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The 1997 Thread


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I attended a number of shows in 1997 (I'm thinking 5 or 6), including semis and finals in Orlando, FL.

The more I think about 97 the more I realize it was a pretty solid year. I don't quite have it up there with 92, 90, 95, 88, but maybe on par or close to 93, 94. 

Quick reflections:

  • Blue Devils simply had a total show, top to bottom, with fantastic music arrangements, pretty nice drill, and killer performance levels as usual. A fun show that I did not think Cadets had a shot to catch.
  • The Cadets were amazing in many respects. Difficult show. No show came close to this demand. The opener alone had more notes flying around than you could shake a stick at. Visual was wild. It took them a long time to clean, and as the show got cleaner I felt they simply could not squeeze enough GE to win. Brass Band music is fun and all (they performed music of Philip Sparke that summer, a British composer), and it contains a lot of technical skill but did not lend as well to a theme or GE. Having said that, they performed a similar type show in 1998 and won with it. If you want to hear a demanding music book, definitely give this show a listen. From a technical perspective the show has a WOW effect. 
  • SCV was back in the top 3 which was nice to see. They last appeared in the top 3 in 1989, so it had been 8 years. This is one heck of a show and might have been my favorite at Finals -- but I think Madison still gets my vote for Favorite show. The Bernstein music of On The Town, On The Waterfront, and The Age of Anxiety was well arranged. I think a lot of folks in the crowd were rooting for SCV to pull into 2nd. They were only .7 from Cadets, who were .8 from BD. It wasn't one of those years where we had a top 3 or 4 all within .5 or .6. Phantom was 2.7 behind SCV, so there was a little spacing in there. 
  • Phantom Regiment took 4th and the 3 corps behind them were all in the running for a potential top 5, top 4 spot. Madison was only .3 behind PR, Crossmen about .9 behind Madison, and Cavaliers only .2 behind Crossmen. Of those 4 shows I liked Phantom the least. Usually I am a huge Phantom fan, especially from the 80s and 90s, but pulling off a Wagner show is not easy. Sometimes you can arrange a small portion of a song, like Elsa's, and make it work for a show; but Wagner's music is long and very developed. If you try to truncate his melodies you end up with something that does not sound so good. If you cut, splice, and chop-up portions of his works to fit into a 12.5 minute show there are strong chances you get a GE product that doesn't flow and music that is less than satisfying. These were the challenges for Phantom. All in all they did an amazing job of it when you think about the task, but I thought the show was still long-winded. Having said all that, I do think Opera can be put on the field. With what corps are doing today and all the bells and whistles they have to work with I think Phantom could definitely do something like this, but it would take some masterful cutting and arranging of the scenes. I personally think a Mozart Marriage of Figaro show could be spectacular. Phantom had great luck with Puccini. Then again, when I think Opera on the field I somehow get this image in my head of VK in 1992 with the "fat lady" singing.
  • Madison Scouts were almost as good as they were in 1995. The show was another classic Madison audience KILLER that had people looking to throw babies onto the field. One of the 3 guys I went to the show with (we all drove down from Ohio) was so overtaken by Scouts that he simply couldn't watch or get into Phantom, SCV, or Cadets. It wasn't until BD performed that he had finally calmed down and was able to appreciate the excellence and cleanliness of BD. When I asked him about Cadets he said something to the effect of "Yeah, they play a lot of notes and perform nicely. Let me know when they make me stand."  Madison had that kind of effect on people. The Scouts were definitely my favorite show, just as in 1995. It's another classic 90s action-packed jam fest -- Madison style -- with a nice pirate story, cool percussion feature, and perhaps a company front for the ages. Watching the DM turn to the fans, take a photo of them, then waive the pirate flag, then turn to the corps and take a photo of them (all while they continue to hold a long chord), and then conduct the corps to the finish line was very cool. Now THAT'S what you call General Effect! 🙂 In all honesty I had Madison in 4th. 
  • The Crossmen were incredible. It took them some time to clean this show. For a lot of the season I remember thinking they could finish 8th or 9th, or be top 6. As they did in 1992 the corps grabbed the 6 spot. Opening with Birdland was bold and daring I thought, but what a great arrangement (I think more based on the Manhattan Transfer arr and not Maynard). My favorite part of the show was "You Are My Sunshine." I loved it so much that I arranged the song, very loosely based on what I heard Crossmen do, for the YSU Marching Band some years later. The closer always reminded me of 27th Lancers, but Crossmen put their own stamp on it. Interesting note: I think Michael Klesch, now brass arranger for Carolina Crown, wrote the brass book for Crossmen and also did a lot of the cleaning of the brass line down the stretch. Overall the Crossmen had a really good 1990s. This show is up there with the others from that decade. I would rank it this way:
  1. 1992 Songs for the Planet Earth
  2. New York Voices music in 90
  3. 91 Pat Metheny show
  4. 97 The Colors of Jazz
  5. 1998 The Music of Pat Metheny (2nd show they did of his music that decade)
  6. 1996 The Voices of Jazz

The 90s were a great decade for Crossmen. This is really great music for the car, walking, and just listening while working at home. 

I'll chime in with more on my thoughts about 1997 a little later.

Edited by jwillis35
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1997 was my first full summer on RAMD, so it was my first experience with daily scores, analysis and opinions.  So many opinions.  Very eye-opening from someone who had no real interaction with other DCI fans to that point.  I did get to see the Killeen show live (Phantom and Madison headlined it), which was a blast - Madison's Pirates show was one that was much better live than on video.  

Overall, the top 12 in 97 were one of the three strongest of the 90's, along with '92 and '95.  Not a weak program in the bunch, and program difficulties were increasing leaps and bounds every year, it felt like.

Blue Devils had a friggin' *clean* show.  They also managed to tie everything together with a nice Casablanca bow without literally retelling the story.  Night in Tunisia has my musical highlight of the show, where the hornline just starts blasting old-school nightclub chords with screamers over the top.  And yeah, the box drill moves - spectacular.  (I also love the orchestral part from One Night in Bangkok as their opener. I've heard it from a looooot of marching bands ever since.)

The Cadets had such a bright, signature sound.  It's a shame they got away from it down the road.  It's one of those things that when you're listening it makes you stop and go "oh.  It's the Cadets."  Their '97 show was a great casserole of all of the things they do well - breakneck drill, technical horns, aggressive battery, guard work on guard work - very nice!  Can't say anything they didn't do well.  BD was just... better.

It took me a little while to grow into SCV, as the show leans hard into angry chords.  I think like all of us DCI fans in the 90's, we still weren't used to the New Normal.  But man, this show in retrospect is so much fun.  On the Waterfront is in-your-face aggressive, and the Epilogue at the end just keeps building angry on angry.  They doubled down in '98, but this was definitely a "new" style from Vanguard.

Phantom had a masterful brass line for The Ring.  They also had an okay drumline, so-so show design and a bit of a visual mess.  It's hard to reconcile that they had the whole of however many operas to source from and ended up with ... some pretty blah charts.  Trying to go minimal in the color wheel backfired on them too.  I would have put them in 6th.  

What Phantom lacked in passion, Madison brought in spades.  Musically, Pirates of Lake Mendota had a little more sophisticated Madison sound, and when I saw them live midsummer, I really did have their horns above Phantom.  It felt like they were really putting the pieces together to make a run in the scores, but it kind of tailed off at the end.  I'd have put them in 4th.  Regardless, the show itself was one of Madison's best 90's productions, and I'll rewatch it any time it's in front of me. 

Crossmen's 1997 show might be their best of the 90's.  On a technical level, it's the best musicians they had, for sure, and they organically created a *ton* of wow moments.  Saw them in person - they were loud loud loud.  Colts that summer had hype for blowing everyone's faces off, but seeing them at the same show, Crossmen topped them pretty soundly.  The big chord at the end brought the house down.  (And as mentioned earlier, this for me too is the definitive Birdland.)  I'd have had them likely in 5th.

The Cavaliers had a great drill feature to start the show, and nobody online could figure out what they were doing.  Again, hindsight - cause in 2020 it's no big deal, but at the time they turned heads wherever they went.  ("How can you reward a corps with only 8 minutes of music wah wah")  Probably the right placement for them - they were better than everyone behind them, but didn't generate the energy the ones above them did.  

Glassmen reinvented themselves in '97, and they really became what most people think of when they hear of modern-day Glassmen.  Unis kept the gold and black but added the chestpiece, and the music leaned heavily into the symphonic/orchestral.  Bizet was a safe choice, but they maximized the hell out of it.  Their Farandole closer to me is better than what the Cadets did in '02.  Also charmingly naive of us - we were all scared to death someone would fall off of their millions of ladders on the field.  If only we have seen what the Bluecoats were going to do to their backfield conductors in the 2010's...

Blue Knights were only one year removed from what felt like a young corps and safe show, and they ratcheted up the difficulty pretty significantly in '97. Ben Hur was a great choice for a dark, aggressive vehicle that let them really throw the show in everyone's faces.  Their battery was the star of the show - a lot of notes, and very, very clean.

Magic of Orlando had two different shows - the first three minutes, then the other 9.  The first three were awesome, in recreating a Mardi Gras parade and feel that encouraged the audience to participate. The drum major's were a hoot.  Then the "real" show started and it felt flat against the rest of it.  This was IIRC the last of the Robert W. Smith years, and along with '96, the peak of Magic as a corps.

Bluecoats went a little risque (for their standards) in '97, and their show is fun.  Not revolutionary, but fun, clean, professional... however you want to term it.  I've spoken with a few 90's BC vets who feel that for those in the corps, this was probably their favorite/best show of that era.  It's definitely worth watching.

Carolina Crown had a 12th place show that didn't *feel* like a 12th place show.  In fact, until I saw the list posted earlier, I would have sworn they were 8th.  Terpsichore is one of my favorite 90's horn charts - catchy and fun.  Yeah, yeah, they borrowed from 2-7.  So what?  I wish they hadn't used Nimrod again, but that's about all I can complain about.  

Other highlights from '97 include the Colts opener, which just peeled your face off, Kiwanis Kavaliers and their 8 bass drums (I still sing their version of The Money Kept Rolling In), Academie's Pie Jesu was just gorgeous, and Pioneer's whole #### show (which was a definite step up in quality as well as demand, but didn't quite generate the excitement the '96 show did).

Coming next: in '98 the Cadets put on what might be the (deliberately) ugliest opening big horn hits in a championship show to date.  SCV says "hold my beer" with their whole program, and BD plays Tchaikovsky.  Nothing strange about any of this.  Nothing at all.

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A few folks have commented that Regiment was dry musically in 1997. While I understand that comment, I loved the musical selections that year. I'm infinitely happy that they played 11 minutes of Wagner and *didn't* play Ride of the Valkyries.

My issue was more with the visual design, which started a trend of me saying "hmm, what are they doing out there?" for most of the span between 97 and Jamey Thompson's arrival in 05. 

Edited by kdaddy
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35 minutes ago, kdaddy said:

A few folks have commented that Regiment was dry musically in 1997. While I understand that comment, I loved the musical selections that year. I'm infinitely happy that they played 11 minutes of Wagner and *didn't* play Ride of the Valkyries.

My issue was more with the visual design, which started a trend of me saying "hmm, what are they doing out there?" for most of the span between 97 and Jamey Thompson's arrival in 05. 

I think part of what Phantom faced in '97 was that it had to follow '96.  

In '96 the whole was greater than the sum of it's parts.  In '97 all the parts were good, often great - including the drill.  it missed the one ingredient that I think the audience was expecting - a repeat of how '96 made them feel.  

We did not need to know about the music in '96.  The music made us feel.  Everything built to support that music made us feel.  What was "Defiant Heart" about?  I can't answer that.  I can only recall how it made me feel. 

 

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Phantom '97 was a weirdly paced show, and I just went back and listened to it.  The big horn opening was at 1:14 in, and then it went straight into the first ballad.  No traditional opener.  The show doesn't pick up any speed again until 4:22.  Another ballad at 6:50 that briefly picks up to the fake out ending at 9:45 then the slow and stately recap of the first ballad.  Its amazing how little uptempo there is for a drum corps program.  

Mike

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22 minutes ago, MikeN said:

Phantom '97 was a weirdly paced show, and I just went back and listened to it.  The big horn opening was at 1:14 in, and then it went straight into the first ballad.  No traditional opener.  The show doesn't pick up any speed again until 4:22.  Another ballad at 6:50 that briefly picks up to the fake out ending at 9:45 then the slow and stately recap of the first ballad.  Its amazing how little uptempo there is for a drum corps program.  

Mike

I've always felt that Regiment designers in 97 tried to be smarty pants (or innovative, depending on your perspective) in a couple ways that didn't quite work out: pacing and minimialism. 

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7 hours ago, MikeN said:

Blue Devils had a friggin' *clean* show.  They also managed to tie everything together with a nice Casablanca bow without literally retelling the story.  Night in Tunisia has my musical highlight of the show, where the hornline just starts blasting old-school nightclub chords with screamers over the top.  And yeah, the box drill moves - spectacular.  (I also love the orchestral part from One Night in Bangkok as their opener. I've heard it from a looooot of marching bands ever since.)

I wanted to piggy back on some of your comments because I tend to agree with so much of what you said. When it came to Blue Devils in 97 I was amazed (and just watched it again today to remind myself of the show) at how CLEAN they were. I kind of wonder if this was their cleanest show of the 80s and 90s. The musical arrangements were also just perfect. Honestly, for field presentation in a competitive art I am not sure anyone could have arranged the music any better than Wayne Downey did with the brass, along with the percussion staff. Night in Tunisia was simply perfect arranging and perfect visual design. 

Was their a cleaner BD show in the 80s and 90s? Maybe 82 or 86...94 possibly?

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7 hours ago, MikeN said:

The Cadets had such a bright, signature sound.  It's a shame they got away from it down the road.  It's one of those things that when you're listening it makes you stop and go "oh.  It's the Cadets."  Their '97 show was a great casserole of all of the things they do well - breakneck drill, technical horns, aggressive battery, guard work on guard work - very nice!  Can't say anything they didn't do well.  BD was just... better.

The Cadets really were magnificent. I liked all the music and the visual program was killer. My only problem with them that summer was I felt the demand was almost too much. I wanted them to hose-down a few small sections so they could clean more. I also felt they struggled to max out GE. However, that closer was definitely full of great GE, speed, and power. Great closer. They just never cleaned the show to the highest level. I definitely miss that bright, yet finely balanced, signature sound that you speak of. In the 80s and 90s they had some fantastic brass lines. One of the neat little highlights of this show was their guard in the 2nd tune. It was so playful, funny, and stylish. The 93 and 97 shows by Cadets have some of the more demanding brass books I have heard (along with many from Star, BD, Carolina, etc).

Edited by jwillis35
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