2 Potentially Lame Closer to Heaven Questions

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EricMontreal22 · #1 Post by **EricMontreal22** » Thu 30 Nov 2006, 2:14 pm

2 Questions about the Boys' musical that i'm sure have been answered, but I couldn't find in a quick search...

First, why was the GREAT full version of the opening, My Night, online only and not on the actual cast album CD even as a bonus track?? There was more than enough room--awful if you ask me.

Also were ANY of the songs used in the show written for earlier pop albums? What I mean is I know a good handful fo the songs for the musical "premiered" in some form on Nightlife but I was under the impression those songs were still written first for their dramatic purpose in the musical--not adapted into the musical later on. Is this true, are there exceptions?

E

Panbaams · #2 Post by **Panbaams** » Thu 30 Nov 2006, 2:23 pm

On the second point, I don't think so: mind you, the PSB version of "Positive role model" is very different to the cast version.

Bear in mind they sang "Friendly fire" at the Savoy concert (although it's not on the video/DVD) and that was four years before Closer to Heaven was put on, so I think they were definitely distinguishing between "songs for the musical", "songs for our album" and "songs for Nigthlife and the musical".

The new songs for the musical all seem very specific to the character that they're written for, although I must admit I've always thought that "Something special" was intended as a PSB song: the "from northern towns" line (or whatever it is) makes more sense to me when it's applied to Neil, coming from the north of England, than the character, its sung by, who's from Ireland. That's just speculation, though.

Joemoz · #3 Post by **Joemoz** » Thu 30 Nov 2006, 3:20 pm

They were working on the musical for five years before it was actually staged. Most of the songs were obviously made with the musical in mind, though of course Shameless was an old b-side (not to mention 'In the club or in the queue which is a song from the early 80's they were planning to use at one point) and some songs are generic enough that they might have been added as an afterthought (Closer to Heaven, Friendly Fire, Positive Role Model, For all of us, Vampires etc.). In fact, I am pretty sure that at least Closer to Heaven and Friendly Fire were written completely independently of the musical and only fitted in later.

On the other hand, some songs were obviously written for the musical but never used (Little black dress, You've got to start somewhere, Tall thin men etc.).

As for My Night - that is a mystery to everyone, I think. The version from the actual musical is so much more fantastic than the one on the cast album.

BimboDuncan · #4 Post by **BimboDuncan** » Thu 30 Nov 2006, 8:57 pm

I believe that Neil and Chris felt that the long version of MY NIGHT was just too 'theatrical' for the album. The large amounts of dialogue which, unless you had seen the show, didn't make much sense out of context. Although it was a CD of a musical they wanted it to have a life as a pop album as well as a record of the songs from the show.

Of course, they were completely wrong - the full length MY NIGHT is a masterpiece.

EricMontreal22 · #5 Post by **EricMontreal22** » Fri 01 Dec 2006, 1:22 am

I'm a huge musical theatre fan--Stephen Sondheim is probably my one true musical God. So I admit I can be pretty jaded and snobby when it comes to musicals. As much as I admit that I have seen and enjoyed Mama Mia, I really don't liek the idea of jukebox musicals, which is why I was wondering how many of the songs were previous PSB songs squeezed and fitted into the show and how many were written specifcally for the character and situation of the show.

(There are different degrees of this--Andrew Lloyd Webber detractors--I'm on the fence with his shows liking some and hating others--often bring up how he loves to reuse music from his flop shows, or cut songs from one show indiscriminantly for a new show even if the setting and character are utterly different. Sondheim on the other hand goes the other extreme of feeling he can never do that becuase the very music is too specific to each show and each character).

I hate to admit I've never been able to hear or find demos like Little Black Dress but would love to hear how they were at one time planned to fit the musical.

Personally I love Closer to Heaven (the score anyway) and it works for me as a musical cast album and as a collection of PSB songs--but I think it's pretty silly to think that many people (at least non hardscore PSB fans) would buy the cast album wanting a pop album experience, so to please such people seems completely pointless. At the least the full Our Night should have been included as a bonus track I think (It'd be nice tohave it on a commercial CD). I don't even think the song would confuse most people listening to the album anyway--I had it on a mix on my ipod that my sister used to borrow for her workouts and she actually commented on how interesting and great she found that song about "all those people planning a night that would be "our night".

Is there a list of all the demos intended for CTH and other rare songs fromt he production (ie the Almighty mix of Positive Role Model or Billie Trixx song?)

jasonjohn · #6 Post by **jasonjohn** » Fri 01 Dec 2006, 1:57 am

where can we hear the full length MY NIGHT?

EricMontreal22 · #7 Post by **EricMontreal22** » Fri 01 Dec 2006, 8:24 am

it was available on their website for free I believe (at the same time as the Almighty mix of the cat album version of Positive Role Model I think). Now I don't think it's up anywhere but as it was given out for free I'd assume it's ok to distribute. PM me if you need help.

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TheGardner · #8 Post by **TheGardner** » Fri 01 Dec 2006, 8:51 am

jasonjohn wrote:where can we hear the full length MY NIGHT?

same answer as always!