Adiemus
My favorite, the Farscape version - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPXpaVDg370
What, no love for the Thunderdome moppets?
Hey, OP, how about you give us some examples of recordings that you particularly love to hate?
“We Don’t Need Another Hero”
Hard Knock Life - Chorus of “Annie”.
I love the kid’s chorus.
Valkyrie by Pavlov’s Dog from At The Sound Of The Bell, accompanied by (I think) the High Wycombe Girls’ School Choir.
“Bring back the good old days…in time…always in your time” (sends shivers down spine).
Don’t Fall in Love With a Homo by Jonny McGovern.
D’oh. I came in here to mention Adiemus. Great stuff!
“He Mele No Lilo” and “Hawaiian Roller Coaster Ride” from the soundtrack to Lilo and Stitch both feature a backup children’s choir (the same one, I believe) and are both quite catchy.
Glad to hear I’m not alone.
Personally, I like almost everything by Sinatra and feel that not even a children’s choir can mess it up, so my judgement is probably clouded, but I always enjoyed High Hopes.
“On Horseback” by Mike Oldfield.
“Consider Yourself” from Oliver.
I think the backup children’s choir makes Cry Little Sister (from Lost Boys) a lot, well, creepier.
A formal children’s choir (as opposed to just a bunch of kids singing together) can make pretty much anything creepier. There’s something otherworldly about boy sopranos’ voices. I don’t know if it’s the fact that the timbre is different from adult female sopranos’ voices (which is by far the most common soprano voice we hear) or what it is.
Yes, the same one, Kamehameha Schools childrens’ chorus. I love those two songs; the chorus sounds great. OTOH, if you get the Lilo & Stitch CD, the same kids chorus gets their own number to sing, and its some godawful “we are the world” gagfest.
The end of Red Hot Chili Pepper’s Aeroplane has a bunch of kids repeating the refrain. I suppose it’s debatable how annoying it is, but it doesn’t grate on me.
I should mention I hate Mike and the Mechanics Living Years as much as the next person, but these two I mentioned from the movie are very good.
Thinking about it I think the fact the one song is all in Hawaiian, and the second song is about 50-50 Hawaiian and English makes the kids more tolerable than they might otherwise be.
Pachelbel’s Canon by Trans Siberian Orchestra is wonderful. I shall cause frighteningly gross harm to those who say otherwise.
Roger Waters: The Tide is Turning, from Radio K.A.O.S.