Beverly Glenn-Copeland Laughter In Summer
Beverly Glenn-Copeland's Laughter In Summer arrives as a quiet, communal balm that reframes memory, caregiving and mortality through spare piano, choir and one-take intimacy. Across professional reviews, critics point to the album's tender reworkings and new songs as deliberate acts of remembering and renewal, and they
The best song is “Let Us Dance (Movement Two)” because its loose, communal joy and 'gorgeous' delivery capture the album's emotional core.
The album's core strengths are its choir-driven arrangements, Elizabeth Glenn-Copeland’s vocal contributions, and the intimate, single-take recording approach.
Best for listeners looking for mortality and acceptance and love and partnership, starting with Laughter In Summer and Let Us Dance (Movement One).
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Full consensus notes
Beverly Glenn-Copeland's Laughter In Summer arrives as a quiet, communal balm that reframes memory, caregiving and mortality through spare piano, choir and one-take intimacy. Across professional reviews, critics point to the album's tender reworkings and new songs as deliberate acts of remembering and renewal, and they repeatedly single out “Let Us Dance (Movement One)”, the title song “Laughter In Summer” and the Hotel2Tango takes of “Ever New - At Hotel2Tango” as the record's emotional anchors. The opening and reprise of the “Let Us Dance” movements bookend the set with unassuming power, while duets and choir passages give the collection a familial warmth.
The critical consensus is measured but favorable: Laughter In Summer earned a 67.75/100 consensus score across 8 professional reviews, with reviewers consistently praising its gentleness, sparse warmth and reappraisal of past work. Critics applauded the album's themes of memory and aging, the frank engagement with illness and acceptance, and the sense of legacy and community threaded through tracks like “Harbour - At Hotel2Tango” and “Let Us Dance (Movement Two)”. While some reviews note a few quieter moments that lack the immediacy of the standout tracks, most professional reviews treat the record as an intimate gathering that foregrounds voice, gratitude and time.
Taken together, the reviews frame Laughter In Summer as a heartfelt companion piece in Glenn-Copeland's late-career catalog: not a showy statement but a tender, reimagined collection whose best songs function as consolations and communal rites. For readers searching for an authoritative Laughter In Summer review or wondering what the best songs on Laughter In Summer are, the critics agree that “Let Us Dance (Movement One)”, “Laughter In Summer”, and “Ever New - At Hotel2Tango” emerge as the album's core highlights; scroll down for the full set of professional reviews and track-by-track impressions.
Critics' Top Tracks
The standout songs that made critics take notice
Laughter In Summer
8 mentions
"On the deeply moving title track, Elizabeth reflects on the advancement of her husband’s illness"— Hot Press
Let Us Dance (Movement One)
7 mentions
"Spare arrangements of “Let Us Dance” and “Ever New” trade new age synthesisers for piano, choir, and extra space for Glenn’s voice"— Under The Radar
Ever New - At Hotel2Tango
7 mentions
"Spare arrangements of “Let Us Dance” and “Ever New” trade new age synthesisers for piano, choir, and extra space for Glenn’s voice"— Under The Radar
On the deeply moving title track, Elizabeth reflects on the advancement of her husband’s illness
Track Ratings
How critics rated each track, relative to this album (0-100). Only tracks that made critics feel something are rated.
Let Us Dance (Movement One)
Ever New - At Hotel2Tango
Laughter In Summer
Children's Anthem
Harbour - At Hotel2Tango
Middle Island Lament
Shenandoah
Prince Caspian's Dream - At Hotel2Tango
Let Us Dance (Movement Two)
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What Critics Are Saying
Deep insights from 9 critics who reviewed this album
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Critic's Take
Matthew Blackwell’s measured, reverent tone praises Copeland’s ability to make grief yield to generosity, noting how spare arrangements let voice and choir shine. The narrative frames the best tracks on Laughter in Summer as communal, tender, and spiritually resonant, making clear why listeners search for the best songs on Laughter in Summer and which moments stay with you.
Key Points
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The album’s core strengths are spare, communal performances that foreground Copeland’s voice, partnership with Elizabeth, and themes of love and acceptance.
Themes
Critic's Take
Beverly Glenn-Copeland's Laughter In Summer feels like a record made in the teeth of time, intimate and immediate, where songs become communal touchstones.
Key Points
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The best song is “Let Us Dance (Movement Two)” because its loose, communal joy and 'gorgeous' delivery capture the album's emotional core.
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The album's core strengths are intimate, hymn-like simplicity and a moving duet-led immediacy that refracts live history into present tenderness.
Themes
Critic's Take
Beverly Glenn-Copeland's Laughter In Summer feels like a gathering, and the best songs - notably “Let Us Dance (Movement One)” and “Harbour - At Hotel2Tango” - foreground that communal warmth. Jason Anderson writes with patient clarity about voices knitting old compositions into fresh arrangements, and he lingers especially on how the choir reshapes “Ever New - At Hotel2Tango” and “Shenandoah”. The record's tender focus on memory and care makes those tracks stand out as the best songs on Laughter In Summer, acting as touchstones for the album's themes of gratitude and support. Overall the singing, the single-take immediacy, and Elizabeth Glenn-Copeland's contributions make these moments the album's emotional centers.
Key Points
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The best song is driven by communal singing and emotional immediacy, with “Let Us Dance (Movement One)” exemplifying that power.
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The album's core strengths are its choir-driven arrangements, Elizabeth Glenn-Copeland’s vocal contributions, and the intimate, single-take recording approach.
Themes
Critic's Take
The title track “Laughter In Summer” is singled out as even more powerful, a duet that celebrates enduring love while mourning its future loss. The reviewer keeps a measured, affectionate tone throughout, praising the album's sparse, warm beauty while noting the remainder of the record feels like a gradual comedown from that monumental start. Overall, the criticism is gentle and admiring, recommending these standout songs as the core best tracks on Laughter in Summer.
Key Points
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The opener and title track are the best songs because their choir, tender vocals and sparse piano create a majestic, profoundly moving start.
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The album's core strengths are its sparse, warm arrangements, sincere simplicity, and themes of memory and enduring love.
Themes
Ho
Critic's Take
Beverly Glenn-Copeland's Laughter In Summer finds its heart in intimate moments like “Let Us Dance (Movement One)” and the deeply moving title track, where Elizabeth's reflections make the record ache with tenderness. The opener's quiet force, bolstered by a Montreal choir, and the title song's confrontation with illness are the clearest best songs on Laughter In Summer, carrying the album's warmth and magic. The reprise, “Let Us Dance (Movement Two)”, closes the circle with a heavier, trembling voice that underlines acceptance rather than defeat.
Key Points
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The title track is the best for its emotional clarity and Elizabeth’s poignant reflection on illness.
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The album’s core strengths are intimacy, gentle warmth, and the interplay between voice and choir.
Themes
Critic's Take
The critic’s voice is intimate and elegiac, noting how piano, choir and spare arrangements let Glenn-Copeland’s time-worn voice carry the weight of memory. Elizabeth’s duets are singled out as stabilising, especially on “Laughter In Summer”, which registers as the record’s emotional centerpiece. Overall, the review frames these tracks as the album’s most affecting moments, where vulnerability and simple arrangements reveal why they stand out as the best tracks on Laughter In Summer.
Key Points
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The title track is best because its duet intimacy and life-affirming goodbye crystallise the album’s emotional core.
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The album’s core strengths are its spare arrangements and Glenn-Copeland’s time-worn, tender voice that render memory and mortality with quiet power.
Themes
Critic's Take
The record wears its theme of memory and dementia lightly but insistently, so the best songs on Laughter In Summer become those that marry simple, soulful performance with emotional context.
Key Points
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The album’s core strengths are tenderness, emotional context around dementia, and intimate reworkings of Glenn-Copeland’s classics.
Themes
Sp
Critic's Take
Beverly Glenn-Copeland's Laughter In Summer is presented as a whispering celebration of memory and love, and the review leans into how its best songs - especially “Harbour (Song for Elizabeth)” and “Children's Anthem” - crystalize that mission. David Harris writes in a tender, intimate voice that treats the record like an insular love letter, noting the one-take Hotel2Tango recordings and Elizabeth taking lead on several tracks. Overall, the reviewer positions these best tracks as small, potent reliquaries of time and devotion rather than showy statements.
Key Points
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The album's core strength is its quiet, one-take intimacy that frames themes of memory, time, and love as life-affirming.