Innocence & Despair

The Langley Schools Music Project INNOCENCE & DESPAIR comprises 1970s recordings performed by a grade school vocal ensemble singing the hits of the day (and other famous rock songs), under the direction of ensemble leader Hans Fenger.
Recorded in 1976 and 1977. Includes liner notes by Irwin Chusid and Hans Fenger.
When it was reissued in 2001, this private-press recording of a 1970s British Columbia elementary school band and choir became a hipster must-have, largely due to its quirky backstory. But the album has a tangible sonic appeal that transcends its colorfully quaint origins. Listening to the massed voices of these grade-school kids singing in unison on bare-bones, lo-fi arrangements of `60s and `70s hits by the Beach Boys, the Beatles, Fleetwood Mac, and others, one gets the feeling of tuning in an oldies radio frequency from an alternate universe where professional singers and players are replaced by some white-robed phalanx of post-hippie cherubs.
It's a singular experience, to be sure, and likely an acquired taste for some, but none the less appealing for that. And besides, when was the last time you heard `70s Canadian art-poppers Klaatu's "Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft" (later recorded by the Carpenters) and Michael Murphey's folk-rock cowboy ghost story "Wildfire" on the same album?