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All time shows: The Crossmen


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This week we are headed to Texas to celebrate a corps that is extremely regular to the top 12 but rarely makes the top 6. The Crossmen.

What are your top 1-5 all time Crossmen shows?

(Optional) What are your 1-3 least favorites from them?

You can go into as much or little detail as you like but please please try to keep things positive.

For a quick recap in case you missed it and/or want to add your contributions:

Week 1- Cavies- 2006 the Machine is the favorite and 2012 15 min of fame is the least favorite.

Week 2- Jersey Surf- 2012 Bridgemania favorite

Week 3- Blue Knights-1994 Trittico for bras band favorite. least  2001Blue Toons

Week 4- Spirit of Atlanta- 1980 favorite

Week 5- Carolina Crown- Favorite: 2015 Inferno; Least Favorite: 2017 ...It is

Week 6- The Mandarins- 2017 inside the ink for favorite.

Week 7- Boston Crusaders- 2000 RED is the favorite.

Week 8- Pioneer- 1996 Celtic Twilight is the favorite.

Week 9- Santa Clara Vanguard- 1999 Inventions for a New Millennium favorite. 1995 Not the Nutcracker least favorite.

Week 10- Oregon Crusaders 2014 Nevermore is the favorite

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Favorites

1) 1998. Because that pit feature makes me cry basically every time I listen to it. (Related: I was in pit.)

2) 1992. Pretty much inimpeachable.

3) 2002. Heat of the Day is fun. So is Strawberry Soup.

4) 2014. The new uniforms were great. Musical selections were delightful, especially with Caravan woven throughout. The Maltese Cross --> 40 --> park and park was bloody delightful.

5) 2012. THAT SCREAMER. Delightful music, pretty solid drill...and dang was it nice to see them in Finals again.

HM:

1997. Because you have to at least acknowledge their highest score ever.

2005. Because Classical Gas is fun.

Least favorites:

1) 2009. Crossmen...you're the Crossmen. Why are you doing Twilight: the Drum Corps Show with Medea and Evanescence? Just...just be the Crossmen, not the RRHS Drum corps.

2) 2010. No seriously, stop trying to be the RRHS drum corps.

Edited by ftwdrummer
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Favorites (Only 3 come to mind), no particular order.

92, because I'm still whistling it all the time 25 years later.

02, because (See ftwd's comment above)

16, because everything about it just oozed happiness :1_grinning:

 

 

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2 hours ago, ftwdrummer said:

Favorites

2) 1992. Pretty much inimpeachable.

3) 2002. Heat of the Day is fun. So is Strawberry Soup.

5) 2012. THAT SCREAMER. Delightful music, pretty solid drill...and dang was it nice to see them in Finals again.

Least favorites:

1) 2009. Crossmen...you're the Crossmen. Why are you doing Twilight: the Drum Corps Show with Medea and Evanescence? Just...just be the Crossmen, not the RRHS Drum corps.

2) 2010. No seriously, stop trying to be the RRHS drum corps.

With you on those three favorites... and I'll add "Late Night Jazz" from 2001, and their 1980 through 1982 shows from an earlier era. 

And absolutely with you on the two "least faves"... it seemed as if they were wandering in the wilderness those two years. No "Crossmen vibe" at all.

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Yay Crossmen!

Favorites

Songs for the Planet Earth (1992) - pretty easy answer, honestly.  This show had everything - the best snare line ever, a hornline that brought top 6 quality, and a visual program that even then had some pretty cool and interesting moments.  However, the 90 seconds from "Puma" are what elevates this show from great to legendary.  Some of the most amazing stick heights ever.  There is some early season VHS footage on YouTube of the drumline, and there was a *lot* more going on that the brass covered up in the broadcast!  Even this year, Claudia Taylor Johnson HS played Under the Sun and Puma - they're still in the high school band rotation. 

Late Night Jazz (2001) - While 2002 had perhaps meatier charts, by Finals their scorched-earth approach to brass had been considerably watered down.   The 2001 show has all kinds of music - Blues jazz, bright jazz, slow jazz and latin jazz. Fire Dance, in particular, is an all-time closer; if your feet aren't tapping by the end, you don't like music. 

(Edit: Holy Cow - how did I forget this?!?) New York Voices (1990) - such great music. Everything else takes a back seat to the charts here.  Brilliantly done!  If you *do* like music, check this one out.

The Colors of Jazz (1997) - Old school - three tunes, stuck together.  Light fuse, stand back, watch fireworks.  The 97 version of Birdland to me is their definitive one.  Energetic, driving and much louder than the CD's / videos give them credit for.  I saw this show live, and it was blast-your-face-back loud.  Niner Two also worked brilliantly as their closer as it built and built and built.  Dat brass - amazingly clean throughout. 

 

Not so Favorites

1995 - Symphony for Brass and Percussion was actually a good song. There's just nothing Crossmen-ish about it.  In more recent years, reinventing yourself like that isn't so much of a problem with audiences (see Crown, Carolina), but at the time, it was not well received at all.

Planet X (2008) - Oh Aaron Guidry.  It seemed like a brilliant match.  Ronald Reagan's HS shows were spectacular, innovative and well-integrated.  You'd think bringing it to the Crossmen and a top 17 brassline would have sizzled.  I was *really* looking forward to this show - unfortunately, it never delivered like you'd think it would.  The references to the various movements of The Planets are so ephemeral as to be wisps on the wind.  Especially in modern DCI, I think a corps that tackled this approach would likely have more success (see Cavaliers 2017, for instance.) 

(Based on those two, maybe the problem was that the Crossmen are just before their time sometimes!) 

Mike

Edited by MikeN
Forgot 1990!
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22 minutes ago, Fran Haring said:

And absolutely with you on the two "least faves"... it seemed as if they were wandering in the wilderness those two years. No "Crossmen vibe" at all.

I also felt the Xmen kind of were lost in the desert for a while.  But looking at DCX (nee Corpsreps), it appears for me it started in 2005 and pretty much lasted until 2015. :(

Mike

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Continuing my post 2000's bias (I own the Legacy Collection but I haven't watched all of it), here are my Top 5 in chronological order:

 

2002

2004

2012

2013

2016

Edited by FaustianMachine
Forgot that Strawberry Soup was 02, not 03.
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Favorites...all of them.

1992- The first "really good" drum corps I saw in my life. Still years later, that show is INCREDIBLE!!! The percussive groove Thurston wrote underneath basically the entire show is just tasty. Then there's the percussion feature...pure groove and aggression (I mean seriously, how many high school band students stood behind a marimba and tried to get that mallet part down to start that whole thing)!!! Then the ending with the question mark, and one of the very few "fan screams" that wasn't just stupid..."Crossmen drumliiiiiiiiiiine" then then *ding*

1998- The opener was cooking, and the whole show was "toe-tapping" fun.

2012- Because Crossmen were BACK!!! It was one of the only times I ever cried because of a drum corps show.  Sitting in the stands that night at Finals, and knowing that they were back, and feeling the energy from the members, was amazing (I still think the Semis run was a bit better, IMHO).

 

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