Favourite Things - Connie Fisher > Reviews > How do you solve the problem of a short CD?

Author's product rating:   

Originality	Definitely a cut above the rest
Lyrics	Standard
Quality and consistency of tracks	Mixed
Value for Money	Satisfactory

Advantages:	Some great songs
Disadvantages:	Not long enough

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

This CD features 13 songs, twelve of which are sung by the new Maria for the Andrew Lloyd Webber's London Palladium version of The Sound Of Music, chosen during the popular television series 'How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria?'. I myself, although not very interested in it at the start of the summer when it first appeared, found myself increasingly intrigued as I did begin to watch it and found myself actually voting for the people who I wanted to stay in the show - something that I had never done before, or since, then. I was quite relieved to find out that Connie was the overall winner, as in my opinion she was the best of the remaining finalists, although Helena had done extremely well to get there - but anyway, enough of all this - I should be focussing on the CD. Well... after finding out that Connie had won, I thought to myself, 'There's bound to be a CD produced sometime soon with her singing - and if it has a good few songs then I think I'll buy it.' And sure enough, a few weeks later, or maybe months later, I found it on amazon.co.uk and bought it shortly afterwards.

Songs on the CD include:
1. Maybe This Time - This, in my opinion is a poor start to the CD. It is of great quality, it just isn't a wonderful song as far as I'm concerned and I think that a much better start could be made to the CD.
2. Natural Woman - This, once again is of great quality, and is not too bad a track. Musically, the accompaniment is great and the singing is of a good standard, as in all the tracks, but once again, I think it is just the song that sung that is the problem.
3. Dance The Dance - I had never heard this song before, but I don't think I had missed anything really. Once again the song is fine, but the accompaniment this time isn't as good and includes some 'strange' noises, or ones that I don't think are necessary for the song. This, in my opinion would be one of the weakest tracks on the CD.
4. Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend - This song is very good. It is sung well, the music is good, and all round it is nice to listen to. The only problem is that in the spoken sections, Connie would appear to get a little carried away in some places, but we can't complain too much, the song is still good.
5. No Matter What - This song never really was one of my favourites when I first heard it many years ago, or when we had to sing it in music in Year 8 and 9, and once again, although it is different hear than in previous versions that I have heard, it still is not a song that I want to listen to again and again. I have no problem listening to the song when on the CD - but I wouldnt skip straight to listen to this song in particular.
6. Shout - This definitely has to be one of the very best on the CD. It also would be one of the shortest, but still, it is one amazing track that I could listen to a few times in a row. It is a nice fast, upbeat song, with an amazing orchestral, and vocal accompaniment which helps create an amazing track that is definitely worth listening to.
7. All The Love I Have - Once again, this is a song that I had never heard before, but I certainly could listen to it many times in a row. There's a line in it that describes something, and I cannot for the life of me remember exactly what it is right now, that goes on 'like a circle' and that is what the song is like. It just flows seemlessly from one section to another and works amazingly well. This is another of my favourite tracks.
8. All That Jazz - Fisher, Connie & Helena Blackman/Siobhan Dillon - This track is good. I like the song, which definitely helps, and I like the idea of the two runners-up as such from the Maria competition being able to take part in this CD and not be totally forgotten about after the show. It is a good song, well arranged for all three voices, and each voice can distinctly be recognised, well for those who watched the show and so this leads to a great song.
9. Another Suitace In Another Hall - This is, quite frankly, awful. I'm not totally sure what it is that makes it so bad, but it is possibly that the previous three have been so good and then next ones are great songs as well, and so this, slightly worse quality song in the middle appears worse than it actually is. Once again, I just do not like the song, it has a poor accompaniment, only an average melodic line and generally over all isn't great. This, in my opinion, would be the worst, or one of the worst songs on the CD.
10. As Long As He Needs Me - This definitely has to be one of my favouite songs on the CD. I love the song, and Connie sings it wonderfully, the whole way through (although I must say that the last few words slightly ruin it - it just happens to be the way that they sound to me that ruins it - but the track is still amazing. It has the song sung superbly throughout, with the modulation to another key towards the end that works amazingly well - there is just something about how the song modulates (or all goes up a few notes, for those unsure of the word 'modulate') which makes it so good. I really could listen to this nonstop - to me it is that good.

Those are all the main songs on the CD, and then seeing as she did win the main role in the musical The Sound of Music, and thats what made her famous, they need to have some songs from The Sound of Music, and so they have a The Sound of Music suite, made up of three songs.
11. Entr'acte - The Entr'acte of a musical is the piece that is played after the interval as an introduction to the new Act. It usually goes through and takes a little from all the main songs and plays around with these. It is to the second act, what the Overture is to the first. This, does not have any lyrics, and is purely orchestral, but it sets the scene for the start of this small collection of music from The Sound of Music. Although it does not have any words, it is still a good track, with many small sections of recognisible songs from the musical.
12. My Favourite Things - This is the name of the CD (a rather unimaginitive title in my opinion) and so it would make sense to include this song. Also this is one of the most famous songs from the musical and so it makes sense to include it. Here, it is sung well and to the good standard already set up by the CD and is a good track.
13. Something Good - This ends the The Sound of Music 'suite' and ends the CD. I had never heard this song, or didnt remember hearing this song when I first heard the CD but it is good - it wouldnt be my choice for an ending to a CD but that is what's here and so it's good enough.

This CD includes all these thirteen tracks and with thirteen tracks you would expect a reasonably long CD - however this is not the case, with the CD lasting between 35 and 45 minutes, as far as I can remember. It still is, however, a good CD and a great one to listen to. The not so great start, while still having some effect on the CD, does not really cause reason for complaint when the CD greatly improves later when the better songs start playing, as they truly are amazing. The CD is only £8.99 from amazon.co.uk and is worth buying and listening to, even if only for those small number of truly amazing songs which are the key points that make the CD so good and enjoyable to listen to.