If you've been to London recently and caught Elton John's latest big hit
there you will want this excellent souvenir, a bright, energetic and
sometimes infectious recording of the score. If you saw the movie on which
it is based you will be able to fit the songs into the story and understand
their dramatic strengths as well as their rhythmic power. If, on the other
hand, you haven't seen the movie and haven't seen the show, the package is
likely to be a major frustration, for it lacks any synopsis of the plot, cast
listing or notes that can help you figure out just what is going on. The
fifteen tracks on the principal disc are the numbers performed as in the
show. There is a second disc with three "bonus tracks" - Elton John singing
his own pop versions of songs from the show: "The Letter," "Merry Christmas
Maggie Thatcher" and "Electricity." |
Storyline: A major London West End musical based on the movie about a
young British boy who attempts to avoid a life in the mines by taking up
ballet.It would have been so easy to
include a few paragraphs to put the songs into focus so you could understand
why the children seem to be dancing, why the adults seem so angry and why in
the world there is a song "Merry Christmas, Maggie Thatcher," which, to judge
from the lyrics, is a thoroughly angry damnation of the government. And, it
would have helped if anywhere in the package they happened to mention that
the date is 1984 and there is a miner's strike in progress against
Thatcher's economic policies.
Even without knowing what is going on, however, you
are likely to be captured by the score. Elton John has proven time and again
his ability to merge pop and theatrical forms. What is more, he seems to be
getting more theatrical as time goes on. The Lion
King relied more on the genius of Julie Taymor than it did on his
score. Aida was more score driven.
This score is even more theatrical with each song seeming to be a scene
rather than an interruption. The shortest cut is 2:53 and that is a reprise.
Many of the song/scenes run over five minutes ("Solidarity" runs almost 9
minutes of dramatic development, and big dance numbers like "Shine" (6:08)
"Expressing Yourself" (5:15) and "Born to Boogie (4:26) take as much time as
necessary to build the excitement. It makes you want to see the show.
Don't turn the disc off and throw it away less than
one minute in because the fidelity is so lousy - without a synopsis you
might not have known that this is a beginning similar to what we've come to
know from Evita and that the full fidelity material is just around
the corner. When it hits, it hits with power and drive. The tap numbers all
include the sound of tapping as well as lots of whooping and woo-wooing to
give the impression of a spirited live performance. There's no way to know
exactly what is going on in "Angry Dance" but it is an impressive 3:51
explosion of tap and band. |
