Truly an outstanding job has been done with the soundtrack. All the cast are in excellent voice and the production is superb. One challenge they face is that the original versions of almost all the songs are extraordinary masterpieces and therefore extremely difficult to improve upon. However every track is a very worthy version.
Some tracks actually blew me away. Heaven Can Wait has a stunning dramatic uplift for the final verse whiçh really changes it. I still prefer Meat's version for the emotion but this is an amazing alternative version.
I really love Body. Makes me want to sing along every time.
But by far the stand out track for me is Rock And Roll Dreams. Wow. This is my new favourite version of the song and, for me, transforms it from a nice rock song with a positive message to a stunningly powerful, dramatic, and emotional triumph.
Quibbles? Well some of the songs by necessity are shortened in the show to avoid it running for 3 days so for the first time in history some Steinman songs don't go on for long enough! Not Allowed To Love is nicely done but in my opinion still a bit disposable. And I"m still not a big fan of Land Of The Pigs. I'm not sure why exactly. It works well dramatically in the show but I find it harder to relate to than most of Jim's songs. Possible because its one of the few that are not about love or sex but essentially politics.
But these are all very minor quibbles on an outstanding album. Congratulations to all involved and may the show never stop rocking!
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