Eight members of Talented Bay Area 9-man a cappella ensemble wowed the sellout crowd recently at the Harmony Sweeps Regional at SF's Palace of Fine Arts, and their finely-crafted harmonies are well in evidence on the 21 songs of 'Lyric Journey.' Beginning with the R. Vaughn Williams-arranged 'Bushes & Briars' and Michael McGlynn's 'Dulaman,' and finishing with three spirituals, the beautiful 'Deep River,' 'Swing Low Sweet Chariot' and 'Ride the Chariot,' 'Lyric' is a musical smorgasbord of tasty short, wonderfully-harmonic cuts. Favorites also include 3 songs sung in German, 'In einem kuhlen Grunde,' 'Du, du liegst mi rim Herzen' and 'Till Osterland;' the Swedish folk song 'Aftonen,' the Aaron Copland-arranged 'The Little Horses,' Daniel Gawthrop's 'Sing Me To Heaven,' Kirke Mecham's 'Blow Ye the Trumpet,' Manuel Sanchez Acosta's 'Paraiso Sonado,' and the joyous folk song 'Vive L'Amour,' arranged by Robert Shaw & Alice Parker. 'Lyric Journey' is a treat from beginning to end, and all the words are there in the extensive, nicely-printed liner notes.

Listen to The Little Horses in RealAudio.

We had the pleasure recently of experiencing a ten-minute set by Bay Area 8-man a cappella ensemble Musaic at the Harmony Sweeps Bay Area Regional in San Francisco and are happy to hear more of their tight, joyous harmonies in this Christmas collection, 'Christmas with Musaic.' 17 songs, and our favorites include deeply spiritual songs like Handl's 'O Magnum Mysterium,' Paul Manz' 'E'en So Lord Jesus, Quickly Come,' Burt Hudson's lovely 'Some Children See Him,' Rene Clausen's 'Set Me A Seal' and the haunting 13th century plainsong 'Of the Father's Love Begotten;' as well as carols like 'Here Comes Santa Claus,' 'Jingle Bells,' 'Christmas Song,' 'Santa Claus is Coming to Town,' 'Winter Wonderland,' 'Go Frosty Go,' 'O Come, O Come Emmanuel,' the traditional English drinking song 'Landlord Fill the Flowing Bowl' and 'Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.' A fine collection from talented Musaic.

Listen to Go Frosty, Go! in RealAudio.