Jekyll & Hyde Resurrection [SOUNDTRACK]

Frank Wildhorn

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 22, 2006)
• Original Release Date: August 22, 2006
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Soundtrack
• Label: Koch Records
• ASIN: B000EGDNE0
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #130,233 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Certainly not the "definitive" version of J&H, August 25, 2006

By	Steven Valenti "svclue" (Cleveland, OH) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Simply put, this new "Jekyll & Hyde" recording pales in comparison to the two other major ones: the 1994 2-disc set and the 1997 Broadway version, both of which I enjoy, especially the '94 one.

"Jekyll & Hyde" has always been slighted as a "pop opera," but the one thing that was too often overlooked about Frank Wildhorn's unabashedly radio-friendly score is that, yes it's pop music, but most of the numbers happen to be GOOD pop songs. Certainly, there is a definite difference between shows that use pop music to solid effect and ones that completely muck it up ("Brooklyn," anyone?).

So I have always been a big fan of the 2-disc set that represented the show in one of many, many stages. The leads on the recording-- Anthony Warlow, Linda Eder, and Carolee Carmello-- are phenomenal, and in my mind, the definitive three. After a long tour, the show finally made it to Broadway, with a new book, new staging, bad cuts, a million reprises of the number "Façade" and, worst of all, "Broadway" style orchestrations that somehow never felt right. Still, the Broadway recording has its merits-- especially a really strong Robert Cuccioli as Jekyll/Hyde. Christiane Noll took over for Carolee Carmello (with the character renamed Emma, instead of Lisa-- more Victorian-sounding, I guess), Linda Eder was still on hand as the prostitute Lucy, and the trio served the songs well again.(If only Cuccioli and Eder were documented on DVD instead of David Hasselhoff!)

So with at least two recordings-- each with three leads singing the heck out of the songs, this new recording has a lot to live up to. The first thing "Jekkies" will notice is the abundance of wailing electric guitars throughout the cd. This in itself is not a bad thing, except Rob Evan as Jekyll/ Hyde is far too traditional Broadway-sounding to get into the rock spirit that this cd tries for on many occasions. Overall, the songs are reorchestrated in a way that sounds less theatrical and more like a concept album of a new show (okay, maybe a show from the 80s).

The other major changes are the elimination of ensemble songs-- no "Board of Governors," "Façade," "Murder, Murder," etc. For some, this may be a good thing. It does sort of damage the storytelling, though, placing the focus squarely on the songs of the three leads. I do like that this recording restores "The Girls of the Night," probably the best song that was cut for Broadway. Unfortunately, it's turned into a duet for Lucy and Emma, which doesn't make dramatic sense (Emma is a "girl of the night"--a prostitute? wh wh what?!). Gone is Broadway's overly-symbolic "Good and Evil" and back is "Bring on the Men,"-- good choice, but the tempo is way, waaaaay too slow.

Overall, the feeling of this recording is sort of the reverse of the previous recordings-- it feels like a work in progress, a show that is just being figured out-- not a definitive final version, as I expected it would be. The performances, too, feel unpolished-- it's like showing up to the theater and being stuck with the understudies in ALL THREE lead performances.

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Joy to Listen To, August 22, 2006

By	Grace Chen (San Francisco, CA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I've had this CD (Korean Version) for more than a month already, and I listen to it almost every day. At first I was aprehensive about listening to it, because it was an "amped-up" version of the beloved musical, but I was immediately impressed by the quality of the performers and the new arrangements of the music. It's not just guitars and keyboards, there's an orchestra providing the musical backup too. Though sometimes the modern feel doesn't work out (only on "Dangerous Game", really), I love how the songs sound so unmusical-like. You can imagine some of the more popular numbers like "Someone Like You" "This is the Moment" "In His Eyes" and "A New Life" being performed on the radio or in a concert setting. "Girls of the Night" is a favorite of mine that I'm extremely glad they added on. And with "Bring On the Men" and the new song "If You Only Knew" on the album too, that should be enough reasons to buy it.

The best part of the album are the singers. They are perfect, and sound great; I love their interpretations of the music. At least two of them (Rob and Kate) were involved in the Broadway version as well. Terrific-sounding album that you won't regret purchasing.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Some good, some bad, September 23, 2006

By	J. McCormick - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This recording is not quite what I had hoped it would be in listening to the preview samples on the label's website and on Amazon. When I heard from the samples that the new arrangements would be using electric guitar, I thought it would add an interesting edge to the show, and to some extent that strategy worked. Unfortunately, there are also times when it is distracting, particularly when there are unnecessary guitar solos or when there's just too much guitar noise going on and taking away from the musical quality.

The guy who plays Jekyll/Hyde is actually very good, and I was impressed with him. He has a great voice, and he brought the right level of energy to the part. The women, while passable, are not quite impressive.

This recording mostly returns the show to the "Complete Recording" state rather than what appeared on the Broadway cast recording. Fortunately, unlike the Complete Recording, this recording is well-paced and has very few boring moments in it. It also brings back the songs "I Need to Know" and "Bring on the Men", which is a far superior song to "Good and Evil" that appears on the Broadway recording. This recording also mixes the earlier versions of "Dangerous Game" to one that would easily be the best one yet if it weren't for a few cheesy effects.

The new song, "If You Only Knew", is good but not anything to get overly excited about. Of course, the biggest moment of any Jekyll & Hyde recording is the Confrontation. As with much of this recording, I'm somewhat ambivalent about it. While there's a lot of good things going on in it, the climactic point of the song is a bit anti-climactic in that it lacks a choral backing and the Jekyll and Hyde parts were recorded separately, so "forever" overlaps "No!" (though the Complete Recording did the same thing, "forevNo!er" just isn't as interesting as "forever! No!").

All in all, I think this is a good recording of Jekyll & Hyde, and I probably would recommend it to Jekyll & Hyde fans, but I will qualify that by saying don't set your expectations TOO high or you will be disappointed. The orchestrations are a pretty big departure from the previous recordings. Sometimes that's very very good, and sometimes that's very, very bad.