Album Review

Greg Adams [allmusic.com]

The Norman Luboff Choir was considered, in some quarters, the best chorus in Hollywood, and Songs of the West is one of its earliest albums. The record was a commercial success and earned the choir's leader the tongue-in-cheek nickname ''Hopalong Luboff.'' The unusual album cover pictures a cattle drive in a Western vista with no text whatsoever. All of the songs are Western classics performed with minimal instrumentation and the chorus' big vocal sound that, even on Western material, is more similar to the Robert Shaw Chorale than the Sons of the Pioneers. The Norman Luboff Choir takes a less stilted approach than Shaw's chorale, though, which makes its music more accessible though somewhat somber. Songs of the West is a beautifully performed album for Western music lovers, and ranks with Reverie as one of the choir's finest albums.