Customer Reviews

Rooms: A Rock Romance

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Thoroughly enjoyed this CD. I'm always on the look out for different types of musical productions and this one really took hold. Good music, different styles, contemporary story, great singing and enough to get one thinking beyond the story itself. Oh yes, and it is a love story too!

Fantastic album of terrific sleeper Off Broadway musical. Kritzer and Kreeger infuse every song with emotion and heart be it a ballad like "Happiness", the soul-searching journey of "Clean", or the claim-staking rock anthem of "Bring the Future Faster." A must-have for any rock-musical lover.

With productions of ROOMS cropping up across the country, this 2 person rock romance is slowly making it's name as a cult phenomenon the likes of which not seen since Brown's "The Last Five Years."

Excellent voice and sound quality. Story is easy to understand as the songs are performed. Several songs will stay with you and this is a cd to enjoy over and over again.

I enjoyed the recording of Paul Scott Goodman's "Bright Lights Big City," which despite some flaws, struck me as an admirable attempt at something fresh, and was actually a very faithful adaptation of the novel (perhaps TOO faithful--some of the lyrics seemed lifted directly from the page, often to awkward effect.). He displayed composing talent in that pop-rock score, so I have been waiting to see what he would come up with next.

Well here is Goodman's "Rooms," a twofer starring Leslie Kritzer and Doug Kreeger as Scottish lovers and wannabe rockers. Once again, I'm struck by Goodman's musical talent--he's created some nice musical moments in the recurring title song and a handful of enjoyable rock songs ("Bring the Future Faster," "Let's Go to London," and the faux punk song "All I Want is Everything").

The recording starts well, but I found myself (as with the previous recording) increasingly distracted by the lyrics, which made it hard to keep my eyes from rolling (the duo's on-again, off-again relationship and musical aspirations offer little drama, especially when you throw in tacked-on clichés like his alcoholism and her unwanted pregnancy.).

Kritzer and Kreeger are both good singers, but I really found the Scottish accents grating after awhile (I know it's not really reasonable for me to ask that Scottish characters NOT sound Scottish, but still we're talking about listening pleasure here...).

Perhaps if I heard this album before "Bright Lights" I would be a little more lenient about its flaws. But rather than delivering on the promises shown there, is just extends the wait for a great Goodman score.

From an opening that "pulses with infectious theatre rock energy" to sweet songs about finding love in the big city, this is a must purchase for those theater goers that enjoy fine music!