bare The Complete Studio Recording — Page 19

Still no e-mail here. I am pretty bummed.

Is there no other way to get the CD than thru their website?

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Still nothing here. Maybe they got tired of me complaining and decided not to send it to me. Kidding, hopefully.

Let me start by saying that I love "bare." It is one of my favorite shows, and I feel like it never really got the shot that it deserved. So clearly I've been eagerly anticipating this album. The verdict...

Wow am I disappointed. There are certainly a few parts of the score that have been improved (the rap, some of the new incedentals between songs, The new lyrics in the song "Bare," and the new arrangement of "God Don't Make Trash" for instance ), but I dislike almost every single lyric change. And not in a, "I'm just not used to it yet" way. It's simply not as good as what I saw at Dodger stages or hear in that nearly ubiquitous bootleg from May of '04. I love Damon, but I feel like this is a case of overcomplicating. I think he messed with something that was working fine. Even songs which could have been polished ("Love Dad" comes to mind) are far superior to the songs or lyrics that replaced them ("Plain Jane Fat Ass" is very disappointing). While other songs ("Birthday Bitch," "Best Kept Secret," parts of "Epiphany," parts of "You and I" among many, many others), that worked, more or less, are now very lyrically awkward. Many of the changes were simply not needed.

My other issue is that this recording has no energy to it. It feels so flat. The music feels very overproduced. Too polished.Don't get me wrong, the score still sounds beautiful, but this show, like Spring Awakening (though I've always thought "bare" was a much better, all-around, piece) gets so much of its energy from the band. From the spirit of live performance. Though, obviously. that energy can't be completely replicated on an album, it can be done far better than this. It's just so flat. So pedestrian.

Speaking of flat, the performances do nothing for me. Now, I have never been someone to believe that only one person (or group of people) can do a role (or roles)justice. So I was more than happy to look at all performers on this record with a completely open mind. And to be honest they are almost all vocally impressive. The problem is that they disappoint on almost all other fronts. For one thing there is no subtlety to anyone's performance (except maybe Jenna's and certainly Kaitlin's). Again, I love the voices for the most part, but so much of the emotion has been sucked from the show (In "Absolution" for example, though it's certainly not limited to that song). I feel like no one is acting (A perfect example is the exchange between Peter and Jason when stepping outside at the rave. There is just no acting occurring here. It's just words. This happens throughout the entire album). Needless to say, I am appreciating what Michael Arden, Jon Hill, Natalie Joy Johnson, and Aaron Lohr brought to this piece so much more right now.

Bottom line, I'm glad that this score got recorded in any form. But the lyrics no longer feel natural, and this recording is a shadow of what this show is, and what it can do. I'm disappointed that this will be many people's first exposure to the whole score. The simplest way to put it is this. The studio album feels like an early demo of what eventually was produced at Dodgers in 2004. After two listens, I think I'm going to go back to that other recording of the full score when I need my "bare" fix.


Edited to add some things and fix grammar.

I also wanted to add that I still love the show, and greatly appreciate what Damon and Co. were doing here. I am just disappointed that it will be on this that many will judge "bare," and it is so much more than this album.

Updated On: 11/12/07 at 03:05 PM

Just wanted to add another example I forgot: "Ever After." It was a simple beautiful song (and in fairness it still is), but what was wrong with "When did we lose ever after?" Now it's "So much for our ever after." Now I feel like that does not improve the lyric in the slightest. In fact, I feel like it's far more emotional when Peter is on the verge of tears asking it as a question. That is how so many of the changes feel. Unnecessary and detrimental.

Hey I got my email at 1 am on a Sunday. If they sent it today, you could get an email at, literally, any time.

Updated On: 11/12/07 at 03:38 PM

The worst part of the score not being as good is that this is the version of the show they are liscensing. So now the world at large will know the shiw like this and not the baeuty that first played in NY. Too bad but I will still wait for my copy to judge for myself.

And still there is no word from Damon about my CD. Day 10 is almost gone and I'm less and less happy as the day draws to a close.

dont know how the double post got there.

Updated On: 11/12/07 at 10:19 PM

"Daniel,

I was just looking for a status update.

Per e-mails sent from the site, my CD was supposed to arrive in the mail today, yet I have still not received any confirmation that my package has even been shipped.

I’m just looking to see how much longer I will have to wait til my $30 is put to good use.


Best Regards,

Christopher "

Angry.

I understand they're a mom and pop, yada yada.

Any other organization would be having their doors knocked down right now.

Still no shipping e-mail as well and I ordered it about 5 minutes after it went on sale.

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This is ass, you guys.

By my third angry email, I shortly thereafter received my shipping confirmation. I should receive it tomorrow.