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I love Disney, and I've always been a musical fan, so how could I go wrong with a Disney Musical? Answer, I couldn't! … Not this time anyway, Disney has failed in the past though.
High School Musical is the newest original musical from the Disney channel. It tells the story of Gabriella, the new brain box in school, and Troy, the captain of the basketball team, go against all social rules and audition in the High School Musical. Of course, true to Disney, they fall in love along the way. Between them they make school history - the first time there has been call-backs for the lead couple! They're going to have to get all their friends to work together if they are to attend the final auditions, as they have suspiciously been scheduled for the exact same time as Troy's most important game of the season, and Gabriella's science contest - will they make it in time, will they land the roles, will they escape detention…? You'll have to see for yourself. But as it's Disney, I'm sure you've pretty much guessed!
This CD is the soundtrack to the movie, and also includes a star performance by B5, and a number of instrumental tracks for Karaoke use. The tracks are all quite samey, with a soft hip-hop-pop feel, but there are a few distinct ones in the group.
1. Start of Something New Troy and Gabriella's first meeting, when they are forced
to do Karaoke together at a New Years Party. This is quite an upbeat, hip-hop-meets-pop song, and it is easy to find yourself singing along, even without the CD playing!
2. Get'cha Head In The Game The video part to this is awesome! The song itself is about staying focused, and keeping your head in the game, while Troy is still distracted by thoughts of Gabriella. This one is quite hip-hip-pop. (The accompanying video is great because it's a choreographed basketball game beyond any I've ever seen!)
3. What I've Been Looking For (Sharpay and Ryan) The 'bad guys' do their jazzed up audition for the school musical. Even though these are the bad guys, I like their version better than the one Troy and Gabriella do next! It's one of my favourite tracks on the album and such fun to sing along to!
4. What I've Been Looking For (Gabriella and Troy) This is the same song as previous, but much slower and performed in a more romantic fashion. Even though this is supposedly the composer of the musical wanted the piece to be performed, it feels too slow and watery.
5. Stick To The Status Quo Troy has been forced to come out about the fact he likes singing, so other people around the school have been compelled to tell their secrets. People aren't all that receptive and tell them to stick to the stuff they know, stick to the status quo. I do like this track but it's not as fun to sing along to as others. It's very much a 'musical' song as usually its stuff that would be spoken, but being sung instead.
6. When There Was Me And You This is Gabriella by herself, walking through the corridors of her school singing (the video is quite a bit like Britney's!) about the fact that she thought she was in love with him, but he seems different now. It's quite a cute song, but I'm not sure it suits her voice. Vanessa Anne Hudgens(the actress who plays Gabriella, I'll discuss her more after) seems too young to be singing this kind of thing. The song is very pop-y.
7. Bop To The Top Back to the auditions again now, with Sharpay and Ryan's upbeat and boppy (it's a word!) number. Again, these are the 'bad guys' right now, but their piece are still great and really easy to sing along to. Very jazzy, its also hard not to wiggle slightly while listening to it!
8. Breaking Free This is my favourite track to sing along to, and I challenge you to sing 'Flyyyying, Soooaring' without sticking your arms out airplane-style! Gabriella and Troy really show their vocal ability in this track, and if it really had been a musical audition, they'd have gotten the parts!
9. We're All In This Together The chorus to this is quite sweet and very Disney! It's the biggest (production-wise) track on the album, with over 300 singers and dancers in total! "We're all in this together, once we know, that we are, we're all stars, and we see that. We're all in this together and it shows, when we stand, hand in hand, make our dreams come true … Everyone is special in their own way, we make each other strong, we're not the same, we're different in a good way, together is where we belong…" Need the bucket passing yet?
10. I Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You This track is annoying!! It's bass rhythm sounds like a mobile phone vibrating on a table, and every time it comes on I start looking for mine wondering where it is and who's ringing!!
11. Get'cha Head In The Game The same as track 2, but performance by B5. It also has various 'basketball noises' in the background!
12. Start of Something New After 10 seconds of silence, this is the Karaoke (ie. No words) accompaniment for track 1
13. Breaking Free Also with 10 seconds of silence at the beginning, this is another Karaoke track. If I had a willing accomplice, I'd happily sing along to this track on a karaoke night! Vanessa Anne Hudgens Apparently she'll be 18 in a few weeks, but to look at her you wouldn't know it! She looks like a sweet 15 or 16 year old in this movie. She does have a fantastic voice and in 'Breaking Free' and 'When There Was Me And You' has a chance to show this. After hearing her in High School Musical I did go and download her solo album 'V' (but haven't gotten around to listening to it yet!)
Zac Efron While Zac is the leading male in High School Musical, he doesn't really give any outstanding performances by himself, and Vanessa always accompanies his most notable performances. He's not much of an actor either, I think he pretty much plays himself, and does that badly!
Ashley Tisdale Disney channel fans will recognise her face from 'The Suite Life Of Zac And Cody', but as far as I'm aware, this is her first venture onto the musical scene. While her voice is far from perfect, its still easy to listen to, and several times I'd pick her over Vanessa's tracks (even though Ashely is the enemy, boo). 'Bop To The Top' is her main big number. A few times her voice comes across as quite raw and harsh, but on the whole its nice.
Lucas Grabeel Pretty much a 'nobody' but he's the other male lead so worth a note. His performances aren't spectacular but they aren't devastating either, his voice likewise.
Overall This is a nice album, easy to listen to and fun to sing along with. But, I'd recommend you at least watch the movie first if you want to get the most out of it. Watching the movie also helps you learn the words should you want to sing along!
Amazon has a nice deal of the DVD movie and the CD album combined price of £17.96. Enjoyment-wise, this is great value. They'd make great Christmas presents.
It is Disney, it is kiddish, and it is light and fluffy … but if that's your thing - go for it!
5 stars - great album, compiled by a nice cast
Pictures of High School Musical - Various Artists
High School Musical CD Cover
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
High School Musical has been said to be the modern day Grease, I love this movie andhave watched it countless times, I also have the cd, and know all the words to all songs, I also know the dance routine to the final song of the movie 'all in this together'. I find High School Musical to be one of the best ever movies to have been made.
Your Review was very informative, I loved to read it, you really did it justice explaining each song in detail.
Well Done
Ailran 30.11.2006 23:42
Ah so now i finally know what High School Musical actually is lol!
kirkhamgate1 26.11.2006 16:49
Great and informative review i have seen the film and bought the sound track your review does the CD Justice - Donna
Start Of Something New - Gabriella/Troy Get'cha Head In The Game - Troy What I'Ve Been ... more
Looking For - Ryan/Sharpay What I'Ve Been Looking For (Reprise) - Gabriella/Troy Stick To The Status Quo - The Cast Of 'High School Musical' When There Was Me And Yo...
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