A
good book is a
definite necessity. A good host will have
a wide variety of songs, with many different versions.
The leading disc
companies are
Sound Choice, Chartbuster, DK, Legends,
and Top Hits Monthly. There are many others.
Personally, we
prefer Sound Choice. They cost a bit more,
but we feel the recordings are closer to the originals, and the
background singers sound good, even when the key is changed.
Let's talk
about
DK. The original DK discs are out of
print, and have been replaced with the DK Millennium series. The makers
of the discs of course say they are identical, but there seems to be
some difference in some of the songs. Many people swear by DK, and will
use nothing else. We find the melody being played in the background to
be very annoying, and on some songs, downright distracting. The
graphics are 256 color, very primitive. The Millennium series features
songs that are not on the original series, but there are a lot of songs
not in the new series.
Back Stage
is
another disc series that has annoying
background melodies being played. The Eagles disc is very good, but
there is a pan pipe synthesizer playing along that really makes the
music sound cheesy.
Chartbuster
does
well with country but not so hot on
rock. Legends does well on classic rock. Their Bruce Springsteen discs
are a mixed bag. The problem with many Legends discs is the volume can
sometimes be VERY loud, causing the KJ to do a death-defying leap
across the stage to adjust the sound.
You'll find a lot
of errors
in the Chartbuster lyrics. Many are downright stupid. (e.g. "Take Me
Home Country Roads" has the line, "Blue rich
mountains,
Shenandoah River." The line of course should be,
"Blue Ridge
Mountains, Shenandoah River."
One series that
is very good is called Radio Starz. Their
John Lennon and Steely Dan discs are amazing. Sadly, there are only
about fifteen discs in the whole catalog for this company.
The British
ZOOM disks are also outstanding, and the arrangements are very good.
They have been putting out some really good sets lately.
The monthly CDG companies are good at getting current hits out to the
public, but the results vary. Some songs sound like the originals, and
some sound like they were recorded with a 1980's Casio keyboard, and
drunken monkeys in a garage in Seattle.
CDG
Brands
(Various makers of karaoke
disks... as you see, there are many, and
this list is not
even complete!)
