Lloyd Cole

I haven't enjoyed this one very much. As a matter of fact, I passed it on. Seemed lackluster somehow.

A nice sampler. I bought it primarily for "Together, Forever" from Gypsy, though its nice to have the Broadway version of "Send in the Clowns (I believe by Glynis Johns). But it is just a sampler, and fans of Broadway music are probably better served buying the full original cast recordings.

I just wanted to confirm what the first reviewer had to say about this CD. To hear Ethyl Merman, Mary Martin, Andrea McCardle etc. singing their trademark songs brought a lot of memories from the mid-centry musical theater back again. The last song by Glynis Johns is especially poignant.
You certainly can't beat the price!

This is a very good CD, mostly because it's the original artists. I've had some that were re-recorded by no name artists that were ghastly. This one is a really good one--including the sound quality. If I had one wish, I would wish it were longer!

The range of songs chosen for this compilation is awesome. Just what I was looking for.

Note that some of the recordings are not in stereo. While I expected that for some of the very old songs recorded in the 1920's to 1940's, I thought that the songs from the 1950's and more recent would have been recorded in stereo.

This is a pretty good compilation, but I have to wonder at some of the choices that went into it.
"Good Morning Baltimore" is almost the least impressive song from Hairspray. "You Can't Stop the Beat" was a much more anthemic song from that show.
I agree that it's too bad Les Mis didn't make it in. I would have traded that for anything Sondheim, although that's a personal preference :) .
Still, the opportunity to hear the original performers and orchestras perform these works, all in one place, is a great deal.

This one plays in the car, on the ipod and in the house. When the kids were little they would ask if we could take them to "The Street". That is what they called Broadway (little did they know at that time how famous that street is). They still love it and we can not get enough of it. This CD covers the best and makes you want to go and see a live performance. You can not beat that.

This CD from Decca Broadway is a wonderful selection of some of

the "Greatest Hits" of the Broadway stage. Decca and Sony have

done an excellent job of remastering the various recordings, some

of which still show some of their age, but come across quite

well. Are there a lot of songs that I would have put on this

disc? Yes, but the ones on here are good choices. I may have to

get a copy of the Five disc set and the DVD's just to see if any

more of my favorites made it on the list. What this disc seems to

try to do is show the evolution of the Broadway song from it's

early days to the present. It succeeds quite well I think.

If you enjoy Broadway theater this CD is a must!

Of course there should have been much more. I remember there been a Metropolian Opera series called CAST ALBUMS- 100 YEARS that was put out for a limited time only and had like five volumes.
As Peter Filichia noted they left out SHE LOVES ME, BRIGADOON and SWEENEY TODD. Also nothing from PACIFIC OVERTURES, BIG RIVER, CHESS, CRAZY FOR YOU, JEKYLL & HYDE, TITANIC, THE SCARLET
PIMPERNEL, FOOTLOOSE- THE MUSICAL, THE FULL MONTY, URINTOWN...
But they couldn't have put it all. I would have done without Lee Remick's
"Anyone Can Whistle", because the show was a flop. I guess because it was Sondheim's first "serious" show...

The first three discs were only OK. I had forgotten how much better the later Broadway musical recordings were. The last two discs were very good, maybe because I could relate better to the shows or perhaps the productions were better.

Packs into 5 CD's a sampling of Broadway tunes from the 20's thru (almost) today, mostly from original cast recordings. Includes not just well-known hits, but also some lesser-known gems. Sound quality is first rate, booklet is informative too. Have given this as a gift to several friends with rave reviews.

This is THE definitive collection of Broadway hits. I have other collections, and none of them measure up. A great deal of care was obviously taken in compiling and presenting this box set. It covers a lot of ground, starting with some long-forgotten but still very enjoyable hits from the days of yore, and finishing with present-day favorites. To the best of my knowledge, the recordings are by those who made them famous. You won't be disappointed.

THESE BROADWAY MUSICALS CD'S ARE A BROADWAY LOVERS DREAM. WITH EACH SONG, MEMORIES COME FLOODING BACK. BOTH THE FAMILIAR AND THE FORGOTTEN SONGS ARE A TRUE LISTENING PLEASURE. IF YOU LIKE BROADWAY, YOU'LL LOVE THIS SET.

I bought this on a whim, as I like male choral groups. Am I ever glad I bought it! The music is soaring, and the voices are magnificent. I don't know all of the technical stuff about recording, etc.--I just know I love this collection!

I have almost everything that Lloyd Cole has released and this is a wonderful addition to his body of work. Thoughful,deep,beautiful music.
Sometimes it takes a listen or two to really get into some releases but this one grabbed me from the start.Woman in a Bar and Nyc Sunshine are favorites.traveling Light is a re-write of Johnny Cash's I walk the line but it still is a very nice listen and I can think of many worst artists to borrow from. Overall I highly recommend this CD.LLoyd Cole's music has gotten me through so many rough times romantically and I always look forward to his latest release.

Lloyd Cole has been around for quite some time and for some reason...well we can think of so many considering the amount of mediocre music polluting the airwaves, he is not recognised as much as we the fans of his music would like him to be. I reason he is going to remain our best kept secret, and as such we will continue to enjoy anything he is to release. Quality could really sum up his offerings to the ones who are willing to discover this awsome singer/songwriter. He will remain one of my favourite singers in the world!

Just to clarify. Lloyd is not American, not Scottish, but English. He is often confused as Scottish as he and his band the Commotions came out of Scotland in the 1980s. He left the UK, and moved to NYC around 1990, and later settled in Northampton, MA.

This album, by the way, is fantastic as are all his albums. Buy them, if you want to hear great songs from a great songwriter.

While it is true that Lloyd briefly lived in Northampton Mass (where I used to live while attending UMass), he is from Scotland and has lived mostly in NYC for the past 10 years or so and lives there now.

I saw Lloyd and the Commotions in Boston around 1985 and have been a huge fan ever since. Saw him again about 6 years ago.

Don't have this album yet but am on the way out to get it now. I'm sure it is worth 5 stars.

Cheers

i have loads of lloyd's early stuff--then recently got back into him with
the negatives record...since then, he's put out a mess of records and it's been
a bit hard to keep up. the strings on this CD are quite astonishing--
and his voice is in fine fettle. a very confident, skip-along, chimy effort.
instantly likeable/hummable.

RIYL: Robyn Hitchcock, the black watch, Pernice Brothers, and have ever heard any Lloyd Cole.
i am rushing to buy the records i have missed in the past couple of years now!

Ok, so I have been a fan of Broadway and Opera for quite some time, and I think most people can agree that there are distinct differences between the two genres. There is a difference in vocal training, tone, and style.

Renee Fleming and Bryn Terfel are amazing opera singers. I have seen them both live, and they are incredible. However, they are trained in OPERA. Not Broadway. They do try, but this album falls flat for me just because their voices don't sound right performing this kind of music.

Basically, I feel that if you want to hear opera singers voices to their fullest potential, you should buy an album where they perform opera. So if you are a Broadway purist of sorts and are used to hearing a certain kind of voice doing these songs, you should steer clear of this album. Or buy it as cheaply as you possibly can if you're really that curious.

Bryn Terfel and Renee Fleming have two of the best voices in classical music, and clearly they bring an incomparable luster, richness, and sense of melodic beauty to these Broadway songs.

The main problems on this CD are that they are divorced from their original contexts within the shows, having more pop-sounding orchestrations. Hence, the duet of "All I Ask of You" is no longer between Christine Daae and her handsome suitor Raul in "Phantom of the Opera" but becomes a generic love duet, and one misses Sarah Brightman's genuinely "smaller," more delicate, ingenue-sounding interpretation.

Or "Not While I'm Around," the duet between Mrs. Lovett and Toby from "Sweeney Todd," loses its dramatic meaning and irony, even though astonishingly beautiful (and incomparably more so than the Patti Lupone or Angela Lansbury's renditions). And I'm sure it knocks the socks off the sung version to hit the movie theaters, with non-singers Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham-Carter in the leads).

"Pretty Women" also from "Sweeney Todd"(cf. the DVD of the George Hearn/Patty Lupone/S.F. Symphony) is a duet between Sweeney Todd and Judge Turpin, not a solo--and it's context is that of the actual meeting between the two while the former is about to give the latter "the closest shave he'll have ever had," just before he slits the judge's throat. In the single lit area of the stage, its melodious rapturous parallel singing between the two is the counterpart to the murder, the apex of the duet.

Or the heart-aching, lovely "How Could I Ever Know?" from "Secret Garden," a conventional love duet here. In the show, Uncle Archibald's dead wife Lily has come back to comfort him, bitter and unable to open himself up to his own daughter, and Fleming sings beautifully--but the dramatic meaning of the words she sings is missing.

On the other hand, the singing of Rene Fleming of "Moonfall" with its richness, beauty, and subtlety does not require a dramatic context, its lyricism being sufficient.

Terfel is more in his natural element than Fleming and his singing of "I Don't Remember You/A Day Goes By" is sturdy, natural, and very moving. And of course, his "Stars" sends the listener "up to the skies," as the actor/singer who plays Javert in "Les Miserables" does on the stage.

Fleming's somewhat or especially mannered approach (she sometimes speaks in a very arch, "knowing" manner worthy of Barbra Streisand--at her most self-indulgent--what would have been a sung line in the show) backfires about half the time ("So in Love" or "All I Ask of You").

On the other hand, when she "lets go," as in "All the Wasted Time," or "Wheels of a Dream," it actually "works," with great dramatic power.

Stunningly designed, glossy brochure with lyrics of all the songs included.

In any case, I know of very few Broadway cast albums where the actor-singers bring the full-bodied, "360 degree" musical bravura of the two artists on this CD. Broadway would be very fortunate to have these voices grace anything...especially in this day of miked voice amplification.

Bryn Terfel and Renee Fleming are two of the most acclaimed opera singers of our day. But the musical theatre fan who puts on their Broadway CD, RENEE AND BRYN: UNDER THE STARS, expecting to hear a carelessly compiled hodgepodge of songs sung by voices ill-suited to them is in for a big surprise, beginning with the first phrases of the duo's warmly sung "Not While I'm Around" from SWEENEY TODD. True, these singers' beautiful voices have greater power and range than even the best of the Broadway stars', but this is an asset in these songs, most of which are either semi-operatic in nature or call (like THE MUSIC MAN's "Seventy-Six Trombones") for such an outsize personality as Terfel's. Fleming's sensuous and tonally gorgeous rendition of "Moonfall" from THE MYSTERY OF EDWIN DROOD can be placed among her very finest recordings, operatic and otherwise. And Terfel is ideally suited to both "Pretty Women" from SWEENEY TODD and "Stars" from LES MISERABLES; few if any Broadway Javerts could match the impact of his "This I swear by the stars!" Kander and Ebb's "I Don't Remember You" and "Sometimes a Day Goes By" make a perfect medley here, as do Sondheim's "I Wish I Could Forget You" and "Loving You" from PASSION. The sound of Fleming's voice entering in "All I Ask of You" (THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA) is of the utmost loveliness; and though I don't care for the Jason Robert Brown selection, which sounds too much like a pop song, Fleming makes a strong impression in it. The program ends with a bang: a rendition of "Wheels of a Dream" worthy to stand beside the now-classic one by Brian Stokes Mitchell and Audra McDonald on the original cast album of RAGTIME. Welshman Terfel's natural accent is noticeable here; but if one imagines him as, say, an Irish immigrant married to an African-American woman (as Fleming here sounds uncannily like McDonald or like Leontyne Price) his accent is appropriate and his voicing of the "bridge" section ("Oh Sarah, it's more than promises/Sarah, it must be true...") especially moving. Fleming's ecstatic final high note makes one want to applaud and cheer, both for the song and for the successful "crossover" effort.

I adore Renee, and Bryn is flawless, but I had to adjust my mind when listening ot this album. Keep in mind that this powerful duo is tackling contemporary broadway music in this project. This is not the typical recording of opera areas that we are so used to with Renee. Being my introduction to Bryn, I cannot judge his style by this album.

However, considering the ventures that Renee has taken recently with her very accomplished, artful jazz albums as well as her overall ability to take on new challenges with finess and grace, I think that this album certainly deserves the full 5-star rating.

As I look at composers such as Sondheim, who was a pioneer in his own genre of musical creation, I do not think that he would have been allarmed at all in the rather free-style rendition of "Not While I'm Around". It very well might insult the traditional ear not accustomed to hearing something familiar presented in a new way, but I found it refreshing.

Renee takes on and, non suprisingly, conquors the "belter" style so sought after on the Broadway stage. Remember, she is first known as an opera diva, and yet has flawlessly embarked on so many other musical journies.

Amazingly, Renee braves ,"All I Ask Of You", which is associated with Sarah Brightman. Brightman has a much smaller and more delicate voice, and yet, Renee duitifully keeps inside the stylistic parameters required when singing this well-known Broadway classic. Of course, it certainly helps that Renee has Bryn's huge voice backing her up on this. I wonder what she would do with Josh Groban or A finer-voiced tenor?

It was interesting to hear that several of the pieces recorded were not duets. An interesting and brave touch, but one that allows the ear to avoid fatigue of insistant harmonies and the same sound repeated on different melodies and lyrics. Bravo!

I am thrilled that this project was done as thoughtfully and artfully as it was, and I am looking forward to seeing what Renee will come up with next to challenge her incredible voice.

Terfel's vocal talent is well suited for Broadway style of singing. Fleming's voice is a bit overpowering for this genre. (I own this CD)

Dont you hate it when everyone else says in their reviews what you are thinking? But its true! Now, I dont know about you but in my minds eye, an album from 24 years ago should be by the Beatles or the Doors or something, I mean 24 years!! There are women on the telly I find attractive that weren't born when I bought this album. Sigh. Yes, its all true. This is perfection, this is one of "those" albums (mental note, must make a list). It sounds like it could have been recorded last week, the songs are busker friendly guitar strummers. And it is just so great. I mean note perfect. How many times have you bought an album on the strength of a single or a review and found it contains 4 good tracks, 3 ok ones and 5 fillers? On Rattlesnakes, the great songs keep on coming and coming. Look, if you have heard it, you wont need me to tell you this, if you have not, what are you wasting your time for reading this? Just go and buy it. Just one more reason, this album has magic powers. Once in a pub in rural Shropshire in 1990, I said to a girl at the bar "You`ve got cheekbones like geometry" and she replied, "And Im sexually enlightened by Cosmopolitan." And it turned out she was! Thats how good this album is. Try doing that with Silent Alarm by Bloc Party!

I first bought "Rattlesnakes" when it was released in 1984 and immediately loved it for its catchy songs and intelligent lyrics. While Morrissey was introducing his gloomy following to Oscar Wilde, Lloyd Cole had his listeners finding information about Truman Capote, Norman Mailer, Simone DeBouvoir, Grace Kelly, Greta Garbo and Eva Marie Saint. This album will make you smart if you care to understand all the literary and cultural references. What exactly is a "Grace Kelly car"? How do you know if you're "looking like a friend of Truman Capote/Looking exactly like you are."? Lloyd Cole lyrics are smart, funny, clever and deep. It is not surprising then that Tori Amos covered the song "Rattlesnakes" on her "Strange Little Girls" album or that Camera Obscura wrote the song "Lloyd, I'm Ready To Be Heartbroken" in response to the closing track "Are You Ready to Be Heartbroken?" There is not a bad song on this album.

a huge gap exists between the strength of this album and the recognition it gets. it is a true classic, for my money the best album of the decade bar none. buy it.

This is the best album I've heard in years. I'm so glad I bought it. "Rattlesankes," "Speed Boat," "Perfect Skin" and "Charlotte Street" are simply brilliant songs, but of the whole album, there's not a loser in the bunch. It fits together and flows perfectly.

The Commotions' music is close to a lot of what was bubbling underground during 83-87, such as Echo and the Bunnymen, REM, The Smiths and '86-87 Cure - all jangle-pop and silvery guitars. For his part, Cole pre-empts Morrissey's lyrical allusions and crooning by nearly a year. The lyrics are hauntingly high-brow and intellectual, but in playful, clever and endearing ways.

All-in-all, this album is an overlooked gem that has simply gotten better and better with each spin. I can't get enough of it. Brilliant.

It was 1984, and Metal ruled my life. Def Leppard and UFO were my bands of choice. Then, a cook where I worked handed me an unassuming Cassette called "Rattlesnakes" by Lloyd Cole.
From the opening of Perfect skin I was hooked. I played that tape a thousand times that year. There is not a weak cut on this album,period. To call it a perfect album is not far-fetched. It morphed me in a new musical direction. The Del-Lords, Lloyd Cole and the Beat Farmers ruled my 1980's. I love this album, and still play it pretty regularly. Cole is as great live as he is on record,just to mention. An absolute must to own.

All I can say is that I'm damned proud to own this album. You'd have to be severly mental not to enjoy every song. Big reminder of how incredible the 80s were for music, all across the board.

So, Lloyd Cole's been at this for over two decades now. He knows he's never going to match the minor splash of his debut album with the Commotions, and I can't even tell if he wants to. Like Leonard Cohen (whom he's covered several times) and Bob Mould, he seems almost more comfortable out of the spotlight.

This doesn't mean that he doesn't deserve for the world to catch up someday. This compilation of the three Commotions albums is missing a few essentials -- "Hey Rusty" among them -- but it mostly gets things right. If you like it, his subsequent solo career offers many more good things. (Start with his self-titled album and _Love Story_.)

Brilliant artist. Period.

Catchy, intelligent guitar pop from back when. Unfortunately, too intelligent to ever become wildly popular.

Another CD that brings back memories of the time when alternative music just seemed to matter, distinctly different without trying to be so. Chock full of sparkling gems like "Cut Me Down", "Rattlesnakes", "Lost Weekend", "Perfect Blue", my favorite track "Perfect Skin" and the famous "Brand New Friend".

Things definitely sound as good today as they did back then.

Beautifully packaged retrospective brilliantly and succinctly captures the brief career (three studio albums) of this seminal band. One can witness the "rock and roll" process in action by following the tracks chronologically; bigger budgets and better musicianship and a healthy dose of self-indulgence have all developed by the time of the "Mainstream" album (sooo well-titled and humorously so!). Truth be told, this band was just too damn good to ever be mainstream. It sounds snobbish to say that intelligent listeners are attracted to this music, but it's true. It's nothing to do with book-learning: it's just a wider grasp of human nature, one's own ridiculous presence in the world, and the need to express one's self in spite of such awareness. I can't even recommend individual songs, this package really plays as one sweeping observation, and wonderfully so. This was my very first personal c.d. purchase back in 1989 when it came out. I had gone to the record store with the intent of blowing some money on the then-ridiculously priced (they still are, but not as noticiably as then...) digital wonder discs that sounded crisp and clean and didn't pop and skip (or so we thought). LCATC 1984-89 RIP was on the new release shelf and that was that . I still treasure it, and, oh, they got the sound just right first time out on this one, it's still fantastic to listen to!! The only flaw for me was the totally unnecessary and downright lazy remix of "Forest Fire" on which the "mixer"runs the guitar solo verbatem twice! Why??? It's still a great song, mind you... The "recut" of "Perfect Blue" with producer Paul Hardiman was the most pleasant surprise and is well worth the price of the whole damn thing- it's that exquisite! Gorgeous photo studies of each guy are the ultimate complement to Lloyd's written lyric and the somewhat esoteric cover shot (it's gorgeous and just fits the music somehow, someone had a good eye on that one!). BUY IT NOW!! Also, get thyself the DELUXE edition of "Rattlesnakes" next!

I bought this CD several years ago, played it a couple of times and then let it filter it's way into the far corners of my collection. A couple of months back, I put this on for a curious listen and it's been in heavy rotation ever since. Great tracks like Forest Fire, Lost Weekend, Mr. Malcontent and Rattlesnakes have aged well.

All of Lloyd's work is fantastic. However, to correct two prior incorrect reviews. Lloyd Cole is English, from Buxton in Derbyshire in fact. He first came to fame in Glasgow with Lloyd Cole and the Commotions, so many people think he is Scottish. He now lives in Massachusetts, so some think he is American. But, he is from jolly old England.

Listed details on this CD are very sparse. These 14 songs are outtakes from '96 - 2000 and sound like a sister CD to "Love Story". Acoustic melancholy pop with tasty guitar fills from Quine and of course the strong singing of Lloyd. I do not recommend this for curious newcomers. Buy every LC solo album and Commotions album first, then get this. First the bad news, it is only 37 minutes long, has four short instrumentals and two okay cover songs. The packaging is lame: little info, stupid cover image, and a photo of Lloyd from a 1987 Commotions compilation. Jeez, couldn't they have found a picture from the 90's at least! The good news is that there are eight original songs (with vocals) that no true fan should be without. They range from really good to excellent!

while i agree lloyd cole is a wonderful song writer, he is from scotland, not america.

cheers

While Lloyd once again delivers his trademark earnestness and immediacy to "Etc," the album's undeniable beauty and power would have been impossible without the stinging guitar work of Robert Quine, who committed suicide this past May following the death of his wife. Quine, whose gloriously raucous work on Lou Reed's "The Blue Mask" is the stuff of immortality, lends a sublime melancholy to this album that reflects the deadly pain he was approaching. Lloyd's incomparable cover of Bob Dylan's "You're A Big Girl Now" is brought to life by Quine's sonically boundless and echoing guitar licks, while his quieter performances throughout the set imply the maturity both he and Cole brought to the table to make this one of the finest albums of Cole's career. The biting courage of songs such as "Love Like This Can't Last" and "Memphis" is matched in power only by the instant classic "Alright People," one of the few songs on the album that aspires toward the musical adventurousness achieved on the brilliant "The Negatives." While the disappointing story of Cole's failure to connect with a wider audience is tragic, there is a kind of selfish pleasure in feeling as though gems like "Etc" are secrets his fans can claim for themselves. Although, I am willing to bet that anyone who listens to this album will agree that it is a secret more people ought to be in on.

So what does this guy have to do in order to finally get airplay? Since his days with the Commotions, Lloyd Cole has continued to produce songs of remarkable emotional maturity, all with the distant coolness not seen since the early days of Brian Ferry. Once again, he has released a collection of songs that defies classification, yet continues to reward those with an ear for great sentimental pop music. I've often considered him to be one of the best American songwriters of late, as I do Aimee Mann who finally broke through with her contributions to the Magnolia soundtrack. Perhaps a future movie producer with excellent taste will see fit to present Lloyd Cole's talent for the world to enjoy.

I'm not much for ambient electronic music, but this soothes me. Recommended, even for non-Lloyd fans.