off 'okay', one has to expect a few bumps in what I still think of as a new 'series'. But the last three episodes have each been better than the last. I can't wait for parts 2 & 3, unfortunately, just going out and buying the ablum is not an option for me. I agree this would go great with The Underground Railroad for a themed album! My husband and I belong to a medieval re-enactment group and usually burn our own CD with 'historical' episodes for the road trip to events. They are not always 'medieval', but it's still fun.

 

 

Review by Sapphire (Town of Odyssey)

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I give it 5 out of 5 stars! I loved it! I can hardly wait for the next part.

 

 

Review by Laurie (Town of Odyssey)

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This episode is fantastic!!

 

 

Review by Peachey Keen (Town of Odyssey)

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Absolutely perfect! I love it when AIO does historical eps!
I also loved hearing Phil Proctor.

Can't wait for part 2!

 

 

Review by Dallas R. (Town of Odyssey)

 

Great work! It was fun, educational, and had the classic feel of an Odyssey story. It might be a bit hard for some kids to follow, but no more so than some of the other historical or biblical episodes.

I know I'm not alone saying this, but I miss Bernard. Not that I'm trying to compare the two, but Red just isn't the same. I won't complain too much though, because I like Red a lot better than if they had tried to recast Bernard.

Oh, and I think aiowiki is wrong. It says that Phil Procter plays George White, but I'm pretty sure he voiced Principal Spence.

 

 

Review by Officer David Harley (Town of Odyssey)

 

This episode puts me to sleep. I'm not kidding, when I first got the CD I listened through it once then I listened to it again and I fell asleep.

 

 

Review by Boswell (Town of Odyssey)

 

I've never been a big fan of the historical episodes. Social studies was never exactly my favourite subject, and to top it all off, it's mostly American history with a very pro-American bias (early historical episodes unrealistically so). The Jubilee Singers, however, is one of my favourite historical episodes, and easily the best episode of Vol. 51.

Dave Arnold's writing was excellent: the dialogue was both authentic and dramatic, and delivered by top-notch actors. (It was great to hear Phil Proctor again!) Paul McCusker's direction was its usual fantastic self, and this episode really displayed his talent for this type of episode. I basked in John Campbell's score, which had been very light up to this point in the season, when it was composed by him at all. If Olivia and Red hadn't been in it, it would have made for a very nice Radio Theatre production...in fact, if they extended it and released it on its own, I'd buy it all over again.

In short, this was almost everything I could ask for in an Odyssey episode. Put together by the best talent in audio drama today, every aspect of it is entirely fulfilling. To the Odyssey Team: if we can have just one episode like this in every album, we are very lucky listeners!

 

 

Part Two

 

Review by American Eagle (Town of Odyssey)

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Don't really have anything special to say... just very good.

 

 

Review by Laurie (Town of Odyssey)

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Wonderful, absolutely wonderful!!!

 

 

Review by Marvin D. (Town of Odyssey)

 

I loved it, all the music made it feel great! And then again, the lesson. It's sorta said to see what happened to all of those people.

 

 

Review by jennifertwt (Town of Odyssey)

 

The music in this episode made me burst into tears, it was so beautiful. This is by far the best episode yet. Can't wait for part 3.

 

 

Review by Sapphire (Town of Odyssey)

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I loved it!

 

 

Review by OdysseyBlogger (Town of Odyssey)

 

pretty cool i love the music and the story. i wouldve liked if olivia was actually in the adventure with them. you know, if she used the imagination station.

 

 

Review by Boswell (Town of Odyssey)

 

John Campbell has definitely pulled out the big guns for this episode. I love that guy.

 

 

Part Three

 

Review by Joanne (Town of Odyssey)

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That was a great episode!

 

I love the story, and even though it was a little slow at times it still kept me interested. Great way to end album 51!

 

 

Review by King Butter Turtle (Town of Odyssey)

 

Phenomenal season finale!

 

 

Review by Catspaw (Town of Odyssey)

 

I have to agree! I listened on CD and I had been considering listening to one part each week as it aired on the radio, but I just couldn't stop listening! Sooo good! I loved the bonus features connected to the episode - it was a nice addition to the album.

I loved the songs, the story, and basically everything from this three-parter!

 

 

Review by jennifertwt (Town of Odyssey)

 

Crying as I'm listening. What a *FANTASTIC FINISH! The album started off so so, got better with For the Birds and ended beautifully. Now I must have it! But, I'll probably wait until Cause and Effect is out. Shipping to Sweden is horrendous.

 

 

Review by Laurie (Town of Odyssey)

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Wonderful episode!!

 

 

Review by Freddy Jay (Blog)

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Before I got the album, I was glad to read that we would hear more of the Gallery. When I heard the episode I wasn't let down either. Using the Gallery they have another way of telling stories without using the Imagination Station, or a main character telling. In these episodes Frederick Douglas tells the story of the Jubilee Singers. Unlike others, I kinda like the voice for Frederick Douglas. His voice helps me picture the character, like most of the characters in Odyssey.
 

I was glad to hear another episode with Red. In a way it increased the humor factor in the beginning. I think I said this before, but I will say it again. I think Red will prove to be a promising character, with many fun quotes in the future. This episode definitely had an awesome story to it, along with great music/songs. The music style was well done, and I really liked that it had a southern gospel feel to it.I recognized some of the songs. One of them I sang with my school choir!
 

My rating:
Theme: 5/5
Humor: 4.5/5
Action: 5/5
Total Rating: 5/5

 

 

Review by Marvin D. (Blog)

 

Positives:

• The story itself! I mean, the story was touching, we learned something, we saw how people suffered, how the black people were discriminated, and how much they longed to go to school.

• The singers. John Campbell and the musicians did a great job on it! For those of you who have the CD, there's a bonus feature on it on how the music was created. It took a lot of work and their voices were great, and it sounded quite realistic.

• The MUSIC!!! The final song, "Gimme that Old Time Religion" was snappy and great. All of those songs just sent shivers down my back as I listened, and almost made me want to cry, but I didn't. :)

• The lesson learned. I'm glad we saw how school is an important part of our life. ;)

Negatives:

• The Fredrick Douglas Actor: One word about him--blech. He sounded rather hoarse, which is what made the narrator bugging.

• The talking portrait. Couldn't they have used something else instead of that? It seems almost like...magic.

Overall rating: 4.5/5 or 9/10
 

 

Review by Christian A. (Blog)

• These episodes were the best in the season! And the third part was the overall best episode of the season!

• The singing was amazing! There was not one song that had one error in it. There is a special feature in the album version that tells you that they hired professional singers to sing the songs, but the actors were different people. That's why there was amazing singing and great acting at the same time. Some of the songs, as Marvin said, almost made me cry. And if you know me, I don't cry unless something's really, really good.

• The acting was just as amazing! Until I heard that special feature on the CD, I thought it was crazy how they found amazing black (or black-sounding) actors and actresses who could sing very very well. All of the characters (who were supposed to) sounded like genuine black folk. Red and Olivia's actors also did a great job. I still wish they'd change Olivia's age to fourteen or fifteen. She still doesn't act or sound like anyone younger than that.

• Samuel was my favorite character in the set of episodes, maybe even in the whole season. He added just the right amount of humor to the episode, and a lot of it made me laugh. Especially the part where he overdramatizes the gunshot wound. He was always worried about his stomach, and that reminded me of Marvin Washington. Mostly because I think they're played by the same actor.

• There were no major characters (unless you wanna call Olivia a major character) ! I was really hoping that Whit or Connie or Eugene would pop in somewhere or near the end, but they didn't. That was the only downside of having these episodes end the season. There was no great ending line by Whit or anyone else.

• There were more spiritual applications in this episode than in the rest of the season combined! I really appreciated that. These episodes really felt like Odyssey, rather than a new radio drama trying to be like Odyssey. There were lessons about perseverance, umm..., I can't remember any more right now, but I'm sure there were more. (Please comment!) Oh yeah, Olivia learned that she should be wanting and willing to learn and ready to fight for her right to learn.

Overall, this was an amazing episode and the Odyssey team did a great job. It had a great story, and it's all the better when the story is true! Keep up the good work Odyssey, but now I can't wait for Cause and Effect.

This episode gets a 10/10, a great way to end the season.
 

 

Review by EMBEE (Town of Odyssey)

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FANTASTIC three parter! The music was absolutely terrific, as was everything else. A wonderful conclusion to album 51.

 

 

Review by American Eagle (Town of Odyssey)

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This three-parter is just fantastic in every way.

 

 

Review by Peachey Keen (Town of Odyssey)

 

Absolutely fantastic! Almost made me cry! I'm not sure if this or the Imagination Station, Revisited Part 2 was the best season finale. It's just sooo good!

 

 

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