Buffy the Vampire Slayer - Once More, with Feeling
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Music Reviews of Buffy the Vampire Slayer - Once More, with Feeling
Music Review: Excellent, problematic & an interesting test case to boot.
Rating: 4 Stars
This recording is an interesting test case for how the existence of MP3s affect the sales of an album. Within hours of the show's broadcast (actually even before the broadcast, thanks to satellite feeds), recordings of the songs from the Buffy episode "Once More, With Feeling" were available on file-sharing networks, and fans began clamoring for a studio recording. About a year later, they got their wish.The pluses? A better recording, more clear lyrics, and supporting tracks from other situations. Unfortunately, Whedon and crew got one thing wrong: they removed all background sound effects and supporting dialogue that had surrounded the songs. These effects and dialogue available on the MP3s of the songs had given the songs a great deal of supporting flavor, and for those who had heard the songs recorded with such supporting flavor, this product seemed a great deal blander.
(For instance, "The Mustard" was surrounded by dialogue where Anya asked, "Is it just us? Because it could be a spell." They opened the door to check, we heard the man praise his mustard's removal, and the door was closed with Buffy delivering, with just the right amount of comic understatement, "It's not just us.")
Nevertheless, the recording deserves every bit of praise fostered upon it. It does indeed do brilliant and comic musical sendups, and wonderfully breaks the standard 'musical' convention by having its characters *aware* of their musical breaks. It is definitely fresh, original, and quite definitely worthy of purchase, but one wishes that little bit of supporting 'spice' from the original MP3s had made it to the official recording, too.
Music Review: Great! Spectacular! but...
Rating: 5 Stars
Great CD. As one who made my own CD by transcribing the tape I made of its first broadcast (the only time the complete episode was shown) I have to say that this CD is a great improvement, audio-wise. The singers are clearer and it's a lot easier to hear the words. And the stereo balance is better.But there's a fly in the ointment. It's too clean. Main problem: the sound effects are missing. So what, you may say?
If you've ever listened to some of the songs with the wham-bam-smash sounds in the background (especially the opener "Going Through the Motions") you'll know that it's simply hilarious and is not to be missed. Especially in a car stereo.
Not including some of these soundtrack items and bits of dialogue that were obviously not recorded with the music also leaves voids - for example, the missing "Showtime" from Sweet (and the sound of the door to the Bronze crashing in) at the end of "Walk Through the Fire" is a great loss - as is the omission of Dawn's words after the end of "Something to Sing About". And some of Sweet's other comments. I also missed Spike's words before he went outside on "Where Do We Go From Here."
But of course this was easily made up by the extras that were included - sooner or later Josh & Co. will get wise and release a CD of nothing but Christophe Beck's work. There's a treasure trove of material in addition to what has been released on this album and the previous music CD (and what's available on private sites online). And there are many, many Buffyites out there (like myself) that don't usually enjoy the kind of music you're likely to hear at the Bronze!
Music Review: I've tried...really
Rating: 2 Stars
I like Buffy. A lot. Joss Whedon is a wonderful, talented writer, and the musical gives him a chance to show off his skills. It's far from original--Whedon is cribbing from Sondheim and Bernstein and just about every other name in contemporary musical theatre. But that's not really a bad thing. This isn't Broadway. It's commercial television. By TV standards, it's quite good. And, given the time, budget, etc. Whedon might actually put out a real piece of musical brilliance someday--he's certainly off to a good start.
HOWEVER, this CD is just bad. It's painful to listen to. It was nice having the actors sing their own parts during the actual episode. But, let's be honest: Anthony Stewart Head can sing reasonably well. Amber Benson has a surprisingly beautiful voice, and her song is by far my favorite. As for the rest of the cast--mondo points for effort--but they're nowhere near CD quality.
Sarah Michelle Gellar just sounds untrained. Alyson Hannigan is, as usual, oh-so-cute in the episode, but she can't sing--not even a little. Even her few lines on the CD are headache inducing. The rest of the cast do their best. James Marsters does a good enough job but falls horribly flat on some lines (in all fairness, I think it has more to do with problems in Whedon's score that Marster's voice, but the result is bad regardless). As for Nicholas Brendan and Emma Caufield, they're fun, they're quirky, they're just not that good.
Watch the episode again and again. Enjoy the extras on the DVD. Memorize the songs and sing them in the shower every morning. Just put the CD back on the shelf where it belongs.
Music Review: a must have for all buffy viewers- new and old alike
Rating: 5 Stars
Once more with feeling- was ,imho, the best episode of season 6 if not the whole season. This cd complies the music/songs of that episode- from the opening title song to the end ..grr arrgh. A nice bonus was the special tracks from past episodes- hush, restless and sacrifice.the amazing thing is that all songs were written by the joss whedon, and that all the actors lent their own vocals to their songs--a brillant endeavor for an already outstanding cast!
there are of course musical standouts- anthony head (giles) and amber benson (tara) and of course spike are the musical highpoints. Anthony Head, is of course, already a recognized musician (see his own CD- music without elevators) and he performs exceptionally well on his solo-"Standing" as well as the mini duet he and amber benson shared (under your spell/standing)
The songs of "Once more with feeling" are as varied as the performers- there is a song to fit every mood,( From spike's alt rock song "rest in peace", xander and anya's broadway based "I'll never tell") I most enjoyed the musical ensembles- buffy is of course an ensemble show and the best songs were those that had every voice (walk through the fire/where do we go). But even those without singing experience participate, though briefly--(willow's line-- i think this line's mostly filler--was hilarious).
In the end, this was a great cd for fans already familiar with the show and this particular episode- for non fans, i would recommend picking up the DVD of season 1-4 and pray that Season 5 and 6(with the brillant muscial buffy episode )is available on amazon soon!
Music Review: Mixed Feelings
Rating: 3 Stars
Buffy The Vampire Slayer is one the best written, most inventive shows on television and creator, producer, director & writer Joss Whedon showed that with last year's musical episode, "Once More With Feeling". A demon has mysteriously appeared in Sunnydale and it is causing the town's residents to spontaneously burst out into song and dance. The singing also reveals the deep personal feelings each person has. On the program, the singing was fun, a bold step in the land of television, but the cd doesn't translate. The first problem is that most of the cast can't really sing. Sarah Michelle Gellar has a weak voice at best, but as Buffy, she must carry the pivotal songs. On tv, this isn't that big of the problem because you get visuals, but on the cd you get Ms. Gellar's voice alone which isn't strong enough by itself. Nicholas Brendon and Allyson Hannigan flat out can't carry a tune and Michelle Trachtenburg isn't a whole lot better. Some of the cast can actually sing like Anthony Stewart Head and Amber Benson and their "Standing" and "Under Your Spell" are strong. James Marsters does well with his track "rest In Peace". Broadway veteran Hinton Battle plays the demon and he brings a Broadway flair to his character. The disk ends with score music from previous episodes and the "suite From Hush" is a powerful piece and in that episode there was virtually no dialogue and the music played a vital role. Despite the flaws in the singing, the songs are still enjoyable and of course will appeal to any fans of the show, but might also appeal to fans of musicals.