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iTunes Music Review - Buffy the Vampire Slayer - Once More, with Feeling (5 out of 5)

  • Buffy the Vampire Slayer - Once More, with Feeling

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    • Most musical episodes of TV shows frankly stink. They are usually little more than ill-conceived vehicles intended to let the stars show off what musical talent they have. Once More, With Feeling, however, is one of my favorite musicals because it was intended first and foremost to be a musical that told a story. That it's set in the Buffyverse of Joss Whedon is incidental to it being a musical.

      The funny thing is that Joss Whedon learned how to write and play music for the sole purpose of writing this episode of Buffy, but you'd never know it listening to its melodies and themes. I have literally listened to this soundtrack scores of times, and before it was released, I listened to the audio track of the episode itself. The music is that good, the lyrics are that good, the plot is that good, and the performance by this cast of actors is mostly that good.

      Indeed, Joss wrote to the strengths and weaknesses of each of his cast members, plying the strongest singers (Tony Head, James Marsters, Amber Benson) with the strongest songs. Sarah Michelle Gellar turns in a passable, but still enjoyable performance, and only agreed to use her own voice when she learned of the important plot elements that would be revealed in the episode. The performance of veteran Broadway actor Hinton Battle is killer.

      Favorite songs: I'll Never Tell, I've Got a Theory/Bunnies, Going Through the Motions, Under Your Spell, What You Feel.

      - Bryan Chaffin

     

    Bryan Chaffin has been a musician all his life, and enjoys both playing and listening to a variety of music. His interest in the iPod grew from covering Apple for The Mac Observer, but it's iPodObserver.com that will allow him to marry his passion for technology to his love for music.

     

Average User Rating: 9

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jinkies said:

member since 24 Sep 2001 with 3846 posts, Evil Girl of TMO, send him a message or view his profile

Thu Jul 28, 2005 4:57 pm

A 4.5 if I could. The only flaw on this album is the lack of included dialogue in the album versions of the songs. Cutting out the spoken words in the song leaves odd blank spots. Joss is boss!

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A guest said: (hide)

Mon May 15, 2006 9:51 pm

you do not let me lson to the songs

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Bryan said:

member since 11 Jun 2001 with 7340 posts, TMO Staff, send him a message or view his profile

Thu May 18, 2006 3:32 pm

That's true, Guest: As reviewers, we can't post song samples.

However, if you click through to the iTunes link for the album, you can hear samples for all of them.

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