West Midlands (UK) based artist, Paul Menel, has just released his latest single, Spirit of ’66, and we here at the Send Me Your Ears studio have been taking a listen today.
If you’re a football fan, or you haven’t been hidden under a rock for the past few decades, you’ll no doubt quickly deduce that this is a football song!
Spirit of ’66 starts with some crowd noise and the sound of a commentator before the band joins in. The commentator and crowd noises are repeated throughout the song, breaking up the different sections, before closing with a rousing chant from the crowd at the end.
You can’t help but smile at the “We Will Rock You” rhythm style in the opening section. This song is a call to action and one which Menel most likely intends football fans across England to be singing along to.
Spirit of ’66 is a battlecry for the English football team to continue their momentum of success by holding onto the “Spirit of ’66.” After hearing 3 lions on a shirt become overplayed, Menel threw his hat in the arena of football anthems with a heartfelt message inspired by the successes and failures of the English football team, reminding us of the sense of community that supporting your team should bring out in people.
Spirit of ’66 is a positively anthemic song which makes great use of layered vocals in the choruses to make the song a very catchy and singalong track. There are moments in the choruses where the layered vocals and general style reminded us of Status Quo.
Menel makes good use of a tambourine to differentiate sections and the tambourine always returns in the chorus – reminding the listener that this is the bit they need to be joining in with!
From a production perspective, we felt that a hi-pass filter around 35Hz would remove some of the rumble in the sub-bass area making the low end a bit clearer. A boost around 60Hz would bring out the thump of the kick drum a little more. A couple of cuts at around 250Hz to reduce some slightly muddy tones and another around 500Hz would reduce the occasional ‘boxy’ sound. As always, these are just some ideas to try. The song already sounds great!
For football fans, this song is a must. A rousing, high-spirits track that we can easily see being sung on the terraces for years to come.