Golden Boy - Broadway Cast

Advantages: First Broadway Rocky since the early 80s
Disadvantages: Only really for collectors, acquired taste

...I was lucky enough to see this production with this cast on Broadway - I say lucky in that many Brits wouldn't have got that chance and because I saw it for free. However, if I had had to pay the $80 or something the tickets were selling for, I'd have been very disappointed indeed. I am also reviewing from a promotional only copy, which I believe is simply a pre-release rather than markedly changed as it contains the same cast. I also got it free! The album contains all the regular stage show songs, including Once In A While, with the occasional introductory speech before a song. This would not be an album I would recommend to those who have never heard either the Picture Show album or the Roxy Cast album as the songs are treated somewhat differently and might put you off the stage version in the UK if you hadn't already heard... Read review

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Advantages: Humorous lyrics delivered with real panache
Disadvantages: You might prefer to have seen the stage show first

...What to say about this cast album? I think I should start by saying that it's probably better once you've seen the show so you get the full effect of the songs in their place within the story, although I had heard snippets of the songs prior to seeing the show and they made me want to see the show even more. The CD is from the Broadway production of Spamalot "lovingly ripped off" from the film Monty Python and the Holy Grail, featuring Tim Curry, Hank Azaria and David Hyde-Pierce but the same songs are featured in the current West End production. Each song contains some wonderfully dire rhyming and very funny lines. Apart from the songs featured in previous Monty Python works, the lyrics and music are by Eric Idle and John Du Prez so they are still in keeping with the Python style. Track By Track 1. Tuning - as it says 2... Read review

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Advantages: Gives a new insight into a classic
Disadvantages: No major disadvantages

...emulated since. If you think of Woodstock but more choral that gives you an idea of the music style. Now this Deluxe Edition comes with two two CDs the first one is the original Broadway cast recording from 1968. Now this is great because it has has some really good singing on it, and Claude and Berger are played by the two writers Rado and Ragni. Now, on the second disc is the original Off-Broadway cast from 1967. Now some of the singing and the quality of recording isn't quite as good, but there's an amazing energy on that recording. The original off broadway show was put on in a Night Club in New York and the cast actually comprised of "Hippys" rather than Actors. Thats what gives it the lovely unfinished but real feal too it. The second disc also has some bonus tracks. Two alternative ending songs and an overture... Read review

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