High Fidelity CD Review

[RentHead2]

Posted: 5/25/07 at 6:24am

I am posting this one because I absolutly loved High Fidelity. Found this very interesting article at EW.COM (might already be on boards but here you go:)

High Fidelity: Original Broadway Cast Recording
(Ghostlight)

Yes, it was the most maligned show of 2006. But I maintain that High Fidelity — which opened and closed in less than two weeks last December — was also the most underrated. For proof, pick up the CD, which solves pretty much every problem the show had on stage. (That Bruce Springsteen impersonator sounds a heck of a lot better than he looked.)

Tom Kitt's music, a terrific fusion of pop and Broadway, manages to be both hip and accessible — not to mention insanely catchy. The 'Last Real Record Store on Earth' opening sucks you in with its toe-tapping melody...and then you notice Amanda Green's slacker-cum-sophisticate lyrics: 'Nothing's great and nothing's new / Nothing has its worth/ Meet the real go-getter with the thrift-store sweater in the last real record store on earth.' The momentum continues with 'Desert Island Top 5 Breakups,' lags a bit with the new age-y 'Ian's Here,' but picks up again with the brilliantly ironic codependent ballad 'Ready to Settle' ('You're just like me / Alone and sad / And in this light / You don't look so bad / I've had the best, now I need a rest / Just someone who'll do, and I'm ready to settle for you'). High Fidelity will probably only be remembered as a footnote to the 2006-07 Broadway season, but the original Broadway cast recording may well become one of your desert-island discs. B+

[sarab]

Posted: 5/25/07 at 9:49am

Thanks so much for posting Renthead 2!

I love the CD so much and haven't stopped listening to it since it came in the mail. I unfortunately didn't get a chance to see the show, though I have watched several videos on youtube of it, (they have all been deleted for several months) and videos on all of the other websites as well. It looked like a fantastic show with an amazing cast!

Don't forget to check out the concert at BIRDLAND on June 18th at 7:00pm!

[WithoutATrace]

Posted: 5/25/07 at 10:01am

I will be at that Birdland concert on 6/18 with my friend. We saw the third to last performance of HIGH FIDELITY together and really enjoyed ourselves.

[RentHead2]

Posted: 5/25/07 at 10:05am

No problem :) I absolutly adored this show, and damn glad it got on the top 10 charts. I went to see this show twice in two weeks and I payed I believe in the neighborhood of $60.00 for it but worth every penny. I thought I would have to live off the 6 song demo I had forever, just glad the cd was released.

SHE GOES sounds fantastic, I just wish they didn't take out the lines inbetween the music like they did on the cd.

[WithoutATrace]

Posted: 5/25/07 at 10:09am

My favorite songs on the CD are "Desert Island Top Five Break Ups," "She Goes," "Number Five With A Bullet," "Ready To Settle," "Nine Percent Chance," "Cryin' In The Rain," and "Goodbye and Goodluck." I also love Jen Colella's cut song "Too Tired." What a fantastic cast recording. I feel so lucky to have seen this show twice on November 21st and December 16th.

[RentHead2]

Posted: 5/25/07 at 10:12am

Too Tired was a fantastic song and should have never been cut. Okay I will go with My Desert Island Top Five on the CD:

1. She Goes
2. Nine Percent Chance
3. Number 5 W/ A Bullet
4. Crying In The Rain
5. I Slept w/ Someone (who slept with Lyle Lovett)

[jasonf]

Posted: 5/25/07 at 2:27pm

Funny, I just gave Caitie my top five favorite songs from it last night - we got to see it before it closed also and both loved it.

1. Desert Island (I actually think this is my favorite song of the entire season last year)
2. Ready to Settle
3. Goodbye and Good Luck
4. Nice Percent Chance
5. Ian's Here (it just makes me laugh when she does the Michael Jackson thing)

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 5/25/07 at 2:32pm

What an awful score.

[Ofayer]

Posted: 5/25/07 at 2:37pm

I have the recording with Judy and Liza singing it in siliver and red slippers, respectively.

[WithoutATrace]

Posted: 5/25/07 at 2:43pm

My least favorite songs are "Ian's Here" and "I Slept With Someone."

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 5/25/07 at 2:48pm

I think Tom Kitt is really talented, so I'm sure the CD is quite good. I didn't see the show. But that review is ridiciulous; if the music wasn't really the problem, then no, the CD doesn't prove that the musical was underrated. It proves that it had a good score hiding under a mess. A good CD doesn't *solve* the problems, it just doesn't include them.

[little_sally]

Posted: 5/25/07 at 2:58pm

I'm going to have to agree with Munk on this one. There's only a few tracks on the album I can manage to listen to, and they're not even great. Just the best of the worst.

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 5/25/07 at 4:18pm

Who's TOP 10 list did it get on?

and why?

[little_sally]

Posted: 5/25/07 at 4:21pm

I think RentHead2 is referring to the fact the album landed at I think #6 on the Billboard chart for cast recordings.

[magicfingers]

Posted: 5/25/07 at 4:55pm

out of curiosity Munkstrap, If you consider High Fidelity a terrible score for a rock musical, what DO you consider to be a good rock musical score?

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 5/25/07 at 5:23pm

Oh, leave him alone...

[little_sally]

Posted: 5/25/07 at 5:36pm

it's not as if he's the only one who called this score awful

[Cages or Wings]

Posted: 5/25/07 at 5:44pm

"out of curiosity Munkstrap, If you consider High Fidelity a terrible score for a rock musical, what DO you consider to be a good rock musical score?"

This rhetorical technique doesn't work here.

For Example, Munk could say that he finds Rent or Hair to be a good Rock musical score, and you would have still not made any point.

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 5/25/07 at 5:56pm

Well, since you asked, I'll tell you - though I don't see what it will prove.

I don't love all scores on this list the same amount, and not all of them are brilliant - buy they certainly are more than serviceable for the show.

Hair
Jesus Christ Superstar
Godspell
Two Gentlemen of Verona
Grease
Pippin
The Rocky Horror Show
The Wiz
Evita
Little Shop of Horrors
Chess
Rent
tick, tick...BOOM!
Aida
Bat Boy
Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Spring Awakening

[magicfingers]

Posted: 5/25/07 at 7:10pm

I would easily put the High Fidelity score amongst the musicals you mention.

[matjomae]

Posted: 5/25/07 at 8:22pm

Has anyone else who preordered the CD not received it yet?

[theaterdude87]

Posted: 5/25/07 at 9:06pm

I bought it from iTunes and think it is great. I love it. I think it may have done better off-broadway...but stiil the music is great and the cast sounds great.

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 5/26/07 at 2:13am

I ordered mine, and I haven't recieved it yet, but that was earlier this week, so I'm sure it will be here either tomm. or Monday. I can't wait (and I also got 110 in the Shade!). I wish they would tour this show like they had planned when it opended on Broadway. It sounds like its a better show than people thought.

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 5/26/07 at 2:16am

Okay, magic.

Sure.

HIGH FIDELITY's score is just as great as Hair, Pippin, Evita, Little Shop, Rent, Hedwig, and Spring Awakening.

Right. A classic in the making!

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 5/26/07 at 2:19am

I like all the ones you mentioned, except SA. I'm a little on the fence about that one. But Evita is heaven in my ears everytime I listen to it. I just wish there was a complete version in English without Mandy P.