Salva Nos

by Rick AndersonThe hook is supposed to be that the twelve women in this a cappella group (which includes, according to the press materials, several former strippers) are all genuine Bad Girls who perform in various stages of diaphanous dress and undress while singing medieval songs both sacred and profane. Imagine a cross between Anonymous 4 and the Kronos Quartet as conceptualized by Bob Guccione. The problem is that these are not mostly trained singers, and the singing itself, while not terrible, isn't anything to write home about. Several of the Baebes have a tendency to slide and scoop into their notes, which sounds pretty adolescent (or was that supposed to be part of the hook as well?), and their intonation is uncertain, especially on their horrendous rendition of "The Coventry Carol." Then there's the issue of accents: there's a decidedly Cockney flavor to their delivery ("Gow-day-tay, gow-day-tay"), which can be kind of distracting on the Marian hymns. But "This Ay Nicht" works quite nicely, and someone in the group plays a very nice recorder. Who knows -- maybe with a voice coach, some slightly more opaque clothing and a less terminally dorky group name, the Medieval Baebes could turn into a going concern.