I own about half of Take 6's CDs. As far as I'm concerned, this first one is still the best. "So Much 2 Say" and "So Cool" come close. The recordings where they stray from their a capella roots are much less effective -- all the extra sound covers up their excellence.

There are a few tiny things in the recording that they probably wish they hadn't have done (like the sound of breaking glass added at the end of one song), but it's very hard to find much to fault here. Not only are the performances just about perfect, the arrangements are excellent -- and they were done exclusively (? not sure about that -- don't have the CD in front of me) by the members of the group. Terrific attention to detail. Almost all the singing is without vibrato, but they add a thick vibrato in two short phrases, to great effect. About half the songs are almost exactly the same tempo (meaning they run the risk of a stale "sameness"), but they get away with it. Each track has many gems to explore. I never get tired of listening to this recording, and there are very few recordings I can say that about.

All those "boy bands" out there don't even belong in the same category with Take 6. Period, no exceptions. They also blow away groups like Rockapella or Manhattan Transfer. For my money, the ONLY a capella jazz group that can compete with Take 6 (and maybe even beat them) is the Real Group (3 guys and 2 gals) from Sweden.