Libera - New Dawn 2008 (Lossless)

Libera is a boys vocal group organized by music director Robert Prizeman, drawn from schools in South London. Since the age range of the members is seven to 14, the personnel changes over time. Here's their latest release which now completes this series of posts.

Review By Jeff Carter

Having written reviews on here for all of Libera's previous albums, I sit here following the usual formula. I first of all award the mandatory five stars and then try to think up some suitable words to describe what I've just heard. But there I have a problem. All of the suprlatives that I wanted to use I have utilsed in previous reviews. Magnificent, brilliant, superb, fantastic, unbelievable…all of these have I used in my previous contributions. And yet they all apply to this amazing album. Fortunately, a previous reviewer has described a number of the tracks in detail and I can do no more than agree wholeheartedly with him. My personal favourite is probably the brilliant arrangement of former Beachboy Brian Wilson's "Love and Mercy", although "Gloria" would perhaps tie for second place with Enya's "Orinoco Flow". But it is pointless trying to make an order of preference. Each and every track on this album is a masterpiece. Yes, I know that some of the pieces appear on previous Libera collections and yes, I know, I was a little critical about the 'repeats' in my review of their previous cd. But whereas the duplicated tracks on "Angel Voices" were little more than carbon copies of what had gone before, these are complete re-recordings and therefore have a wonderful sense of freshness. Reading the sleeve notes, it is interesting to see the names Sam Coates and Steven Geraghty in the credits. These Libera 'Old Boys' appear to have assisted in everything from production to the playing of keyboards. Steven (arguably one of their best ever soloists) even wrote the music to "Never Be Alone". So to sum up, this is a brilliant album that sits right up there alongside "Free" - for my money, their best cd until now. I can heartily recommend "New Dawn" to lovers of all types of music. There is something for everyone - and I guarantee that you will not be disappointed!

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Review By RJ
The Libera boys and all those who work in the background behind the songs have once again pulled out a masterclass in vocal choral wizardry. Moving away from the usual well known hits, which they have become synonymous with in recent years, they have provided fresh songs with new material, and a few inspired versions of some old classics. And what an amazing collection it is. 14 scintillating, beautifully composed tracks, which puncture your senses and leave you full of nothing but admiration for their young precocious talents. All 24 of the boys credited on this album are worthy of much praise for their efforts in contributing to an exceptional musical CD. Even more so when you realise that they do all this in their own spare time. Staggering.


Track Listing
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1. Orinoco Flow (3:28)
2. Ave Maria (4:18)
3. Secret (4:03)
4. Air (3:43)
5. Gloria (3:24)
6. Sancte (5:16)
7. Rest In Peace (4:31)
8. Love And Mercy (4:09)
9. May The Road Rise Up (3:04)
10. Never Be Alone (3:45)
11. Jerusalem (2:44)
12. Tallis's Canon (2:53)
13. The Lamb (3:25)
14. In Paradisum (5:53)

Total Playing Time: 54:42 (min:sec)
Total Size : 100.2 MB


No Mirrors



A genuine lossless rip from original CD - download with confidence.