Search - C.C. Productions :: Highlights From Tommy

Interesting Tribute

Scott Andrew Hutchins | Bronx, NY, USA | 01/04/2002

(4 out of 5 stars)

"A lot of you will hate this album because it's not performed by The Who, but Tommy has been recorded so many times, that shouldn't matter. The arrangements here are virtually identical to those of the 1989 concert ... as is clear particularly from the trumpet arrangements on "Listening to You," although it's part of a line that focuses on showtunes, although there is no evidence this group of uncredited talents was familiar with it. Infleunce of the concert, which was supposedly the opera's farewell, is apparent in the lyrics as well. Almost all of the songs contain brief, sometimes nonsensical lyrical errors, one of which Daltrey made in the concert--"There is no chance no 'untimed' [untried] operation." I have no idea where they got the idea to sing "but you and her--forever" instead of "no, never," but I'm sure that was the producer's choice, not the singer's. There appears to be one woman in the ensemble, who sound a bit too much like an eighties new wave punk, but the lead sounds like Broadway's Michael Cerveris without the accent and a bit rougher voice, though like Daltrey on the original album and in the concert, he takes on more than one role. I would guess there are perhaps five singers on this album, and they are frequently all singing, but C.C. Productions (which I understand stands for "Curtain Call") is very stingy and not allowing these performers' work to be recognized. (Must be Haim Saban behind these.) While I don't think anyone would want this abbreviated release to be their only _Tommy_ recording, had it been packaged better and more complete, it could and should have had a successful run as a new cast album (with the mostly-lame Broadway rewrites replaced with the originals). Then people would be more willing to buy it. This is a must-have for those who want alternate interpretations, particularly of a work so grand it lends itself well to performances by artists other than those who wrote it."