My favorite rendition of The Star Spangled Banner is a recording I have from the 560th Air Force Band of the Washington Air National Guard. I think I tripped over this in a thrift store and would love to find a source for more of their work – or even some of this to share.
Give a listen to this Star Spangled Banner and, if you are at all like me in this, be awed and thrilled by the second verse – it just gives me tingles.
I am in an elite group of people who have a copy of
Skyward, A Musical Journey
The 560th Air Force Band
And you lucky devils can hear my favorite song on it here and now:
The Star Spangled Banner
By the way, I think it best appreciated on GOOD equipment at PERFORMANCE volume.
Sadly, while Washington DC can afford to continually rain bombs and rockets down all over the world, they couldn’t see fit to keep this band and all of the subgroups and combos those bandsmen formed alive and reaching out with a positive image to the world.
Gone is the music, but the drones drone on.