x close

Rent (1996 Original Broadway Cast)

Into Broadway's creative vacuum of revivals, movie adaptations, and Hollywood star vehicles comes Rent, the story of squatters, junkies, performance artists, struggling musicians, drag queens, aspiring filmmakers, and HIV-positives (and you thought Miss Saigon's helicopter landing was cool). Undoubtedly among the defining pop cultural events of 1996, Rent has already won four Tony awards and a Pulitzer Prize for Drama. More importantly, it threatens to bring substance back to the Great White Way.

Transposing Puccini's 100-year-old opera La Bohème into modern day Bohemia (19th-century Paris's Left Bank becomes late-20th-century New York's East Village where the scourge of tuberculosis becomes the plague of AIDS) Rent celebrates life among the young, sick, and unconventional. While Broadway shows are hardly the place for authentic portrayals of the latest marginalized hipsters, composer Jonathan Larson (who died at age 36, days before his musical opened) managed to sculpt vivid characters and scenes that bring Avenue A as close as it will ever come to 42nd Street. And by telling a socially relevant story of living without the guarantee of a future (renting, that is), Larson does his own little bit to define an X'ed generation. At worst, Rent is the Hair of the '90s.

For the majority of us who won't be seeing Rent anytime soon, the Original Cast Recording is more than just an after-show souvenir. Well-packaged with a complete libretto, the two-CD set is a worthwhile album separate of live performance. Full of songs that are funny and catchy, inspiring and touching, smart and hip and not overly sentimental, Rent mixes showtune pop with elements of rock, R&B, dance, gospel, and tango to make one of the best albums of the year--certainly the best rock opera in decades. La vie bohème, indeed. --Roni Sarig

---

Futures

Cast Recording;

---

Customer Review:

Soundtrack - next best thing to a front row seat

Beautifully packaged, great soundtrack. My 9 year old and I love this - we play it and play it. Brings back great memories of seeing it on stage at the Fox in St. Louis.

Perfect before or after the show...

Unbelievable

This soundtrack has some great songs on it, and the show itself is a masterpiece and deserves its Pulitzer. The music in this soundtrack is very touching, and the singers themselves are perfect for the parts that they sing.

The Five Best Tracks In My Opinion

Without You
I'll Cover You
Take Me Or Leave Me
Seasons Of Love
One Song Glory

"RENT" Overated

Don't get me worng I think RENT is a good piece of musical theatre but I mean come on there are only a few stand out songs in the show and the rest are just ok and some songs are just plain awful! I have seen RENT and yes it was worth the time and money but what some people say about this show blows my mind... This Show is not amazing! It is just good. I really dont understand how people love every track on the CD because some you couldnt pay me to listen to! Don't buy the CD unless you have seen the show and know that you will like majority of the music! All in All RENT tries but comes up a tad short.

---

Keywords: Cast Recordings; Music Theater; Musical Theater; Pop; Showtunes / B'way;

---

---

x close

Loteria de la Cumbia Lounge

---

Customer Review:

Amazing Infused Latino Sound

Wow - what a great find! My husband I heard a song on an XM world music station and went out and purchased this CD shortly after. Beautiful sound that is hard to describe. Part Latino, part jazz, part dance. Perfect for a party or for listening to while hanging out around the house. My favorite CD of the year for sure. I highly recommend you listen to it.

Warm & Cozy

This was an impulse buy after I caught a review on NPR. Some impulse buys pan out, some don't. Luckily, this one did. I teach English at a continuation high school. When the students write, I sometimes want some music that keeps us all going and yet doesn't call unwarranted attention to itself. This record is perfect, a sort of Latin Hip-Hop with club influences (no slamming beats). Since most of my students are Hispanic and Black, this is a great compromise, and it's off-beat enough to keep them interested, yet guessing.

a gritty Latin martini

Former Bodean and popular session musician, Michael Ramos, ventures out for a debut solo project. In the past, he has worked with The Rembrandts, Patty Griffin, Paul Simon, John Mellencamp, and Ani DiFranco. Loteria de la Cumbia Lounge gets its title from Ramos' studio. "Cumbia" is a popular, accordian-heavy music from Columbia, cheery ans sometimes cheesy music of the peasants. This is a mellow Latin martini, combining danceable urban grooves with an occasional nod at borderline kitsch with a twist of grit and traditional Latin instruments. From the intriguing Latin pop of "El Indio" and "Mexicanos" to the mid-tempo instrumentals which recall Sergio Mendez or Esquivel ("Romanticos Desperados," "Volcanico"). Multi-instrumental Ramos performs some of the album himself, inviting guest musicians like Brian Standefer and Russell Scanlon to add to the remainder of the songs.

---

Keywords: Int'l & World Music; Latin; Latin Pop/Rock;

---

---

x close

The Phantom of the Opera (2004 Movie Soundtrack)

For better or worse, Andrew Lloyd Webber's adaptation of Gaston Leroux's gothic horror/romance novel has done for stage musicals what Spielberg's Jaws did for fish stories, with worldwide sales of its original cast album approaching 25 million. While director Joel Schumacher's film turns on his typically ambitious visual verve, its new film soundtrack recording has been paradoxically focused in scope, yet beefed up dynamically via the brawny presence of a hundred piece orchestra and The London Boys Choir. This single disc version showcases all of Phantom's key songs (a deluxe, double-disc edition is also available), with Gerard Butler imparting a welcome, youthful sensuality to his Phantom, making a fine foil for Emmy Rossum's ever-conflicted Christine. Original show orchestrator David Cullen has fashioned compelling new contemporary arrangements to frame Webber's songs -- which now conclude with the lilting, upbeat new ballad he wrote for the film, "Learn to Be Lonely," sung by Minnie Driver. --Jerry McCulley

---

Futures

Soundtrack;

---

Customer Review:

Fabulous

This is totally an awesome soundtrack. I have played it numerous times and always look forward to hearing it again. What great music!

Great soundtrack for a great movie!

It's been a long time since a movie has compelled me to watch it more than once, but I find myself wanting to watch Phantom of the Opera repeatedly. I've always liked the play, but I absolutely loved the movie version, especially the songs as performed by Gerard Butler, Emmy Rossem, and Patrick Wilson. I've always found the Michael Crawford/Sarah Brightman version to be a little too intensely operatic for my taste, but the songs were performed with much more simplicity in the movie, which I really liked. This CD gives you just the main songs with vocals, perfect if you just want to hear their remarkable singing, but don't want to listen to the 2 disc set that you can also buy. Although truth be told, I could do without Prima Donna, I've never liked that song. But oh well, that's what the skip button is for.

Simply amazing, but not on one CD!

This is an amazing CD since it's one of the few times that I have heard Webber's "Phantom of the Opera" done so beautifully, sadly, it cannot capture it's full beauty on one CD! I highly reommend that you pay the $5 more for the deluxe 2-CD set of the movie soundtrack. In the long run, you won't mind spending the extra money for an amazing set that you'll be able to listen to for hours on end!

---

Keywords: Film; Film Music; Musicals; Original Score; Pop; Show Tunes; Soundtrack; Soundtracks; Soundtracks & Film Scores;

---

---

x close

Talking Timbuktu

Talking Timbuktu is a groundbreaking record that vividly illustrates the Africa-Blues connection in real time. Ali Farka Toure, one of Mali's leading singer-guitarists, has a trance-like, bluesy style that, although deeply rooted in Malian tradition, bears astonishing similarity to that of John Lee Hooker or even Canned Heat. It's a mono-chordal vamp, with repetitive song lines cut with shards of blistering solo runs that shimmer like a desert mirage. Toure may be conversant with some blues artists, but it is unlikely that artists like Hooker or Robert Pete Williams ever heard these Malian roots, which makes the connection so uncanny. Ry Cooder, well versed in domestic and world guitar styles, is the perfect counterpoint in these extended songs/jams, his sinewy slide guitar intertwining with his partner's in a super world summit without barriers or borders. --Derek Rath

---

Customer Review:

Talking Timbuktu

FANTASTIC !!! I WOULD HIGHLY RECOMMEND THE ALBUM, I LISTEN TO IT FOR HOURS.

Heard "Diaraby " on The World on NPR...

Everytime, they asked the geo quiz I just simply could never concentrate on the question being asked and just simply melt away in the most romantic back ground music. Very nice!!

Simply Sensual

I first heard the track Ai Du while watching the movie Unfaithful. When I heard this song, I immediately went on a wild search looking for this music. It was like my soul yearned to hear it again. Needless to say, this song is my favorite part of the movie. The entire CD has a senusal, raw jazz/blues feel to it. Highly recommended.

---

Keywords: Int'l & World Music; Pop; Rock/Pop;

---

---