Geoff Castellucci Reaction (Ghost Riders In The Sky & Bad Boy Leroy Brown)

[00:00:00]Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to So Ham Reactions. Peace, love, and positivity to you.

[00:00:07]Today, we're going to be checking out two more Jeff Castellucci covers, one from a few years ago, and one that just recently came out. We're first going to check out Ghost Riders in the Sky, then jump into Bad, Bad Leroy Brown.

[00:00:23]As always, it is an immense pleasure when we get to react Jeff on the channel. Jeff is the bass singer.

[00:00:30]If you guys know any other bass singers, let me know, cuz certainly I'll check them out, but at this point, like, there's no real list that I have. It's just Jeff, Jeff, Jeff, Jeff, and then, you know, all the different versions of Jeff that we've experienced now over the I believe year plus that we've been listening to VoicePlay and Jeff Castellucci.

[00:00:54]Now, I'm curious. I'm going to find the very first VoicePlay reaction I did.

[00:01:01]Okay, according to my handy-dandy master reaction sheet, my first reaction was to Valhalla Calling back in February of 2025. So, I am now 16 months deep into this rabbit hole.

[00:01:16]I've had the time of my life. You guys have been such a joy to share my experiences with, truly. Like, there's no other community like the VoicePlayers, like the Jeff Castellucci lovers.

[00:01:28]So, I appreciate every single one of you, and uh with that said, I'm excited to check these songs out today.

[00:01:35]So, without further ado, let's jump into it.

[00:01:42]Flashing lights.

[00:01:45]Nope.

[00:01:47]>> [music] >> A very western vibe.

[00:01:52]>> An old cowboy went riding out one dark and windy day.

[00:02:00]>> Look at him. He's just like standing in the in the void. [laughter] >> [music] [singing] >> Show off that range.

[00:02:20]>> [music] [music] >> do do do do That's such a low note, man.

[00:02:38]But then an octave >> [music] [music] >> We got Um God, my fashion knowledge is low. We have um two-piece Jeff, then we have trench coat three-piece Jeff.

[00:03:04]Then we've got in black Jeff with the belt buckle, so belt buckle Jeff for real.

[00:03:09]No, but the other one has belt buck- Okay, no. He's just black Jeff. Then we've got uh uh like southern rancher Jeff, and then we've got Oh, what is the fifth Jeff? I don't know how to I don't know how to describe these Jeffs.

[00:03:29]The fifth one is like the most ghostly looking figure. Like he would be in Westworld. That fifth Jeff is in Westworld.

[00:03:38]>> [music and singing] [singing and music] [singing and music] >> coming home.

[00:03:56]and you heard their mournful cry.

[00:04:00]>> [music] >> Piercing blue eyes, it's like the night king. [music] >> [music] >> Kick drums are everything here.

[00:04:24]>> [music] >> You know, something that I didn't realize was typical of like a western sounding song is is this like intermittent chime that we hear. It's one thing to have this like moving uh like clean guitar melody and then the strumming underneath. Those two are kind of obvious tells. The lesser discussed element I think is the chime.

[00:04:59]It's kind of like the spur on the boot.

[00:05:02]>> Their faces cold, their eyes were blurred, their [music] shirts all soaked with sweat.

[00:05:08]He's riding hard the kids that heard but he ain't counting them yet, no.

[00:05:13]>> [music and singing] >> Oh, yeah.

[00:05:18]That was [music] a beautiful harmony.

[00:05:22]>> As they ride on you hear their cry.

[00:05:28]As [music] they ride on you hear their cry.

[00:05:32]>> I love that melody.

[00:05:35]>> As they ride on you hear their cry.

[00:05:39]>> [music] >> Nice.

[00:05:41]>> As the road is soaked and mighty >> All right, the whistles are [music] in.

[00:05:49]Also very western.

[00:05:53]>> [music] [music] [music] [singing and music] >> It's such a vibe.

[00:06:16]>> [music] [music] [music] >> There's three pitches.

[00:06:35]>> [music] [music] >> I hear the the clopping in the distance.

[00:06:53]Thunder crashing.

[00:06:56]Such a perfect song.

[00:06:59]>> [music] >> It sound like self-enclosed too. Like you can just have this song on as a standalone and it's [music] perfect.

[00:07:07]The fact that we get more Jeff songs is just like the bonus.

[00:07:11]>> [music] >> I love the melody too. Like the melody definitely establishes establishes itself for me by the time we hit the second chorus.

[00:07:26]I think if if I'm like remembering correctly now, the first moment where they were all singing together was like after the was after the or maybe during the second chorus or after the second chorus. It felt like there was a bit of a delay between the main Jeff and singing the main Jeff and all the other Jeffs that I've noted.

[00:07:48]Um actually all five singing together.

[00:07:51]There was definitely lead Jeff for a while on his own, then the four behind him taking their shots at the spotlight, but finally when they all like emerged at once, that is when like the song for me hit at the next level. And then by the time we hit the third chorus with all of the melodic development and the little nuances that are being added, the song for me just becomes a 10 out of 10.

[00:08:15]So, weirdly enough, it's a bit of a slow burn up front and then after the second chorus the like there's like a discontinuous jump in just how good it is. And then you're at this like 100 out of a 100 rating right by the end. And I feel like because that's the trajectory for the way I experienced this one, this song has infinite loop-ability. You could just replay it again from the from the very beginning and not feel like you um you know, had your fill. Even though like one full listen is satiating, I still want to like hear that melody again.

[00:08:52]I guess I guess we should just do that.

[00:08:55]Why not?

[00:08:57]Let's go back to the the chorus there.

[00:09:01]>> [music] [music] >> Those three notes are like the main melodic motif.

[00:09:14]It keeps returning with >> [music] >> Still in the second verse, it's like a bit of a call and response.

[00:09:23]>> [music] >> And then the four Jeffs together, but still [music] we don't have lead Jeff for real.

[00:09:32]>> [singing] [music] [singing and music] >> The intro of the acoustic texture was real nice, too.

[00:09:49]It's a great entry for [music] that.

[00:09:55]>> [music] >> There's a >> [music] >> gradual layering of the picture on and each vocal >> [singing] >> into that [music] beat is just majestic.

[00:10:15]>> [music] [music] [music] [music] >> There's so many good melodies at once.

[00:10:37]>> [music] [music] >> I don't know about you guys, but the second time around, this flew by for me.

[00:10:52]Oh, yeah. This is a phenomenal track. I definitely um I definitely feel like Jeff is at his best when he's in this kind of like Is it just Western though? He does good zombie, he does good pirate.

[00:11:08]>> [sighs] >> Ah, it's hard to say a best, you know?

[00:11:10]Like as much as I want to use all the superlatives out there, like his everything we've heard from his discography has just delivered time and time again. And of course, by extension, everything we've heard in Voice Play.

[00:11:22]But like this song as a standalone is just so so good.

[00:11:29]I don't listen to a lot of like Western themed music in general, but there is a band there's an album that I would like to direct your attention to.

[00:11:38]I think you guys would enjoy it.

[00:11:41]Um Look up the I did a reaction this album.

[00:11:46]Look up Long Lost by Lord Huron. If you can type in Lord Huron reaction it's probably one of the few that come up on YouTube being mine.

[00:11:56]Definitely like a Western themed kind of sad boy album. I think it's such a vibe and you know, hearing this track just melodically I was getting reminded repeatedly of Lord Huron.

[00:12:09]If any of you happen to know them and there's like a crossover in fandoms, put it in the comments. That'd be really fun to know.

[00:12:16]I and kind of as a side note before we jump into the next song, I think it's really amazing whenever uh there are like crossovers between fandoms because you guys see like I react to like everything on this channel.

[00:12:29]It brings me tremendous joy, but often times um you know, the fandoms will remain like disconnected. You know, if you see like a voice play reaction, your immediate, you know, you're immediately going to click on that versus like if I react to like a Deep Purple, for example. Those are two different worlds. But, you know, I and my hopes on this channel is to kind of bridge some of these gaps and as you are sharing and exposing me to some amazing music that I can do the same with you all.

[00:12:59]But, uh let's jump into the next track.

[00:13:01]This is the uh most recent uh Jeff release. This is uh This came out on June 12th.

[00:13:09]It's a bad boy Leroy Brown.

[00:13:25]>> [music] >> I like how percussive this >> Well, the south side of Chicago.

[00:13:32]>> Oh, there's a rattle on it.

[00:13:34]>> [music] >> Uh-oh.

[00:13:54]That's cool.

[00:13:55]>> Five stools but only three Jeff. Why five stools but not five Jeff?

[00:14:00]Five Jeff.

[00:14:02]>> [music] >> Oh, that is a really cool part of it.

[00:14:10]>> [music] [singing] [music] [singing] [music] >> Shoo.

[00:14:31]That's even lower than the pitch we had before.

[00:14:34]We were here before.

[00:14:37]So, a low low E.

[00:14:40]Um What was I going to say?

[00:14:43]I was going to say something. Uh all these Jeffs are the same Jeff in terms of uh fashion.

[00:14:50]Oh, this is [music] more country Jeff.

[00:14:52]He could have used more western Jeff.

[00:14:56]>> [music] [music] [music] [singing] >> Jeff [music] >> [music] >> Uh, subtle there, but he actually is in his higher register.

[00:15:38]>> [music] [music] [music] >> You know what I'm noticing now that we just have the the easy juxtaposition of Ghost Riders in the Sky and Bad Boy Bad Bad Leroy Brown. Um the lushness in Jeff's harmonies nowadays are so well woven. Like it's hard to describe just how warm all of his voices together feel this time around as opposed to what we had with Ghost Riders in the Sky.

[00:16:23]And there's nothing wrong with the harmonies there, but somehow the way his voices are coming together, they just feel so much more compatible.

[00:16:33]It could have something to do with the mixing and I'm no like production engineer. I I like know as much as I know to like put my own few tracks and demos together.

[00:16:43]Um this sounds like it they're just perfectly blended together. Like I can hardly pick out the pitches that are being sung here because of just how well again, how well woven they all are.

[00:17:02]>> [music] [music] [music] [music] [music and singing] [music] [music] [music] [singing] >> I love the scratching and the strumming by the way. It's very percussive.

[00:17:48][music] >> [music] [singing] [music] [music] >> There was a voice in there that reminded me a lot of Ali.

[00:18:10]>> [music] >> That high one.

[00:18:17]>> [music] >> The crash glass.

[00:18:25]Crash the glass.

[00:18:26]>> [music and singing] [laughter] >> There's the BTS.

[00:18:59]Hey y'all, Jeff here. Thanks for watching and subscribing. You're the best. If you'd like to join the names scrolling across your [music] screen, get early access to new music and videos, hang out in a video chat with me, merch drops, and much, much more, head on over to Patreon and sign up today. You can even sign up for free.

[00:19:17]Special thanks goes out to Halder Drago, Blue Raven, Carl and Melanie Thomas, Jazzy UK, Debs Badger, Diane Holland, Jordy S, Juliana Livingston, Lori Templeman, Maria Almeida, Patricia Sherman, Rev Jesse, Sarah O, Sylvie, [music] Tama Crumpley, and Asa Embre and Ragnar Stål. Thanks again for watching.

[00:19:34]>> That last name was hard to say.

[00:19:40]>> That's a very percussive track. Like that's the way we started. I was kind of envisioning the um You know those like boxes that people will like wrap their fingers on and they'll play something percussive.

[00:19:53]Sometimes like if you're roaming a city like people will play with sticks on buckets too. Like that kind of vibe.

[00:19:59]That's kind of the energy that I was getting from what we were hearing in the instrumental. But the thing is then there would be an acoustic guitar on top that is also scratchy. And if any of you guys are guitar players, you'll know what I'm about to You know what I'm talking about when I say this. But if you're not, you know, with the acoustic guitar you can do a whole lot of unique sounds with the body of that instrument.

[00:20:23]So it's not just like playing the strings, muting the strings, doing rakes, and doing all interesting things just with the strings. You can actually tap on the guitar, use your palm, use your knuckles, use your nails, whatever you really want to use, go for it because it'll produce a sound.

[00:20:39]And some of the craziest guitarists out there in the modern era, a lot of flamenco artists have done this too in the past, but the way that music is going, people are just grabbing from all of the worlds and combining it together into their own song and dance. But anyways, the way that it's going now, people are converting the acoustic guitar not only into an instrument that produces melody from the strings, but also a pseudo drum kit.

[00:21:06]And you could produce something like this that we hear almost entirely just from acoustic guitar.

[00:21:12]Now, I don't know if specifically if that's what's happening here, but I think I can make the case that like 80% or 85% of the instrumental components in this track could be accounted for by uh an acoustic guitar doing both parts.

[00:21:28]And it's also worth just considering how in general with your own digestion of music how each instrument fits into the arrangement. Sometimes like a piano chord will sound, you know, sound very like lovely and pretty and it's serving a melodic purpose. Other times I'm I'm hitting that piano hard not for melodic uh not for as much of the melodic purpose as I am more of the intensity and maybe more of the rhythm.

[00:22:01]And suddenly there's a world of analysis that you could do within each instrument. And all of the sudden you stack on top of that all of the other components that go on the arranging, the actual songwriting, the overall structure and movement, then it gets more complicated. And such is life, you know, you can analyze things at a low level, at a high level, there's the whole continuum in between, but what remains true with Jeff, his vocals, his arrangements, they are always so well thought out.

[00:22:32]At no point in a Jeff Castellucci cover am I thinking, "Oh man, this sounds kind of uh you know, mundane or a bit of rudimentary." He always finds a way to like tickle that part of my like analytical brain when it comes to whether it's like the voicings of the five Jeffs or the interplay of the rhythm and the different Jeffs or specifically here the instrumental underneath all of the lush harmony.

[00:23:00]You could slice it a number of ways and still come away with more nuance. So, you know, I'm not going to end this talk your ear off endlessly, but those are the main kind of things that stuck out to me from Bad Boy Leroy Brown.

[00:23:13]Um I will say like in terms of personal preference, I have to give it to Ghost Riders in the Sky. It's just a melody and vibe that matches more of my familiar discography. I think in general, I'm just a bit less of a country listener.

[00:23:29]Though, I appreciate so much of the melodies and uh the nuance in the instrumentation with tracks like this.

[00:23:36]But, if I have to choose one, this mainly the point. Like I'm splitting hairs essentially, I would just defer uh to the first track, a more of a Western style. But, please let me know your thoughts in the comment section down below. As always, I really hope you enjoyed the reaction. And if you'd like to request one yourself, you can do so by using the first link in the description box below. Thank you all so much for watching. I hope you have a wonderful rest of your day.

[00:24:05]Take care and peace.