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Artist:
Original Soundtrack
Disney has struck platinum with High School Musical, a made-for-cable movie that was mega-popular on the Disney Channel before spawning a mega-popular soundtrack. Echoing Grease, the plot involves two students (Zac Efron and Vanessa Anne Hutchinson) who fall for eath other while on vacation, only to realize they go to the same high school — though they belong to different cliques. Fortunately they both love singing! The songs are typical Disney pop: on the bland side but also very well-crafted, they stick to your head like strawberry-flavored gum. Among the standouts are "Get'cha Head in the Game," which incorporates noises from a basketball game (squea...
 A great start to this wonderful sequel!, 2007-08-13
Original premiered in American in January 2006, the first version of High School Musical made its way to UK TV screens in mid to late 2006, and boy was it hyped! People were going crazy about it, and it would soon prove to be the start of a so far brilliant sequel.
1/ Start Of Something New/ 3:16
The opening song, and one of the best known. Performed by the wonderful Gabriella and Troy, Start of Something New is an awesome ballad basically about love or friendship. But you've heard it anyway.
2/ Get'cha Head In The Game/ 2:27
Performed by Troy, despite its hype and popularity, this is actually one of my least favourites, but it's incredibly catchy and still loveable.
3/ What I've Been Looking For/ 2:03 & 4/ What I've Been Looking For (Reprise)/ 1:19
The former, performed by Ryan and Sharpay; my second favourite on the set. A wonderful, catchy sing-a-long tune and you'll find yourself tipping your toes to. The latter is the same track performed in ballad form by Troy & Gabrielle, though the full song is not used. My least favourite out of the two.
5/ Stick To The Status Quo/ 4:28
Yet again one of the more popular songs. This was not released as a single, yet still managed to enter the UK Top 75 on downloads alone due to its insane popularity. It's the only album track on the set to have achieved this.
6/ When There Was Me & You/ 3:00
This seems to be one of the most hated songs on the soundtrack with critics and even fans alike, yet I don't understand it because Gabriella's vocals are absolutely astounding.
7/ Bop To The Top/ 1:47
Ryan and Sharpay's second song on the album, and my favourite. Awesome song.
8/ Breaking Free/ 3:27
The first single from the set and the one that got everyone going crazy about the soundtrack. This started off as my favourite song on the set, but as I got to learn other songs I quickly grew tired of it. Performed by Gabriella and Troy, it's still an appaulsable track.
9/ We're All In This Together/ 3:51
The final track used in the actual film and the 'party' song of the album. Great closure to the film.
10/ I Can't Take My Eyes Off You/ 2:51
Despite not being used in the film, this is still a favourite of mine.
11/ Get'cha Head In The Game (Performed by B5)/ 2:45
The instrumentation is a little different from the original performed by Troy, noticably the introduction. I find the song on the whole a little pointless, I don't think it should be included.
12/ Start Of Something New (Karaoke)/ 3:20 & 13/ Breaking Free (Karaoke)/3:26
Title says it all.
Overall, although as not as good as the follow-up, High School Musical 2, this is still one hell of a soundtrack and I advise you buy the film along with this. Originally sparking controversy when critics found out Zac Efron (Troy) was not actually singing (the high notes on his parts are performed by Canadian singer-songwriter and actor Drew Seeley), Zac would go on to use his own - improved and excellent - vocals in the second soundtrack.
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List Price: £8.99
Our Price: £3.97
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Artist:
Cast Of Mamma Mia The Movie
Superior in every way to the film versions, 2008-12-22
I was surprised by how much I enjoyed the film and am now blown away by the quality of this soundtrack recording, which offers slickly produced, complete studio versions of the songs. Supervised by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus, with Andersson in particular taking a hands-on role in recreating ABBA's famous wall-of-sound, there is not a weak track on this album. Standouts include "The Name of the Game" (which was deleted from the movie) and a bassy, even more exuberant version of "Dancing Queen".
The arrangements are much as you remember them but have been subtly updated with the help of ABBA's original backing musicians. Yes, even the odd dodgy vocal can be forgiven when accompanied by such polished production. One to definitely get the feet tapping.
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List Price: £16.99
Our Price: £5.93
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Artist:
Britannia High Cast
Smoking ....., 2008-12-21
This CD is absolutely smoking - every song a winner, music & lyrics - every bit as good as the TV programme. If you enjoyed High School Musical, then you will definately enjoy this & realise that our Brit version is just as good, if not better. Well worth buying.
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List Price: £12.99
Our Price: £6.25
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Artist:
Various Artists
HSM 3 Senior Year, 2009-01-06
Get your hairbrushes on standby as this is a wonderful mother and daughter sing a long CD. Looking forward to it's release on DVD.
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List Price: £18.99
Our Price: £10.76
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Artist:
Original Soundtrack
Fans of High School Musical can breathe easy: Based on this soundtrack, the sequel is just as good, and perhaps even better. Though its trailer asked "Are you ready for the start of something new?" HSM2 isn't turning the franchise into The Wire, and really is more of the same--which is, of course, totally fine by us. One of the most energetic tracks is Chad and Ryan's musical/baseball number "I Don't Dance," propelled by a cool big-band swing motif (fans of director Kenny Ortega's choreographic work for Xanadu will be reminded of that movie's mash-up of disco and swing in the "Dancin'" number). Once again Troy and Gabriella get the ballads, but...
I've never seen such an awesome movie in my life!, 2008-04-03
All i say is that this is quite possibly the most perfect, surreal movie ever created. Me and my friend Stephen Kane sat and watched it seven times and never got bored. We know all the songs and the words "What time is iiiitt??"
I 100% recommend this movie, it made my life.
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List Price: £8.99
Our Price: £3.62
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Artist:
Various Artists
Joel and Ethan Coen have long established themselves as film stylists without peer: from Blood Simple to Fargo, their movies have never been less than fascinating, and there has never been any question that their films could not have been made by anyone else. In T-Bone Burnett, the producer of the soundtrack for O Brother, Where Art Thou?, they have finally met their match: Burnett's work in assembling a collection of pieces for the Depression-set film is as skilled and entrancing as the film itself.Despite the presence of Emmylou Harris, Gillian Welch, Alison Krauss and bluegrass legend Ralph Stanley, the stars here are the songs themselves, a hos...
Stunning, evocative music., 2008-04-14
I'm not from the US, my family hail from Kashmir and I was born in the UK, grew up listening to punk rock but WOW! The soundtrack literally drips with the era and place it hails from; every time I hear a snippet I swear I can feel the heat and smell the wheat - so amazing!
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List Price: £14.99
Our Price: £2.98
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Artist:
Original Soundtrack
HSM 3 Senior Year, 2009-01-06
Get your hairbrushes on standby as this is a wonderful mother and daughter sing a long CD. Looking forward to it's release on DVD.
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List Price: £16.99
Our Price: £5.98
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Author:
Humphrey Lyttelton,
Tim Brooke-Taylor,
Barry Cryer,
Graeme Garden,
Stephen Fry
By
BBC Audiobooks Ltd
Wonderfully funny!, 2008-12-16
I have to agree with the rest of the reviews - a great CD to play in the car, but just be careful to concentrate or you'll miss your turning.
I was a huge fan of Willy Rushton, but the vein of rich humour remains running through 'Clue' and never seems to be lost.
Just brilliant!
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List Price: £12.72
Our Price: £6.60
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Artist:
Various Artists
TRULY WICKED, 2008-03-31
I have not been fortunate enough to be able to see Wicked on stage yet, however I saw clips of the show on television and immediately wanted to find out more so visited the shows website and listened to clips from some of the tracks and was blown away. I have read the book by Gregory Maguire so had a good idea what the show was all about but never before have I been so captivated by a score without the ability to experience the show itself. With such gripping songs as 'The Wizard & I', 'Defying Gravity', 'For Good' it is a must for any musicals fans collection.
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List Price: £12.99
Our Price: £6.95
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Artist:
Murray Gold
Murray Gold's done it again!, 2008-11-18
This album doesn't disappoint. Although I think I still prefer the series 3 album, there are some real gems on it and there isn't a single track I would skip on iTunes. In the CD jacket itself Murray Gold gives a sentence or two about each track, which is nice to read while listening to the album for the first time.
1) Doctor Who Series Four Opening Credits - the absolutely AWESOME new Dr Who theme tune, I loved it from the first time I heard it and couldn't wait to get my hands on it. 10/10
2) A Noble Girl About Town - a slightly jazzed up version of 'Donna's Theme', and fun to listen to. 8/10
3) Life Among the Distant Stars - not one of the best but pleasant to listen to, especially in the second half. 7/10
4) Corridors and Fire Escapes - generic "Doctor running" music, not one of my favourites. 5/10
5) The Sybilline Sisterhood - begins with some ethnic vocals which make for interesting listening and set the scene for the Pompeii episode. 7/10
6) Songs of Captivity and Freedom - this sounds like something you'd hear on Classical FM. Lovely. 9/10
7) UNIT Rocks - a newer version of the first album's 'UNIT' track. 7/10
8) The Doctor's Daughter - gets good towards the end. 7/10
9) The Source - there's a really powerful tune in this that starts up about halfway through, it keeps playing in my head. 9/10
10) The Unicorn and the Wasp - this one really brings back memories of the episode it was used in (the Agatha Christie one), although it isn't one of the best. 6/10
11) The Doctor's Theme Series Four - I'll always love the Doctor's Theme from the first album best, but this is still a great track. Beautiful choral chanting. 9/10
12) Voyage of the Damned Suite - contains a real range of tunes and mood. Some of the vocals even remind me a little of the vocals in Titanic, which does make me laugh. 8/10
13) The Girl With No Name - one of the less memorable tracks for me. 5/10
14) The Song of Song - another of the less memorable tracks. 6/10
15) All in the Mind - an odd, psychadelic-like track. According to the CD jacket it wasn't used much in the Library episodes. 5/10
16) Silence in the Library - another track that takes you right back to the episodes it was used in. 7/10
17) The Greatest Story Never Told - music that kept popping up through the second half of the series, or so the CD jacket says, since I don't actually have much recollection of it :S. There's lots of great choral chanting on this one. 9/10
18) Midnight - I didn't enjoy the Midnight episode that much, and the same goes for this track. 5/10
19) Turn Left - One of the darker tracks, with some haunting vocals borrowed from the original Doctor's Theme. 8/10
20) A Dazzling End - this track plays during Turn Left when Donna diverts history, and it's one my favourites. I still have it playing in my head! Wicked listening. 9/10
21) The Rueful Fate of Donna Noble - this is one of the tracks I remember best from the series. Very melancholy. 9/10
22) Davros - creepy music that's very fitting but not one my favourites. 6/10
23) The Dark and Endless Dalek Night - more dalek choral chanting. Catchy in a weird sort of way. 7/10
24) A Pressing Need to Save the World - Racy, adventure-ish music. 8/10
25) Hanging on the Tablaphone - a short sharp track. 7/10
26) Song of Freedom - definitely one of the album highlights (it was one of the pieces performed at the Albert Hall Doctor Who Prom). This is the music that plays when the TARDIS is towing the Earth back home, and it's got a very triumphant feel to it. 9/10
27) Doctor Who Series Four Closing Credits - a slighter longer version of the Opening Credits track. 10/10
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List Price: £13.99
Our Price: £7.99
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