I seem to have lost my love for the Swingle Singers version of Loch Lomond. It's probably the only track on the Folk Songs CD that I don't like (now, or have ever not liked), and runs counter to my belief that I would fall on my knees in adoration of everything the Rathbone-Cairncross-Parry team have put out forever and ever. The arrangement of the piece is wonderful, but the solos have definitely been grating on me of late. Jon Rathbone and Andrew Busher do not sound like they're enjoying themselves singing verses one and two, which probably would have benefited from being moved down a couple of keys. Part of the problem is that a bunch of the high Gs and As have to be sung on awkward vowels (sun shines bright on Loch Lomond; me and my true love etc.), and fairly loudly, which just really is not in the style of either a folk song or the Swingle Singers. Another thing: the dynamics are weird -- and I suspect that this was a function of the way the track was recorded. When I listen to the song on my iPod it's a lot worse than when it's on speakers because it starts off near inaudible unless you turn the volume to about 75%, and then makes your eardrums bleed on the crescendoes in the third verse (...broken heart will ken/no second spring again), and when J.R. comes in fff after the funky key changing bit.

It's a technically difficult song to do, particularly if you're trying to fake a Scottish accent while on the solo, and now that my feelings for the Swingle Singers track have cooled I don't think there's a single a cappella version of the piece I like. The Whiffenpoofs arrangement is too vanilla, and (with apologies to the Harvardians), I'm not all that fond of the Kroks. It's a pity, because its lyrics are heartbreaking, one of those songs that makes me want to curl up in a ball and cry, but in a good way.