Friday, January 27, 2006

ANOTHER QUIZ!



1. “Run Shadowfax. Show us the meaning of haste”



2. "She's so sexy. Look at her body language. All verbs!"


3. "You know, one of these days, you might want to consider sitting down with someone. You know, have a little share time? Get in touch with your inner child? Also, you just might want to consider blinking once in a while."


4. "Franks and Beans! Franks and Beans!"


5. "Oh, no no no no. Dead broad OFF the table!"


6. "Doesn't anybody notice this? I feel like I'm taking crazy pills!"


7. "Welcome to Earth!"


8. "They all have husbands and wives and children and houses and dogs, and, you know, they've all made themselves a part of something and they can talk about what they do. What am I gonna say? "I killed the president of Paraguay with a fork. How've you been?"


9. "And that's what she is, the Queen of Refuse. So bow down to her if you want, bow to her. Bow to the Queen of Slime, the Queen of Filth, the Queen of Putrescence. Boo. Boo. Rubbish. Filth. Slime. Muck. Boo. Boo. Boo."


10. "If I'm curt with you, it's because time is a factor here. I think fast, I talk fast, and I need you guys to act fast if you want to get out of this. So, pretty please, with sugar on top, clean the fucking car."

Sunday, January 22, 2006

CD Review: Sarah Brightman – Love Changes Everything
The Andrew Lloyd Webber Collection: Volume Two

First posted on Blogcritics.org

Of course I’d heard of Sarah Brightman, I knew she sung, mostly in musicals or opera. I knew that she had been married to Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber, the amazing genius behind Jesus Christ Superstar, Cats, Evita and much more. I also knew she had a pretty face and a prettier voice. A few years back, I channel surfed into a PBS show, nearly at the end – as is my luck. Sarah was singing something – I didn’t know what it was – but it took my breath away. I’ve since tried to remember what the song was, and I still don’t know because now I have been hearing so many beautiful songs on this CD.

Sarah Brightman – Love Changes Everything is full of familiar Webber tunes, a couple from Jesus Christ Superstar, a couple more from Phantom of the Opera, and a few that I was not familiar with, but are now becoming new favorites. I can’t get enough of the anthem-like title track, “Love Changes Everything” from 1989’s Aspects of Love. I’m looking forward to when I get my car CD player fixed so I can do the sing-along on road trips. Also from the same show, is the duet “Seeing is Believing”, sung with Michael Ball. Simply gorgeous. Another unknown tune was “Whistle Down the Wind” from the 1989 show of the same name. I only had to hear it once though to consider it a favorite.

Of the more familiar tunes, I especially like “Think of Me”, from Phantom of the Opera. I had been listening to the Phantom soundtrack beforehand -- I have a serious theatre lover in the house – so I recognized the song. Sara soars on this one. She should, her future husband Andrew Lloyd Webber created not just the song – but also the role of Christine Daae expressly for her. And damn if it doesn’t fit like a lyrical glove!

Also familiar, sort of, was the song, “No Liores Por Mi Argentina”. You’d probably recognize it as, “Don’t Cry for Me Argentina”, from Evita. Familiar yes, but delightfully new to hear it in Spanish. At first I was mildly frustrated that I couldn’t sing along – four years of high school Spanish and one year of college Italian still wasn’t enough for me to translate instantly. But without the distraction of the English lyrics, I actually could appreciate the intended beauty of the song. Maybe that’s why I’m so addicted to Andrea Bocelli’s, “Sogno”, sung in his native Italian. If I heard it in English, would I like it as much?

A minor complaint is Sarah’s rendition of “Any Dream Will Do”, from the 1968 Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Oh, she sings it beautifully, but to me, that’s a song to be sung by Jason Donovan, Michael Damian, or Donny Osmond, who all portrayed Joseph in various productions of the show. Brightman’s wonderful 4-octave range could easily handle any of the female Narrator’s pieces and I wonder why those weren’t chosen instead. But who am I to quibble of minor points? Sarah Brightman has the vocal chops to perform darn near anything, and Love Changes Everything surely proves it.