Bill Davies - The Groovy DooBots E-capella

Hear The Track Here

One of the absolute joys of reviewing in the manner I do is the amount of times something slams in from left field and completely floors me within the first minute or so. The amount of tracks that do this is surprisingly rare after consistently reviewing free online music for over 10 years all told. After that amount of earbashing time it takes a great deal to impress me. Bill Davies, bless his warm-hearted cotton socks, impressed the hell out of me in the first few seconds of The Groovy DooBots Acapella which, surprisingly enough means vocal without accompaniment and indeed is that very thing. Well, not much accompaniment anyway, and what little there is is used in such a great way to bolster the drama of the piece. Although this is obviously computer generated, the very first thing that popped into my mind was Bobby McFerrin's Don't Worry, Be Happy.

Yep, cheesy or what?

Don't however make the mistake that DWBH is the best thing Mr McFerrin ever did, and don't make the same mistake that I did about Groovy Doobots either. Once you get past the initial reaction the vocal parts force upon you, then you start to realise that this is a very, very good track indeed. Must have taken ages to stitch together, and even in the understated intro there are several things to gawp at. Get the bass vocal digging itself into the ground at the end of those beginning lines.... Brrrrrr The track eventually settles into something that could very well have come from the brain (if that's the word) of Brian Wilson himself; so redolent are the echoes of the Beach Boys in their heyday - especially that wild 60's sitar sound.

Like a lot of tracks of this ilk though, the devil is often in repeatability. Now I am a big, big fan of the REAL Bobby McFerrin and know him to be an extremely talented musician and vocalist. The only reason that DWBH is such a blot is because it became TOO popular. So, in common with that, does Groovy Dooby Wotsname, have any legs to it? Well, I've probably spent a few days listening to it on and off and it's intial appeal hasn't worn off yet, and that's because I have come to appreciate more and more the intricate peice of music tucked away in its heart. Bill Davies is obviously a musician who works hard at getting what he wants out of his setup and it shows. As silly as the title suggests it is, The Groovy DooBots is anything but. It's a deadly serious peice of music that will bowl you over.

So original it's gotta be a MUST HAVE.