The Music Man (1957 Original Broadway Cast) [Angel Reissue]
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Free Music Notes for The Music Man (1957 Original Broadway Cast) [Angel Reissue]
Free Music Review: Music Man
Hit: 5 Stars
The original cast recording brings back the memory of the live production I saw which will always be superior, in my opinion, to the movie version. However, the movie was one of the better "reproductions" of this genre.Free Music Review: One of This Country's Finest Musicals Beautifully Re-Mastered
Hit: 5 Stars
THE MUSIC MAN opened on Broadway on December 19, 1957 to rave reviews from the critics, adulations from the captivated audiences, and the beginning of a long run. This wondrous musical is an 'opera' of sorts in that the piece is not a series of songs connected by the usual musical comedy spoken dialogue. Meredith Willson wrote the music and lyrics in such a way that there is not an extraneous note or word that doesn't contribute to the totality of the work.
Despite the multiple reincarnations of this brilliant show both on film and recording, none of them compares to this original cast. Imagine Barbara Cook (lithe, and new) as Marian the Librarian: Cook still reigns as one of our finest voices on the stage and cabaret rooms today. Robert Preston is not only rich in personality he also delivers the immensely complex patter songs with deft authority. And the Buffalo Bills add the multiple barbershop quartet numbers with authentic sound and professionalism.
This musical holds all of the joys and imaginations and longings that we all hold so dear in our memories of how things used to be - and it is so terrific to return to that stage of ecstasy again. This is a must own CD. Grady Harp, November 06
Free Music Review: We need a new remaster, nonetheless
Hit: 5 Stars
A very interesting photo on the liner booklet's back cover demonstrates the one real flaw in this otherwise classic recording: it shows Robert Preston at the album sessions singing at two mikes, a fat Neumann with a Capitol flag and a skinny one, probably an AKG. This can only mean Capitol recorded this in simultaneous mono and stereo takes. With all that knob twiddling the balance had to go off, a problem not entirely corrected by the reissue engineer Bob Norberg, whose remasterings of Ol' Blue's Capitol mono output have earned scorn from some Sinatraphiles for their slight fake echo and stereo effects. (He remastered just about every album in the Broadway Angel series; the monos all appear to have the echo and stereo.) I guess we should be happy to have this in any form at all given how the other majors turned it down. Capitol was late and indifferent to the cast album trade, and it only had three hits before making its monumental closing botch of "Follies." However the label approached it it's still a great and exciting score perfectly performed. Who could have imagined a hit musical with a barbershop quartet? And if only all women could sing like Barbara Cook! Who says you can have too much of a good thing?
With the show's fiftieth anniversary coming up (!) now would be a good time for a remaster. (I know, I know, I'm tired of paying repeatedly for the same product too, but this deserves it.) It should include a second disc with the 1959 Capitol documentary LP "And Then I Wrote 'The Music Man'", where Meredith Willson and his wife Rini detail the eight years of trials and rewrites behind the show. Nor would it hurt to have bonuses like Willson's original take on "Till There Was You" (called "Till I Met You," which Fran Warren evidently first sang on "The Big Show") or a few licensed pop balladeers of the day -- and maybe examples like the 70s jingle for the late lamented Oldsmobile ("Oh ho the new Oldsmobile is a -- comin' down the line...."). It must also include Willson's contentious JFK physical fitness tune "Chicken Fat", recorded about the time "The Music Man" was filmed and available only on oddball Web music sites, where Preston yells and grunts himself into an athletic -- passion. (I keep thinking Allan Sherman recorded a full version of his notorious parody "76 Sol Cohens", but I guess he didn't.) The whole thing should end with a live public-radio performance from 1980 or 1981 where Willson led the superb Detroit Concert Band in "76 Trombones" and "The Stars and Stripes Forever" -- an apt and brilliant finish.
No, I have not forgotten the Beatles, but I fear neither have their lawyers.
Free Music Review: Accept no substitutes!
Hit: 4 Stars
This the best version of "The Music Man" available, especially if you're looking for the Broadway cast. The performances here are all terrific, the recording and mastering are great, and the liner notes are informative and thorough. "The Music Man" is available in several other versions and forms, including other releases of the same original cast recording, but without the good mastering or liner notes found here. My wife and I, hoping to listen to this great show with our kids, first purchased other versions that were easier to find (e.g., on iTunes) and those were major disappointments. Buy this CD (Broadway Classics from Angel) and accept no substitutes.Free Music Review: Preston and Cook are the best ever
Hit: 5 Stars
Yes, the film is a delight, and Shirley Jones is certainly good as Marian. But the original cast album of this wonderful musical remains the best version ever, mostly thanks to Barbara Cook, whose voice was and remains a miracle of rare device to listen to.
For years I thought I was the only person who was in love with her voice, wearing out vinyl LPs of this musical with replaying. Then, in the early 80s I saw Cook in a one woman show in London, and discovered I was part of a fanatical following! The other reviews here on Amazon confirm the truth: there is only one truly great Marian, Madam Librarian.
Watch the movie, which is a terrific adaptation of the stage show, go to professional and amateur revivals of the musical, but buy this recording of the score for repeated listening. There is nothing better.