ieuph7

It's true, one doesn't hear about this show often enough, and it's a great one. Thanks for the love. :-) Humbled to be mentioned in the same breath as 1993, one of the best Regiment books/designs ever. Finals week was kindof rough on all of us (IMO); we came into it (or maybe 2 weeks out from finals, can't remember) with brass in 1st and dropped points every single night... it was frustrating to say the least. Not really sure what happened finals night with the "dialing it in," the Buicks had a great run (minus one crazy tick, a story for another time) but perhaps overhype/etc hurt us a bit, especially in some other sections? Agree on both accounts. Love those Gmen gold years. I agree wholeheartedly on your choice. 2002 was a fantastic year, and you almost never hear about it. It was JD's first year as Brass Caption head, and a fantastic book. Visually pretty messed up, but lovely brass. Thanks for the love.

I suppose one might make a case that a few of the shows mentioned thus far were "underrated by the judges," but wouldn't that mean "underscored?" I feel like that must be the semantic confusion... Agreed that this thread has produced some lovely shows to watch...

Fair point. I didn't mean to say that those shows are equatable to each other in terms of execution, or writing, or even performance, per se. I meant that for each corps listed they represent shows that were/are consistently well-regarded by lots of people. I.e. not underrated as such.

I thought that show was generally considered their best effort, or at least one of them. Love that show! I suppose one doesn't hear about it too much though... I think you're unfairly maligning 1995 by not including it in your assessment, but fair enough.

What in the world is up with this thread??? This has to be very close to the craziest, most nonsensical discussion I've witnessed on DCP (ok, perhaps discounting some of the staff threads and various trollings...); actually it would be hilarious if some of this thread actually *was* a troll... anyways, back to the task at hand: Regiment 2003 cannot, at any point, be considered underrated. Did you mean "underscored"? Because I'd be with you there. To repeat what others have said: Shows that *can not* be considered "underrated" in any shape or form include things like: 1995 Scouts 1993 Regiment 2000 Cadets 1999 SCV 2002 Cavies 2012 BD ...etc Are folks simply thinking of shows that they somehow managed to overlook because it took them awhile to get to certain years? I'd understand that, if I had to name shows in the 70s that were "underrated" I would mostly be guessing since there are quite a few I haven't seen... still.

Really not sure how 95 Madison and 93 Regiment could possibly be considered "underrated"... I thought 95 was Madison's most famous show ever, or a close second to 1988, and that Regiment show gets mentioned in tandem with 96/08 all the time. Ah well. As far as underrated shows, my quick picks: SCV 1995 (happens to be my favorite SCV show ever, yes that includes 1989 and 1999), and few people seem to know it... Regiment 1997 (kindof a mess visually, but lovely music, and one of the best "crowd participation" moments ever)

Wow, that's an awesome idea! Too bad...

I didn't realize there was a pre-season recording... do you mean this? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-VM0xvpjqQ&list=PL3DzepGJ3iI3MZjIpzfsVFML5IKbAXDXh&index=11

I'm one of them! It's actually in my top 5 offerings from the Cadets...

So I've definitely heard some horror stories from folks about food on tour, but I really doubt that either BD or Cadets would do this. (Those are the corps the tv crew were following, correct?) Thank God I marched at the (relatively country-club for food) Regiment.

This wins DCP for the day. What a great thread resurrection...

In 02 Regiment we had (at least in the Buick section) a crazy hodge-podge of horns from various years and of various makes, some were from as far back as 1992.

Quick question: did you intend to compare those corps/years between G (the older shows) and Bb (the newer shows) or between "generations" of instrument manufacturers? It reads to me like you mean the latter, but I thought 91 Regiment was a completely different manufacturer than 03 Regiment. Certainly Regiment 03 had completely different (sounding) horns from BD 01 and Cavies 02, by a different manufacturer. Or did I miss something in what you were trying to say? Also: thanks for the Regiment 03 compliment.

Yes. Regiment went to all euphs in 2003, when they switched to Bb on King's new marching horns. We (Regiment hornline members) were consulted on design. IIRC, the switch to all euphoniums was brought on by JD Shaw watching 2002 SCV. I'm not completely sure, but either SCV had all euphs that year, or they had some very short/small of stature players on euph, and JD said something to the effect of "if they can march that horn, so can all of us." Those King marching euphs were crazy awesome to play. I don't think King's line started out having any baritones, and I too had heard that when they eventually made some they were not so great. Certainly nothing close to the awesomeness of their euph.

You make some solid points here. It *is* fun to listen to so many horns playing at once. Having said that, at least when I marched, America/O'Canada was almost always a horrid mess. Like, embarrassing. About 20 lead sops hanging over every frickin release, sometimes like 10 counts over, (and not at the end of the piece, when it at least makes some sense) playing horribly out of tune... But it was "fun" I suppose. And having marched Regiment as a Buick, we at least had the pleasure of "tagging" the arrangement to include a bit of our show, that is until someone on staff heard it too clearly coming through the ensemble and we got yelled at. Take a listen, pay attention at the end: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYfMfcMxVII

That would be pretty funny, if someone tried that.

2015 is a prime example of a show design I didn't particularly care for, I might even agree that it was a fairly flat 2005 rehash (and 2005 isn't my cup of tea), but it also is a great example of the members executing what they had very well by finals. "Removing" it seems really harsh. Any other shows you want to erase? 1998? 2009? I'm a bit perplexed, I usually agree with you, hrothgar.

Glad you enjoyed it, it was hella fun to march. And thank *you* for your amazing performance in 08-- I was there all finals week, sneaked into closed rehearsal finals day to drop off some Buick/Bass love (got yelled at by Pirate, sorry!) and witnessed a crazy-inspired performance. Edit: SUTA

Hmmm. Have to disagree with you there. Bb-- vastly improved tuning=louder (yes, I said it) and easier on members who are used to Bb instruments. Electronics-- Mallet players no longer have to use horrible technique to be heard, soloists don't need to be on the front sideline to be heard, while I'm not a huge fan of electronic noise use in show, I suppose it gives arrangers a bigger "palette" to choose from, and some of the effects are cool. 150mms-- Lots more than that show up to audition... and now you get bigger guards... "Championship" shows-- ok, I'll give you that this is more of a marketing thing. Various proposed things-- Can't say I'm onboard with most of those, but they're proposals... I think that Bb and Amplification directly advanced the artistry, and certainly a case could be made that Electronics does the same. Even if one particular person proposed these changes, that person needed to get other corps on board to to make them.

Well, to be fair some of the recent years have taken awhile to grow on me, and I haven't been a big fan of the arrangements, but the corps manages to perform the hell out of them regardless, which is perhaps what gives them that "feel" to me. I'm very glad they've got Pitts arranging now, I really dug this years show, and have high hopes for more great programs in the future.

What back in the day might you be referring to? Clearly it mattered to *you* whether you got a win or a score, but I would be surprised if that was the prevalent opinion. Fair enough though. It's not like when I marched we didn't care about doing well, but if we had a great show and the judges didn't give us credit, thems the breaks. Used to say that Regiment had to do twice as well as the corps above them to get anything on the sheets, and we sure got annoyed at some of the corps beating us. In 2003 the hornline was stoked when our brass scores put us in 1st going into finals week...only to have that caption drop points every day during finals week, despite having improved. But hey, it was still a great show...

Really? Look, *no one* marches Regiment for a score, or a championship. They've had 2. Unless you did? (guessing by your username you might be an alum?) Do I have criticisms of Regiment's show design some years? Sure. Is that limited to the years since 2008? Not at all. Am I pleased with the performance/caption quality that Regiment consistently brings? Yes. They "feel" like Regiment shows to me, and that's what matters to me.

Had a friend who marched mello with Regiment 1999. She broke (fractured?) her leg during a passthrough during Finals. Marched the rest of the show though.

Isn't that the usual story of Regiment? I.e. We need to be twice as good as the corps above us to get credit in the scores, or some such. I distinctly remember in 03 that our brass was in 1st going into the last week of the season (maybe it was the last week and a half or so). Our staff was stoked. And then, despite improving vastly during that last week our brass score (and overall score) went *down* every. Single. Night. Of finals week. Granted, we possibly deserved a dip from semi's to finals, but still. Anyways, all of this to say that being lower in the scores than one might want is kindof a perenial Regiment thing. It happens. Does it suck? Sure. But it's just not the biggest deal. Having said that, it *is* pretty painful to be sitting in 9th instead of 4th. Competition has just gotten so fierce. I don't really feel like I can justify Regiment above many of the corps that are above them this year (kindof unusual, IMO) even though this is the best show Regiment's put on the field since 08 and is comparable in overall quality (again, IMO) to 03 musicially/thematicially.

Agree to disagree, but fair enough. This show reminds me strongly of 2003 in quite a number of ways, the pertinent one here is that the "too many slow parts" of having 2 ballads is quite remniscent of 2003 where there were also 2 ballads. Interesting. Perhaps worthy of a new topic comparing the two?