Hot on the heels of the poll for Alfie Boe’s Best Ever Live Song, comes the newly opened vote for Alfie Boe as Rear of the Year 2015! Many of Alfie’s fans voted in this poll last year but sadly to no avail. However, we are a determined lot and failure once has not deterred us from trying again!
In case you need some encouragement, here is a great video from the Storyteller tour last year showing us just what we’re voting for! (4:10 in case you’re wondering!)
Now I must admit that I am usually against voting in these sorts of competitions, but as this poll demonstrates perfect equality due to the fact that men and women are both featured, I’ll let it go…and vote multiple times! Anyone else who will admit to throwing their principles out the window when it comes to Alfie? By the way, if you’re stuck for a female celebrity to vote for, why not go for Laura Wright?
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Rank Strangers To Me, an American folk song from the early twentieth century which Alfie first sang on his Bring Him Home tour of 2012 and then recorded for Storyteller that same year. At number 3 in the Alfie Boe Top Ten Songs, it is the second and highest placed song from Storyteller. Interestingly, both songs (the other is Wayfaring Stranger) are infused with the gospel, bluegrass sound that paved the way from that album to Trust.
Rank Strangers was written by Albert Brumley, a musician and singer born in Oklahoma in 1905. After studying at the Hartford Musical Institute, Arkansas, Brumley toured with the Hartford Quartet and went on to write / copyright an astonishing 800 songs. The most famous of these is I’ll Fly Away from 1932. In 1970 he was inducted into the Country Song Writer’s Hall of Fame and his songs have been covered by amongst others, Bob Dylan, who I’m sure introduced Alfie to the song. Unfortunately for Alfie I couldn’t find a video of Dylan singing the song but here is The Stanley Brothers who made the song famous in the 1950’s:
As you can see, this version is very different from Alfie’s, although both have a recognisable gospel and bluegrass sound. Alfie’s recorded version was famously done in one take, with Alfie conducting all the musicians in an improvised session. The result was so good that they never went back and changed anything.
However, of those who nominated and voted for Rank Strangers, the vast majority mentioned that they preferred Alfie’s acapella version, so here it is (thanks Linda W for sharing):
There are just two songs left on the list! And you’ll have to wait a whole week to find out which order they’re in!
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As we come to the mid way point of our Alfie Boe Best Ever Song countdown so in the best tradition of all countdowns, let’s recap on the songs do far:
10: You Are My Hearts Delight – Love was A Dream
9: Fratello Sole, Sorella Luna – You’ll Never Walk Alone
8: If You Go Away – Trust
7: Rosie – Trust
6: Parlami D’amore Mariu – La Passione
Number 5 is the first song in the Top Ten from Alfie’s 2012 album, Storyteller, and like the other track from that album, is heavily infused with a bluesy, gospel sound. Wayfaring Stranger is an early 20th century American folk song that has been covered by a multitude of artists including Burl Ives, Johnny Cash, Ed Sheeran and Eva Cassidy. The version that Alfie cites however, in the Decca Storybook, is by Emmy Lou Harris. This video is from 1980:
Emmy Lou’s version is stripped back to show off her rich, clear vocals and gradually builds into something more while Alfie has added a New Orleans style jazz, up tempo sound to get the result we hear on Storyteller. This juxtaposes the difference between the almost spiritual lyrics and the melody. Harris, on the other hand, uses a melody and tempo more in line with the spiritual element of the song. This is Alfie’s Wayfaring Stranger from the 2013 Storyteller tour:
Love the backing vocals by Seweuse and Lucy – and thanks to Linda W for sharing!
If you don’t yet have the Storyteller album, click on the image below:
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Thank you for sending in your nominations for Alfie Boe’s Best Ever Song and then voting for your favourite. The poll has now closed and the Top Ten is here!
Hopefully, your favourite has made the short list but if not, click here to listen to the new Spotify playlist and choose a new favourite to vote for. Also, due to popular demand, this poll is open to multiple votes! Time to find out if Bring Him Home is indeed the fan’s favourite Alfie Boe song or if we prefer something else.
The longer playlist (still available on Spotify) contains songs from all Alfie’s albums, and the Top Ten continues this, albeit with one exception. Judging from this, classical and rock are the favourite Alfie sounds. Bring Him Home is the only musical theatre song to make the grade.
So come on, get voting! The poll will be open for two weeks and then we’ll be counting down the Top Ten in the lead up to the UK release of Serenata.
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Edited post – scroll down to see Alfie singing on Azura!
As Alfie Boe wings his way back to the US (hurry back for Symfunny Alfie!) the first photos and reviews are trickling out from the Azura cruise. The lucky passengers were each handed one ticket to one concert (Alfie performed twice on the first two nights) but I’m pleased to say that many of Alfie’s fabulous fans managed to sneak into at least two, and in some cases, all four! In addition, there was a bonus interview on Tuesday morning. This review is written by my friend Cecelia, and starts with her ticket to the second Monday show:
Alfie started with one of my least favourite of his numbers on the Storyteller album, Bridge Over Troubled Water, accompanied solely by two fabulous guitarists. And the acoustic version sounded fab. He did an acapella version of Rank Strangers that brought me to tears. Bring Him Home…more tears. And luckily for us, loads of Neapolitan numbers from Serenata, including Volare, which like it or loathe it definitely got the crowd singing along. Arrivederchi Roma was in there, along with several La Passione numbers. As always, Alfie held the crowd in the palm of his hand.
The second evening was again fabulous and each concert was slightly different from the others. There was no acapella Rank Strangers last night, but two slightly different versions of one of my favourites, Wayfaring Strangers. The early evening performance was a lot more laid back, harking back to the Al Vosper days and ending with the whistling. The whole last show was a tour de force. You could just feel that he was putting every once of himself into the performance. Angel from Montgomery appeared and he did a run around the theatre which he hadn’t done at any other performance.
Every show was that little bit different. Someone asked for Elvis which wasn’t on the set list (although Alfie did give us a little bit of hip swivelling!) but by the last show, the two fabulous guitarists he performed with pulled Suspicious Minds out of the bag. Alfie forgot some of the words, but hey he wasn’t prepared and he is so funny when he forgets. Can’t tell you what talented musicians the guitarists were though. I do love the intimate sound of the guitars alone and Alfie. This really has been the best.
The bonus was the interview with him in the theatre which was jam packed. I was so glad for him. He just gets better and better at interacting with the audience. And he certainly felt the love. He told the interviewer we were all his family. And speaking of the interviewer, he was great. It turns out that he played in the performance of 42nd street in Blackpool back in the early 1990’s and that was the show where Alfie was working behind the scenes and when he should have passed the large penny up through the trap door for the lead to use for a tap dance routine, he fell asleep on the job. They both had a chuckle at that one. It really is a small world. The only really new info was that besides cooking and drumming and riding around on his motorcycle, Alfie has gone back to an earlier love of painting. He enjoys creating abstracts, loves blending the various colours, but he also enjoys sketching and portraiture and is currently working on a large piece of a lion. Because he’s interested in texture as well as colour, he has applied scrunched up bits of newspaper to the canvas create another dimension and then painting over that.
A fantastic review, thanks Cecilia and I’m sure lots more to come when the cruise finishes. In the meantime, here is a photo from Nikki Lewis:
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Emilia Mitiku is a Swedish singer songwriter that I first heard of through, you guessed it, Alfie Boe! To be specific, I first heard her name when she was announced as the support act for Alfie’s 2013 Storyteller tour. I found her on YouTube and immediately bought her album, I Belong To You, falling in love with the melodious jazz / pop tones of the songs. It was an absolute pleasure to watch her perform both as Alfie’s support act and duetting with him on Dimming of the Day and Angel from Montgomery. Anyone who missed her show missed out on a treat. Click here to buy Emilia’s album on Amazon.
Emilia, daughter of renowned Ethiopian singer Teshome Mitiku, grew up listening to the smoky tones of Etta, Ella, Eartha and Billie but her first brush with musical fame came via the pop world. In 1999, Emilia Rydberg as she was then known, had a world wide smash hit with Big Big World. That sound is light years away from the largely self written I Belong To You. Of this musical journey, Emilia says “These melodies were probably always there, they just took their time getting out”.
Enjoy Emilia and Alfie at the Royal Albert Hall, April 2013:
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Easter in 2013 was a bit earlier than in 2014, which meant that we were all done and dusted by the end of March. In the UK, this coincided with the coldest winter and spring for 50 years – it was bitter! However, for those of us who are Alfie Boe fans, this meant we had plenty of time in which to stand around the various stage doors of Alfie’s first arena tour, Storyteller. The one that springs to mind is the Royal Albert Hall which was perishing but lovely as we all had time to chat. Many people had come a long way to see Alfie, including Margie from Australia and Roberta from New York (click here for their Alfie story) and waiting at stage doors became a way of chatting with fans we had previously only met online.
Easter Sunday last year was 31 March and Alfie’s tour date that night was in Plymouth. There is not as much YouTube footage from this one as some of the other tour dates and so it is one of those that tends to be overlooked. Let’s put that right. This is one of my favourite songs from the Storyteller tour, Jim Hendrix’s Angel:
By the way, some readers have asked how I choose the video clips for the blog. There’s no mystery about it, they’re just the ones I like the best and that fit with the required theme! If anyone wants to suggest videos for future blogs, please share by commenting here xx
Heard of Collabro yet? Well, if you haven’t, where have you been this week? Collabro are the boy band featured in the first episode of Britain’s Got Talent (BGT). At the time of the audition they had only been together for a month, a fact that had the vast majority of us, particularly and perceptibly, Simon Cowell, groaning at the thought of the awfulness that was to come.
And then they started to sing…and it was not awful at all, it was …wow! The choice of song, Stars, from Les Miserables was unexpected but, dare I use an overused word, inspired? After all, BGT has previous form for propelling singers of Les Mis songs to superstardom, even if they don’t go onto win the show. Additionally, by using one of the less famous songs, there was less chance of the audience comparing them to the well known version. In case you’ve been hiding under a rock this week, here here is Collabro singing Stars:
It now remains to be seen which song the band choose for their semi-final appearance; do they choose another Les Mis song, something from another musical or something else altogether? Apparently, Collabro, or Richard in particular, cite one of their influences as Alfie Boe. Alfie’s definitive song is Bring Him Home, from Les Mis and we know that this song lends itself beautifully to an arrangement for at least four voices as showcased by The Four ValJeans at the end of the Les Mis 25th Anniversary Concert at the O2 in 2011.
While we wait to see what the future holds for Collabro, lets take another look at the master of Bring Him Home, Alfie Boe: This performance is from Alfie’s Storyteller tour at the Royal Albert Hall.
As it’s Mothering Sunday (Mother’s Day) in the UK, thought I’d share a favourite video with you all from the Storyteller tour (again thanks to Lovely Linda Wellington). This is Chitarra Romana in Blackpool (for those of you who haven’t seen this video before, Mikey is Alfie’s great nephew):
Then I thought, if this is one of my favourite videos, why not ask everyone else which is their favourite and the favourite will feature in a new blog post…soon!
This is my first poll, so hope it goes well!
Hope all the lovely mums who read and follow have a great Mother’s Day xx
January is a notoriously difficult month after the Christmas and New Year festivities and it is no different if you are an Alfie Boe fan. As we are in an unexpectedly quiet time before the excitement of his small screen acting debut in Mr Selfridge on 23 February, I’m taking this opportunity to share two more stories of fab friends I’ve met through following Alfie. I first met Sally and Cecelia at the Royal Albert Hall in April 2013 on the Storyteller tour and we quickly became firm friends, meeting up several times for dinner, wine and chat. Indeed, Cecelia and I are shortly to spend a weekend with Sally where we can indulge our obsession to our hearts content!
First, here is how Sally came to follow Alfie:
I am 54 years old, a mother of two and a grandmother of three (at the last count). And until 2011 I had never been to a musical concert on my own……Back in 2007 I remember coming home from Brussels for the weekend and watching an impossibly young looking tenor named Alfie Boe sing Stranger in Paradise on Parkinson, and thinking ‘Blimey, he’s good.’ And promptly went back to Belgium again without taking it further. More fool me!Then after 4 years away I came back to the UK in September 2010. I had bought the 10th anniversary concert of Les Mis back in the day and had seen a lot of the blurb around the 25th anniversary production at the O2. And then I caught Les Mis at 25 with Matt Lucas on the TV and thought I remember that man – where have I seen Jean Valjean before? And so I got a copy of the concert.
It was a revelation. Alfies’ voice, by turns soft and lyrical, then forceful and soaring was totally mesmeric – the show itself was wonderful with a fine supporting cast but it was the almost slight figure with the expressive eyes that kept my whole attention. So then it was You Tube – I found the Parkinson show excerpt, discovered the making of La Passione (he does so many things in the kitchen you would think he had an interest in food!!!) and of course ‘Nessun Dorma’ in Matt Lucas’s kitchen. I saw and read all the interviews, marvelled at his wonderful family life, laughed at his antics (his embarrassment on Loose Women still makes me giggle) and joined the ABUK forum. And then came the news that he was going to be at the Queens Theatre as JVJ in Les Mis. I booked the best ticket I could. I was so excited. Bored all my friends and amused my family – I’m known for being quite pragmatic. And on the due date turned up at the theatre only to find Alfie was sick. I was devastated. Jonathan Williams was an excellent replacement but what was I to do? I wanted to see Alfie but I had never seen a show twice before – I booked a ticket for the following Tuesday. Got there, heart in mouth but no announcement. Alfie was on and he was sublime; I was totally wrapped up in the tale of this man’s redemption and sacrifice. And so was he. There seemed to be no acting involved – he simply was Valjean. I went back three times more, once to the Stage Door after a lot of encouragement from ABUK friends. And then came the concerts, the Bring Him Home and Storyteller tours. I have seen 9 in all from Aberdeen to Brighton via Blackpool and London and I have loved them all. I even went to Carfest South when my knowledge of cars could be written on the back of a jam pot cover. Alfie on his albums is wonderful to listen to but live, he is a tour de force, by turn serious, bawdy, energetic (he leaps over stages, boxes and barriers to get to his audience) and above all that glorious voice that seems to sing exactly what he tells it to whether it be classical, rock, blues or country. My friends think I’m mad and my family think Alfie should take out a restraining order. I don’t care. I’m on the Alfie train and loving every moment of the ride.
Cecelia is originally from the USA but has lived in London for many years, having come to work and study and ended up marrying a wonderfully understanding Englishman. I can confidently state that he is wonderfully understanding because this seems to be a necessity in husbands or partners of die hard Alfie fans!
Cecelia first heard Alfie sing at the Festival of Remembrance in 2008 and thought it was a lovely performance but did not send her scurrying to find out more about the cute singer. Instead, it was a couple of years later when she took her daughter to the 25th Anniversary concert of Les Mis at the O2 that Cecelia fell in love with Alfie Boe and his voice. Like many other Alfie fans I may add!
Cecelia then saw him in concert at Watford and began following the forum chat on ABUK for a while before taking the plunge and joining in with the madness. Her wonderfully understanding husband proved to be just that when he bought her tickets to the Storyteller tour at the Royal Albert Hall which brings me back to how we all first met, face to face. such happy memories!
