My son's High School marching band won the BOA (Bands Of America) National competition his Freshman year, and that experience endeared me to sight and sound of a "good" performing band. In fact, a recording was made of his band, and because of the 100's of times I heard the live performance, I use the CD as a reference.
With that said, get the RCA CD: "Blast". The performance Blast evolved from the Star of Indiana (Indiana University based, Drum and Bugle Corps). That is, a theatrical performance was produced and choreographed based on three performing sections Brass, Percussion, and Visual/Dance. Performers are in their early 20s, drawn from mainly the U.S. Among them, Blast cast members hold 41 world titles.
I received the CD as a gift, and hesitated opening it for several weeks assuming that the recording would be less than a high quality one -- boy was I wrong!
If you want an excellent recording, and one of a marching band type performance, this one is it! The performance is described on the CD front as An Explosive Musical Experience. From my perspective, thats more of an understatement, than an overstatement! In fact, if youre unsure about whether to buy the CD or DVD, if you buy just one, I bet after listening/watching, you will buy the other....Cheers
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