Free Stream of Spider-man Cast Recording TODAY. - Page 2

[rorschach37]

Posted: 6/7/11 at 1:51pm

Just finished listening to it. I have not seen the show yet and have read countless comments on here about how God-awful the music is, so I was pretty excited to learn it would be streaming today. Some of the songs I think are great, but several of them just fall flat.

1. NY Debut - Is this the overture? If so, kudos to Bono and the Edge. This is a solid instrumental rock track that really got me excited for what was to come.
2. Boy Falls From the Sky - This was probably my favorite song on the album. Great vocals from Reeve and I especially liked that I could understand the lyrics. That performance on GMA was just plain messy.
3. Rise Above 1 - I think this sounds nice, but it's completely pointless and unecessary.
4. Picture This - I didn't hate it, but then I didn't love it either. Sounds like a cool U2 song, but I think it would be really boring to see depicted on stage. Also, why is Bono in this track? Is he singing Patrick Page's part or what?
5. I Just Can't Walk Away (Say It Now) - This is probably tied with Boy Falls From the Sky for my favorite track. It just sounds beautiful.
6. Bouncing Off the Walls - It has some nice guitar riffs, but overall I just thought this track was boring.
7. Pull the Trigger - Someone please get this absolutely God-awful song away from Broadway. Thank You.
8. No More - It wasn't my favorite, but it was alright. You get hear more of the emotional depth of Peter and Mary Jane that was previously heard in "I Just Can't Walk Away".
9. DIY World - Yuck. That's all I have to say about this one.
10. If The World Should End - Just beautiful. Jennifer Damiano just shines in this number.
11. Sinistereo - Ok, so this is supposed to be introducing the Sinister Six if I'm not mistaken, so why the hell does it sound so boring?! And will someone please get Bono and Edge off the album?!
12. A Freak Like Me Needs Company - I thought this song was just called "A Freak Like Me"? Oh well, it still sucks.
13. Rise Above 2 - Very beautiful and uplifting track. It sounds a lot like the version performed on Letterman a few months ago. Is Jennifer part of the number now?
14. Turn Off the Dark - I'm guessing this may be better to see performed on stage? On the album it just sounds boring.

If I were to grade this album I'd probably give it a 6.5 out of 10. I wish that it were an actual cast recording and not a "soundtrack", but hey, what can you do :/

[willep]

Posted: 6/7/11 at 3:27pm

I'm actually kinda enjoying it. It's definitely more interesting to listen to than the How to Succeed recording.

[Scarywarhol]

Posted: 6/7/11 at 4:24pm

NY Debut is the only decent track. This is a horrible representation of the show.

What happened to Boy Falls From the Sky? The lyrics used to be so much more interesting and clear.

[kyl3fong2]

Posted: 6/7/11 at 4:52pm

Bono and The Edge should not have been singing on this recording at all. I wanted to hear Patrick Page sing in "Picture This" and not Bono and whoever sang "Sinistereo" during the show did it just find so why did the Edge have to sing it then? Ugh.

Nonetheless, IF THE WORLD SHOULD END and BOY FALLS FROM THE SKY are so beautiful.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 6/7/11 at 5:12pm

I didn't quite make it to the 10 minute mark. Everything about it seems off. First, casting what sounds like the lead singer of a U2 tribute band, perhaps one called The Unforgettably Dire, was a big mistake.

Second, this project coming on the heels of U2s worst album perhaps ever was just terrible timing. They had SUCH goodwill flowing for them during All That You Can't Leave Behind/How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb era. Then they sqaundered it with a crap album in which they ran away from their signature sound. The composers only seem to want to SOUND like U2 now and again. How unfortunate they didn't want to use signature U2isms on their own stuff but grafted them onto poor Spidey.

And Bono, get off the album. Who the hell do you think you are, Billie Joe Armstrong?

[KirbyCat]

Posted: 6/7/11 at 5:35pm

Okay... so I'm only on the second track. But I LOVED the instrumental track, and Reeve actually sounds pretty good in "Boy Falls From the Sky."
But yeah- this is not a cast recording. I said this already, but I'm positive that a cast member tweeted about recording an EP. I can't wait for the actual cast recording to come out post-opening!

[RH1234]

Posted: 6/7/11 at 5:36pm

Do you think there will be a 'more conventional' cast recording released later on?

[Idiot]

Posted: 6/7/11 at 5:48pm

I don't like U2, so I guess it's not surprising that I really dislike what I'm listening to as I write this.

[jpbran]

Posted: 6/7/11 at 5:58pm

The iTunes store has 90-second previews of each song if you don't wanna slog/scan through the 50-min preview track posted here. Better audio quality from the iTunes previews too.

[willep]

Posted: 6/7/11 at 6:16pm

KirbyCat - Yeah, I remember Reeve tweeting that a couple months ago.

[ErikJ972]

Posted: 6/7/11 at 7:00pm

I like rock. So that's not the reason I don't like this music.

Just got finished to listening to it stream on Zune. And I'm still not a fan but I like some of the music MORE than in the theater.
After seeing it live the only song I liked was "Boy Falls From the Sky". I definitely like "Rise Above 2" more here. I also like "If the World Should End" more. I think it may be because both of those songs are stuck in bad scenes in a bad book.
I also really like the instrumental stuff. I remember liking "NY Debut" when I saw it, but the rest of the music never lived up to it so I sort of forgot about it.
But I still think most of it doesn't work and some of it is down right awful. Sinestro, DIY World, and Freak Like Me certainly didn't get any better.
Updated On: 6/7/11 at 07:00 PM

[egghumor]

Posted: 6/7/11 at 7:25pm

Let me begin by saying that I generally like rock scores in theater (but was very disappointed in the score for Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson). Anyway, from various appearances on TV, I had not much cared for what I heard from Spiderman (especially the moribund “Rise Above”), but I liked this recording far more than I expected!

I think Bono and The Edge made a huge mistake by not recording/releasing the score prior to the opening – like Jesus Christ Superstar. I think it would have helped some audiences to have some familiarity with the songs entering the theater. I haven't seen the show, but I can certainly believe that amidst the chaos of flying, set changes, and lots of other distractions, the score gets lost. I don't think it's a great score by any means, but in this case, I think an advance listening or two would certainly help folks take in the show a bit better. Once again, this probably where Taymor made yet another miscalculation by wanting to reveal the whole thing at once. She made herself the "star" and everyone else (Bono, The Edge, cast) her supporting cast. I'm glad she's now out of the way.

Reeve Carney has a fine rock voice and I assume he'll have a promising music/recording career after he is free of Spiderman. I don't expect to see him take on another Broadway show anytime soon after his contract with the show ends – unless it's a strong musical rock musical.

This was a very happy surprise, and I look forward to a second and third listening.

[rorschach37]

Posted: 6/7/11 at 11:13pm

@Finding Namo.

LOL! At least Billie Joe let the cast sing their parts on the American Idiot Cast Recording.

[nyel24]

Posted: 6/7/11 at 11:23pm

i do enjoy both versions of rise above.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 6/7/11 at 11:23pm

I know. And let me say, I LOVE rock music, I love good rock musicals, and I was a U2 fan forever. I saw them on their first American tour in a tiny club. Sure, they lost me on the last album, I didn't even use the tickets to the giant claw tour they're still slogging around after the awful album came out. Didn't even try to sell them. The air completely let out for me. Into this morass comes the dreadful Spider-Man experience.

[Jay Lerner-Z]

Posted: 6/7/11 at 11:59pm

Wow, FindingNamo - that's a big turnaround. You missed out on the last (current) tour...perhaps they'll win you back with their next record. You didn't even like Magnificent? That's not so different to their previous stuff.

[PopAria]

Posted: 8/20/11 at 12:55am

I've been listening to this cast recording a lot more lately (because I'M SO TIRED OF BOOK OF MORMON) and I LOVE IT!
IMO, There are a lot of similarities between this recording and the soundtrack to Across the Universe, anyone else feel the same way?

Rise Above 2 is very interesting if you listen to the choices the singers made with their runs, sounds like it's written in, not really ad-libbed.

Has anyone seen REPO the Genetic Opera? I feel like there are some similarities between the music of Spider-Man and REPO as well ... I don't know how they let those similarities sneek onto this expensive musical.

[LegallyBroadway2]

Posted: 8/20/11 at 1:56am

this is my favorite and most played album!!

I liked REPO! buttttttt I cannot find any similarities between the two. . . . Repo is a barney score compared to Bono and the Edge's fantastic score.

Pull The Trigger is a TOP favorite. Love this song.

[PopAria]

Posted: 8/20/11 at 6:07pm

Pull the Trigger is one of those I was referring to. . .

BUT... I will say I like some parts of that song. lol