Published on Jul 17, 2001
Admission: In some circles, I’m still a virgin.
No, obviously not in
that regard – not with one kid here, and twins on the way.
To the diehard legion of Rocky Horror fans, I’m more virginal than
any of the members of Hanson, just because I’ve never seen the
film, never gone to the theater with toast to throw at the screen,
and never yelled at the movie. (Actually, the last one’s not true;
I once got thrown out of the theater during a showing of
Before Sunrise, but that’s because I was screaming, “This
film sucks! I want my money back!” But I digress.)
However, my innocence in regards to the music surrounding the
now-legendary cult show and movie might have worked to my benefit
when it came time to listen to the new Broadway cast recording of
The Rocky Horror Show. There were no preconceived notions of
where Meat Loaf should be singing, no expectations of how the music
should be, with the exception of “Time Warp”. And this virgin’s
experience with the music proved to be, well, not bad at all.
To the outsider, most of the music from this show sounds like
they were indeed leftovers from a writing session for a Meat Loaf
album; more than once, I had
Bat Out Of Hell flashbacks. But the throwback to early, raw
rock and roll works to the advantage of the soundtrack, creating a
musical mood that almost anyone can appreciate from the outset.
I’ll grant that anyone who grew up with the movie (or has seen
it more times than they’ve seen their family and friends) will
probably bristle at the notion of a new group of people singing the
songs they know. Egads, there’s even a
new song that wasn’t in the movie, “Once In A While”! (To be
fair, the song is actually from the original stage production,
which was cut from the film.)
To all the diehards, all I can say is: Relax. Open up your
minds. Tom Hewitt (who has Tim Curry’s accent down almost
perfectly) and crew do a very nice job with the music on
The Rocky Horror Show, staying respectful to the originals
while putting their own unique voice to the tracks. You’ll still
enjoy songs like “Damn It, Janet,” “Science Fiction Double Feature”
and “Sweet Transvestite” while throwing various props at your
stereo. (Be careful of the speakers, though.) Hey, for me to say I
enjoyed a soundtrack with Dick Cavett –
Dick freakin’ Cavett! – is pretty good.
I won’t say that
The Rocky Horror Show made me want to go see the film, or
dress up in lingerie like Dr. Frank N. Furter. But I admit I went
into this soundtrack expecting to be underwhelmed, and the quality
of the songs and the performances won me over. If you treat the
film version of Rocky Horror as Gospel truth, chances are this
soundtrack will open your eyes to new interpretations.