Description
CD in gatefold wallet with 8 page lyric booklet.
Includes unlimited streaming of You’re Needed Now! via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
Ecopella – You’re Needed Now
CD review by Tony Smith TN173 Oct 25
TN 2577-90 – $25
As usual with this choir dedicated to the environment, the lyrics of the songs on their 2020 album state clearly where the responsibility for addressing issues belongs.
Miguel Heatwole, in his introductory remarks, identifies the culprits fearlessly.
Indeed, Miguel’s sleeve commentary summarises the songs perfectly.
The intervening years have made some of these issues even more urgent.
Dallas de Brabander wrote ‘You’re Needed Now’ and Miguel did the arrangement for this song as he did for almost all.
This is a call to action: ‘There’s strength in numbers. You’re needed now. Now, not tomorrow. Today you’re needed now.’
Instrumental backing for this track is subtle and unobtrusive.
John and Paul Spencer set their words ‘When Coal Seam Gas Was New’ to the traditional English tune ‘When Jones’ Ale Was New’.
While not singled out, one female and one male soloist, sometimes in harmony, make the verses of this song enjoyable.
Ecopella supported the Knitting Nannas in their campaign against the fracking plans of Santos around Narrabri and the Pilliga.
Paul wrote ‘He’s Gotta Go’ about a former prime minister who is a climate change denier.
Fortunately, he went.
Paul also wrote ‘Take Me There’, which is a satirical take on the kind of world right wingers desire.
In fact, it is the paradise capitalism has created and defends against the evidence of scientists and the pleas of aware people.
‘Denial Tango’ is by Men With Day Jobs: Stafford Sanders, Rod Crundwell and Kim Constable, and arranged by Bernard Carney.
This satire on denial contrasts with the ‘Two Wheel Tango’ by Marie-Lynn Hammond, with words arranged by Greg Furlong, in praise of pedal power.
Other tracks include ‘Councillor Chambers’ written in 1987 by John Flecker Ross, ‘Let’s Pretend’ with words by Geoff Francis and music by Peter Hicks, and Clark Gormley’s ‘Murray Darling’, a lament for the once mighty river system.
Annie Close’s ‘Divest’ follows nicely Miguel’s ‘My Kyoto’.
‘Divest! Divest! Give fossil fuels a rest. For the future’s sake divest’.
For John Tam’s ‘Unity (Raise Your Banners)’ members of the Solidarity Choir swelled the ranks of Ecopella: ‘Raise your banners high/ Strength to strength and line by line/ Unity must never die/ Raise your banners high’.
‘Energy March’ has words by Cathy Rytmeister set to music by Miguel.
‘We don’t need your filthy coal/ Your coal seam gas or oil/ We’re not going to pay the toll/ Of seeing our Earth spoiled … We will see this battle won’.
It is an anthem complete with brass band.
This choir of 44: 6 tenors, 9 basses, 11 altos and 18 sopranos certainly raises the spirits.
The sopranos singing the simple ‘beautiful morning’ on ‘Earth Day’ provide perhaps the prettiest break on the album.
With words and music by Miguel, Ecopella is happy to celebrate earth day daily.
Miguel wrote both words and music for ‘My Kyoto’, as he does for ‘AGL’, although he used John Dengate’s ‘ASIO’ tune.
We need Ecopella’s refusal to take a backward step on environmental issues.
We should be thankful too that the ensemble members have chosen to sing their determination.
With Miguel’s capable direction, the resulting music is both enjoyable and uplifting.
Ed: Miguel Heatwole has four albums listed in his name and four albums listed under Ecopella, all available for sale from the Trad&Now website.
Most of these albums have also been uploaded to Trad&Now Live! radio platform and can be heard there from time to time, but particularly during the recent arrivals’ hour from 12 noon daily.
Now! Not tomorrow!
You’re Needed Now is Dallas de Brabander’s call to come and join us in the streets and swell the numbers demanding action against coal-fired climate change. No lame excuses please! Besides, it can be fun to celebrate the planet and look to a cleaner future for it. That’s why Ecopella observes Earth Day on a year-long rather than a yearly basis.
Celebrating our victories is a rare pleasure, so I wasn’t disappointed at having to rewrite AGL when the determined citizens of Gloucester, NSW defeated that company’s planned gasfield in 2016. Now, as we help the Knitting Nanas resist the Santos Narrabri Coal Seam Gas Project, we enjoy Paul Spencer’s rewording of an old traditional melody: When Coal Seam Gas Was New.
Paul has given us a great many excellent songs over the decades, and while He’s Gotta Go is now somewhat dated, we include it here because it was so much fun to sing! We reckon ‘though that Take Me There will be relevant as long as there are idiot commentators on the Right complaining of a political influence that the Green movement can only wish we had in reality.
Ecopella rocks! Even without electric guitars or my drum kit our a cappella version of John Ross’s Councillor Chambers has much of the energy that the Born Again Pagans put into it during the 1990s. That band was led by Peter Hicks, whose satire Let’s Pretend has also waltzed its way into a choral arrangement.
And while we’re dancing, how about a couple of tangos? We love it when our friends, the Men With Day Jobs, join us at rallies to sing their Denial Tango, and it’s always a popular item on our setlists. If Canada were accessible by bike, rather than jet plane, I’d love to ask Marie-Lynn Hammond for a Two Wheel Tango.
Our second sexiest song is more local. With some help from the pop culture of the noughties, and an atlas, Clark Gormley has given his Murray Darling a sense of humour in the face of dire crisis.
The small habits recommended in My Kyoto aren’t offered as substitutes for more active political campaigning but are simply some environmentally benign things to do in daily life. Since we last recorded it, two albums ago, it has acquired a verse about a stronger action we can all take. Divest came from some words of Annie Close. We aren’t licensed to give financial advice, but there it is.
I first heard Unity by John Tams at a folk session, and recorded the singer on The People Have Songs compilation. Our later choral version’s rousing anthemic style has made it popular among the activist groups we sing for, as well as a number of other choirs. We’re grateful for the voices of the Solidarity Choir who joined us on this recording.
When we realised, a decade ago, that we needed a noisy song to take out on exuberant street marches, Cathy Rytmeister gave us illuminating words for an Energy March lauding the immense power of wind, wave and sun… and of ourselves!
Ecopella is an environmental choir that sings about the beauty of our world and the struggle to protect it from exploitation and degradation. The choir “causes harmony to the environment” by providing activists and audiences with topical a cappella singing at a high standard. Our strong environmental message encourages positive change in people’s thoughts and actions, and we offer support to a wide variety of green organisations.
Founded in 1998 by musical director Miguel Heatwole, Ecopella spread from its base in Sydney to form branches in the Blue Mountains, Illawarra, Southern Highlands, Canberra and the Central Coast as well. We have 799 performances to our credit, embracing a wide range of events: benefit concerts, protests, campaign launches, community gatherings and folk festivals.
You might expect a choir that sings about the environment to be a gloomy ensemble, but Ecopella’s sense of fun fills each performance with positive and satirical messages. Even when the mood becomes serious the beauty and solemnity of the music is uplifting. Many of the pieces are original compositions and most of the arrangements are ours also. Stylistically our influences include folk, classical, popular songs, and occasionally jazz.
The choir welcomes new members and opportunities to perform. Although we accept payment, we often donate or discount our services to unfunded community organisations. Please don’t hesitate to contact us if you would like to sing with us, or us to sing for you!
