Buffy the Vampire Slayer - Once More, with Feeling
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Free Music Notes for Buffy the Vampire Slayer - Once More, with Feeling
Free Music Review: Buffy Fans
Hit: 5 Stars
If you're buying this CD because you can't get these songs out of your head, and you're wearing a whole in your Season 6 disc 2, you will be very happy. This CD hasn't left my player since it's arrival over a month ago. Yay for Joss Wheadon!Free Music Review: What Joss Did On His Summer Vacation
Hit: 4 Stars
I must admit that the first time I saw the episode "Once More With Feeling" I was a bit disappointed. I didn't think it quite lived up to all the hype and in any case, I was suffering from the mild disillusionment which accompanied "Buffy's" so-so sixth season.
Much later, after the season had wrapped, I watched the "Making Of" featurette on the DVD. It was only then I realized how much creative effort had gone into making it. It took a few minutes for my eyebrows to lower back into place when I realized that Joss Whedon had not merely conceived the episode but had actually written all the songs, all the lyrics, all the music and all the dialogue as a "summer school project" between Season Five and Season Six. A labor of love like that must be given a second hearing, so in went the DVD for an encore. It was a good decision.
Everyone is going to have their personal favorites as far as the songs go, and in fact the main reason I bought the album originally was for James Marsters' rock 'n roll power ballad "Rest in Peace", but once I got it other favorites soon emerged. For one, I was surprised how much I enjoyed Sarah Michelle Gellar's vocals on "Going Through the Motions", "Walk Through the Fire" and "Something to Sing About." Show tunes are not exactly my thing, but although she isn't a professional singer (like Marsters her voice comes off as a little strained) she has a pleasant singing voice and brings the same subtlety of emotion into her singing as she does to her acting.
"Under Your Spell" showcases the superb pipes of Amber Benson, who really does sound like a pro as she dances about, and the two songs by Hinton Battle, who plays the smooth-dancin' demon Sweet, have a kind of gleefully evil scene-stealing quality to them, especially the line about "I can bring whole cities to ruin/and still have time to get a soft shoe in."
Of course, it wouldn't be Buffy if there wasn't a dose of absolutely over-the-top foreshadowing, and so we have Nicky Brendon and Emma Caulfield do their since-'n-dance duet, which is not merely a microcosm of their relationship but prefigures its downfall. Brendon is of course no singer, but it is completely in line with Xander's character that even when possessed by magic mojo, he still sounds like any tone-deaf dude wailing away in a shower. As always the terrific chemistry he has with Caulfield's Anya has to make you laugh and groan at the same time:
ANYA: When things get rough he/just hides behind his Buffy/now look he's gettin' huffy/'cause he knows that I know.
XANDER: She clings/she's needy/she's also really greedy/she--
ANYA: His eyes are beady!
XANDER: This is my verse, hello!
Caulfield is also hilarious when she interrupts the groupsing in the Magic Shop to launch into a rock 'n roll rant against bunnies (or maybe midgets?).
Of course no review would be complete without mentioning Tony Head, who along with Battle is one of the only professionals on the album. Not surprisingly, he gets saddled with the heavy "Standing", which is a fine enough song, but I would have preferred it if Wheedon had given him something ridiculously out of character -- some head-banging bit of noise from his Ripper days, maybe.
I guess the most impressive thing about the episode/album is that the characters aren't just singing lyrics, they're singing dialogue, dialogue which it turns out is probably the most important of the season, since it foreshadows all the conflicts which are to bloom later between Buffy & Spike, Xander & Anya, Tara & Willow, and also the unseen inner conflicts of Giles and Dawn. I guess you could say it's a blueprint for the whole year put to music.
I have to say still don't like the sixth season very much, it remains my least favorite of the seven, but "Once More With Feeling" is definitely one of its brightest spots.
Free Music Review: awsome!!!
Hit: 5 Stars
i love the music. it gives the words for each song and it even plays the short funny songs on the episode. there could be no better sound track for Buffy than this. it also gives sound clips from "Hush" and "Restless".Free Music Review: I love this CD.
Hit: 5 Stars
For anyone who likes the series "Buffy, The Vampire Slayer" they will love this CD. It is very well done. I love the voice of Anthony Stewart HeadFree Music Review: I LOVE THIS CD!
Hit: 5 Stars
Being a loyal Buffy fan, has it's rewards. I had missed this episode, but while browsing a Buffy Website, that had each character's favorite episode, and the resounding answer was that their favorite was "Once More with Feeling". I just had to see this, and now it's MY favorite too. I'd recommend it to any Buffy fan, as everyone has a part, and it's a lot of fun.