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A cappella vocal quintet Rockapella may have vaulted to fame through a coffee commercial, but as with most such overnight success stories, they've been paying their dues for a long time. This long-awaited concert video captures highlights from their earlier years ("Pretty Woman," "Zombie Jamboree," "Dock of the Bay") as well as from their more recent albums ("That's the Way," "People Change," "Moments of You") presented before a live audience in Santa Barbara, California (also recorded on CD). Driven by vocal percussionist Jeff Thacher and anchored by the bottomless bass of newly blond Barry Carl, the group lends their mix of tight harmonies, jazz, R&B, and doo-wop to 70 minutes of covers and originals. Scott Leonard, who wrote most of the originals, trades lead lines with Kevin Wright, though Elliott Kernan does "Let's Get Away from It All" and Carl gets "Sixteen Tons." While the limited choreography in front of an enthusiastic but polite audience doesn't make for as invigorating a viewing experience as watching the sense-numbing, high-energy shows favored by today's boy bands, the music more than makes up for it. The video is the perfect way to prove that these guys really do everything without instruments. In particular, Thacher gets to show off in a ferocious "drum solo" during the group's most famous number, the theme song to Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego? Rockapella spent five years as the house band for that PBS kids' show, and the fact that this concert video has received PBS play shows that they've come full circle. --David Horiuchi
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