Pirate Sounds And Music
We wanted some pirate music to play during the haunt to add atmosphere.
We reasoned that it would also help get us into the mood.
Finding a DVD with a pirate musical group would be even better,
because we could get some costume inspiration.
Music CDs
Outward Bound - by Tony Irvine
Purchased from
eBay
vendor "1nsomn1ak", $14.50 [September 2006].
The auction was titled "Pirate Music CD: Outward Bound by Tony Irvine".
I liked this disk a lot:
- Half of the songs are traditional, half by Tony Irvine.
- The vocals were mostly solo, crisp and clean.
- There was little harmony, but that which was present was well done.
- The instrumental accompanyment was very well done.
Cutlass, Cannon and Curves - by Jolly Rogers
Purchased from
eBay
vendor "1nsomn1ak", $15.25 [September 2006].
The auction was titled "Jolly Rogers Cutlass, Cannon and Curves CD Pirate Music".
Pirates' Gold - by Jolly Rogers
Purchased from
eBay
vendor "1nsomn1ak", $13.75 [September 2006].
The auction was titled "Pirates' Gold CD Jolly Rogers Music".
I liked this disk a lot:
- Decent accents.
- Good harmony.
DVDs
Live Crabs...PIRATES! - by The Bilge Pumps
Purchased from
eBay
vendor "1nsomn1ak", $15.97 [September 2006].
The auction was titled "Pirate DVD The Bilge Pumps- Live Crabs...PIRATES!"
I found this DVD completely underwhelming:
- The songs included on this disk are a poor selection for a "pirate" theme.
The first track was "Black and Tan", a song inspired by The Troubles in Ireland,
that makes reference to the Easter Rising of 1916.
The classic era of piracy in the Caribbean extends from 1560 up through the end of the Golden Age of Piracy in the 1730s.
This song was probably selected for its fighting attitude,
but being 200 years out of place wasn't impressive.
- While billed as a "pirate comedy" group, the humor was scant.
The humor that was present was trivial slapstick or potty humor.
Ho hum!
- They don't sing particularly well, with some members of the group being off key.
They also took liberties with many of the tunes, presumably so they didn't have to hit very many high notes.
Hire a tennor, for gawd's sake!
- I hoped that the spoken and sung material would have some piratical accent.
That could be anything, from leftover Ren Faire to the cornish accent popularized
by Disney's 1950 Treasure Island.
Unfortunately, there was little of this - If you closed your eyes, you would just hear a bunch
of modern American guys.
- Costumes and props - I suppose that you could justify almost anything,
saying that pirates traveled around a lot and did what they pleased.
Overall, I got the impression that this was a bunch of guys who liked going to Faire,
decided to make their characters "pirates",
and got into performing just for the heck of it - not because they were any good.