BAEBES GIVE EARLY MUSIC A MAKEOVER

It looks like Nigel Kennedy, Roberto Alagna, and Luciano Pavarotti can't cut it in the classical charts when challenged by a dozen temptresses chanting the hottest sounds of the thirteenth century.

The MEDIAEVAL BAEBES is an immensely talented vocal group (which also happens to imbue the presentation of Early Music with a certain Anglo-sex-on-legs kind of style). Now the BAEBES are back with a new album entitled WORLDES BLYSSE.

Their debut SALVA NOS (released last November) went straight into the Classical Chart at Number 2, stayed in the top ten for three months and beat off all the big names in the business; it was the eighth biggest seller of the year and the only classical debut to go silver in 1997; to date it's sold over 60,000 copies in the UK alone.

The band plans to build on this success with a new album WORLDES BLYSSE, meaning earthy delights. Most of the tracks are original compositions by Katharine Blake and the group's other members. The lyrics draw on 13th, 14th and 15th century poetry, set to music composed in the twentieth century in a medieval idiom. With its broader range of harmonies and stronger percussion, the album has a distinctively up-beat feel.

A 24 bit digital recording created by candlelight at CTS in Wembley, WORLDES BLYSSE is where 21st century technology meets 13th century culture, admirably illustrating The Times' contention that the MEDIAEVAL BAEBES are the "Spice Girls set loose in the court of King Henry VIII".

But ignore the idiosyncrasies of image which the BAEBES play on with the zest of naughty children, and you are left with an extraordinary, balanced and highly proficient vocal ensemble. As The Independent commented "they do what they do remarkably", they "hold everyone in a hypnotic trance", and their singing "makes ... the hairs stand up shiveringly on your neck". It's "mediaeval soul music" (The Times).

Ultimately it's the quality of their artistry - and not their strikingly sensual appearance - which makes the MEDIAEVAL BAEBES such a success. After all, who'd listen to Pavarotti if he hadn't the talent, but appeared in a thong?