The Phantom Project Forum

After long hours of searching the internet, I have finally found somewhere I can get the Ken Hill and David Spencer cast recordings.

Now, I think the Ken Hill version is a pretty safe bet - I am familiar with most of the classical music Hill used as source material and have heard brief samples of it online.

But the David Spencer musical is a different animal...

I have a morbid curiousity to check this one out, after having read Anne's review of it.

The plot sounds insufferably saccharine to me (and I'm a staunch defender of the Kopit/Yeston version!!!)

I guess what I want to know is, are any of these songs pleasant to listen to in isolation?

Regardless of it's place in the Phantom mythology, and how it compares to other versions... is it fun to listen to on it's own?

Also, is this a complete recording or just highlights? Could I understand what's going on just by listening to the CD from beginning to end?

If it's got a few pretty tunes that are good to listen to on their own as standalone songs, or if the album gives one a complete understanding of the show, then I'd consider it worth buying.

To be honest, I wouldn't listen to the Spencer musical again for fun. It's very obviously targeted toward children, and the songs are lively enough to keep them entertained, but they're also immediately forgettable (at least, for me). The CD does, however, tell most of a cohesive story--there are dialogue scenes included where necessary to keep the plot intact, so if you're interested in hearing the story with some faintly amusing musical interludes, it could be worth it. I really can't recommend the music, though... it isn't bad, but neither is it good.

Point of interest, though; Christine is sung by Marni Raab, who later went on to sing the same role in Webber's musical on Broadway, so if you're a fan of hers you might want to pick it up. I believe I got my copy used from Amazon, though I don't know if there are any still up there.

I think Hill's is fantastic, however. I paid for my copy to be shipped from Australia, and I have no regrets. I do listen to that one for my own enjoyment!

After searching the internet I managed to find David Spencer's official site, which contained three songs from this musical
("Angel Of Music", "Something Different" and "I Awoke")
Although they were samples from a recording available exclusively from his website (supposedly "the creators preferred version") and not the officially released CD.

Still, it was enough to make me chicken out of buying the CD from the Dress Circle online shop - to think that these were the three best songs he picked to flog his CD. "Angel Of Music" was quite pretty actually, if inconsequential, and if the other samples had been like that then I might've considered it... but, as you said in your review, Anne, "Something Different" is tooth grindingly sentimental and "I Awoke" is just ridiculous in the way it depicts peoples' reactions to Erik's injuries.

(Anne: I seem to recall you saying in your review that there was only one song you had in your head humming away after listening to the CD straight through from beginning to end. But you didn't say which one. What was the name of that song?)

Incidentally, I did place an order through Dress Circle for Ken Hill's musical, only to get an email the next day saying that it'd be put on back-order.

GRRRRRRR!!!

Anne: where in Australia did you order the Ken Hill musical from? I haven't been able to find it in shops anywhere.

The only song that got stuck in my head was "Something Different"... but it was more in the way that "Yellow Submarine" gets stuck in your head. And I couldn't really remember more than a few lines of it, which somehow got into a loop in my head. It wasn't exactly the kind of humming along that means I enjoyed it all that much.

I got my copy of the Hill musical from eBay, I believe; searching only turned up this copy, however, which is more expensive than what I paid for it. They might have raised the price since they're probably down to only one or two.