NOTES Before we begin:
Truth time. I have been a fan of ALW's Phantom Of The Opera since very near the beginning. I first heard the Original London Cast Recording in 1987.
Given what Love Never Dies was based off of - and oh how much I disliked that book! - I was bound and determined NOT to like ANYTHING of LND.
I honestly only collect this now for two reasons ...
One is it's Phantom Related.
Two is the song Devil Take The Hindmost. If I could take that song out and throw it into the original somehow with it actually fitting (Raoul and Erik needed a good showdown scene other than Wandering Child and the Final Lair) I'd be happy.
That said. Any notes on quality pretty much only cover Devil Take The Hindmost. I *MIGHT listen to "Till I Hear You Sing" or the DTTH Quartet, but that's only likely if there's an issue (or missing) DTTH.
And now ... on with the show!
Truth time. I have been a fan of ALW's Phantom Of The Opera since very near the beginning. I first heard the Original London Cast Recording in 1987.
Given what Love Never Dies was based off of - and oh how much I disliked that book! - I was bound and determined NOT to like ANYTHING of LND.
I honestly only collect this now for two reasons ...
One is it's Phantom Related.
Two is the song Devil Take The Hindmost. If I could take that song out and throw it into the original somehow with it actually fitting (Raoul and Erik needed a good showdown scene other than Wandering Child and the Final Lair) I'd be happy.
That said. Any notes on quality pretty much only cover Devil Take The Hindmost. I *MIGHT listen to "Till I Hear You Sing" or the DTTH Quartet, but that's only likely if there's an issue (or missing) DTTH.
And now ... on with the show!
Audios
London, February 25, 2010
Ramin Karimloo, Sierra Boggess, Joseph Millson, Liz Robertson, Summer Strallen, Richard Linnell, Niamh Perry, Adam Pearce, Jami Reid-Quarrel
From the previews. Oddly tracked (act 2 is only 10 tracks for example. Why Does She Love Me? and Devil Take The Hindmost are in the same track.)
Decent quality, mild overload but not enough to drop the grade.
A
London, March 8, 2010
Ramin Karimloo, Sierra Boggess, Joseph Millson
Good quality. Some minor overload, nothing enough to make me drop the grade.
There's something about Ramin's speaking parts that ... pronunciation isn't the right word, emphasis on certain sounds? It's odd.
A-
London, April 3, 2010
Tam Mutu (us), Sierra Boggess, Joseph Millson, Summer Strallen, Liz Robertson, Charlie Manton, Niamh Perry, Adam Pearce, Jami Reid-Quarrell
Tam Mutu's first performance behind the mask. Nice and clear. Only the mildest of echoes and overload. mtl24601's master.
A
London, April 6, 2010
Tam Mutu (u/s), Sierra Boggess, Joseph Millson, Janet Mooney (u/s Mme Giry), Summer Strallen, Harry Child, Niamh Perry, Adam Pearce, Jami Reid-Quarrell
VERY nice, clear vocals. If it weren't for the audience laughing as Tam comes out in DTTH I'd wonder if this were soundboard. Tam's DTTH reminds me a lot of Ramin here.
A+
London, May 28, 2010
Ramin Karimloo, Sierra Boggess, Joseph Millson
Somewhat muffled in places. Not bad enough to drop the grade all the way though.
A-
London, June 2, 2010
Ramin Karimloo, Sierra Boggess, Joseph Millson
Good sound, slightly bassy.
A
London, September 1, 2010
Ramin Karimloo, Sierra Boggess, Joseph Millson
Slight overload, but nothing too serious to warrant dropping the grade.
A-
London, December 23, 2010
Ramin Karimloo, Sierra Boggess, Joseph Millson, Liz Robertson, Summer Strallen, Harry Polden (Gustave), Niamh Perry
Nice crisp and clear. Some of the changes had already been implemented (different lyrics for DTTH ... I know, I know, I only really listen to that!) I don't remember hearing Ramin saying "Very good" after Millson would deliver his "look at you" line. But he's *definitely* toying with Raoul here ... it's an oddly likable approach.
A
London, February 9, 2011
Tam Mutu (s/b), Sierra Boggess, Dean Chisnall (u/s), Liz Robertson, Summer Strallen
Mildly heavy on the bass at the loud bits, but otherwise clear.
A-
London, March 2, 2011
Derek Andrews (u/s), Sierra Boggess, Dean Chisnall (u/s)
Good quality, a little overpowering bass in loud bits.
Derek definitely played his Phantom differently than any of the others (based off of DTTH obviously. He seems amused by Raoul, rather than either holding tightly to control or going off the deep end.)
A-
London, March 5, 2011
Ramin Karimloo, Sierra Boggess, Joseph Millson, Liz Robertson, Summer Strallen, Niamh Perry, Adam Pearce, Jami Reid Quarrell, Jack Costello, David Charles Abell
Final performance for several: Sierra Boggess, Joseph Millson, Summer Strallen, Niamh Perry, Jami Reid Quarrell and David Charles Abell.
Quality definitely suffers on this one. Sounds like it was recorded inside a tin can. Some mild mechanical distortion.
B
Australia, May 26, 2011
Ben Lewis, Anna O'Byrne, Simon Gleeson, Maria Mercedes, Sharon Millerchip
Very echo-y, otherwise a decent quality audio. Skirts that area between low A and high B.
A-
Australia, May 27, 2011
Ben Lewis, Anna O'Byrne, Simon Gleeson, Sharon Millerchip, Maria Mercedes, Jack Lyall, Emma J Hawkins, Paul Tabone, Dean Vicne
Traded to me as the "first preview" but given there's an audio of this production from one day prior ...
Sounds a bit tin-can ... tons of echo. And the master must have had some kind of manual adjustments going on because in the last minute of DTTH there's three different qualities going on.
Still, the quality doesn't suffer enough for me not to be impressed by DTTH lol.
B
Australia, June 24, 2011
Ben Lewis, Anna O'Byrne, Simon Gleeson, Maria Mercedes, Sharon Millerchip, Kurtis Papadinis, Emma J. Hawkins, Paul Tabone, Dean Vince
VERY echo-y. Otherwise very good quality. The control that Ben Lewis shows in DTTH ... GOD I wish this man would play the Phantom in ALW's original ... I'd LOVE to hear him sing MOTN.
A
London, July 8, 2011
Tim Walton (us), Celia Graham, David Thaxton, Haley Flaherty, Liz Robertson, Jack Costello, Zara Warren (2nd US), Simon Ray Harvey (us), Charles Brunton
Bit of overload on the loud bits but overall decent.
A-
London August 25, 2011
Tam Mutu (alt), Celia Graham, David Thaxton, Liz Robertson, Haley Flaherty, Daniel Dowling
Tam Mutu's last. Has an odd echo-y quality to it, similar to what I termed the "London Echo" in Phantom recordings.
A-
London, August 27, 2011
Ramin Karimloo, Celia Graham, David Thaxton, Haley Flaherty, Liz Robertson, Daniel Dowling, Tracey Penn, Adam Pearce, Charles Brunton
Final performance for the London production. Includes speech by Andrew Lloyd Webber.
Up until this moment I thought there was NO WAY London could beat out the Aussie Devil Take The Hindmost ...
Raoul: Look at you, foul as sin, hideous, horrible.
Phantom: Very good.
Towards the end of the scene Ramin comes nearly unglued. His last "Deal the cards" needs to be heard to be believed.
Awesome quality.
A+
Denmark, November 8, 2012 (Copenhagen)
Bo Kristian Jensen (u/s), Louise Fribo, Christian Berg, Carl-Emil Lohmann, Camille-Cathrine Rommedahl, Marianne Mortensen, Kirsten Norholt, Kristian Jensen, Simon Duus
My first thoughts: WHY does an audio from 2012 have analog hiss? Have we learned NOTHING? *Sigh* Yes, this has a fair bit of analog hiss, and mic contact noise. I can't give this an A in this day and age. It's a shame because there's clarity underneath.
B-
Vienna, October 23, 2013
Drew Sarich, Milica Jovanovic, Julian Looman, Barbara Obermeier, Maya Hakvoort, Katja Berg, Armin Kahl, Peter Kratochvil, Leonid Shushon
A
Hamburg, October 24, 2015
Mathias Edenborn, Jazmin Gorsline, Yngve Gasoy-Romdal, Masha Karell, Ina Trabesinger, Lauren Barrand, Paul Tabone, Jak Allen-Anderson, Kim Benedikt
Some mild hiss, very unexpected in an audio this new. Slight overload in the loud bits. Track names don't contain numbers so unless you've got details on (and they're actually working correctly) you can't auto-sort by track number, it's alphabetical. Track names in German, so if you don't know German and are looking for a specific track you'll be hunting and pecking a bit. (My German isn't good enough apparantly to find Devil Take The Hindmost.)
B+
Hamburg, November 13, 2015?
Gardar Thór Cortes, Rachel Anne Moore, Yngve Gasoy-Romdal, Masha Karell, Ina Trabesinger, Lauren Barrand, Paul Tabone, Jak Allen-Anderson, Julius (Gustave
There was a question mark by the date coming from the previous trader, so I'm leaving it in.
Slight echo, minor overload.
A-
Hamburg, March 6, 2016
Robert Meyer, Milica Jovanovic, Mathias Edenborn, Masha Karell, Maria Danae Bansen, Lauren Barrand, Paul Tabone, Jak Allen-Anderson, Elias
Only the first four songs of Act 1, Act 2 is complete. Minor overload on the loud bits. Milica Jovanovic's first performance as walk-on Christine.
A-
London, February 25, 2010
Ramin Karimloo, Sierra Boggess, Joseph Millson, Liz Robertson, Summer Strallen, Richard Linnell, Niamh Perry, Adam Pearce, Jami Reid-Quarrel
From the previews. Oddly tracked (act 2 is only 10 tracks for example. Why Does She Love Me? and Devil Take The Hindmost are in the same track.)
Decent quality, mild overload but not enough to drop the grade.
A
London, March 8, 2010
Ramin Karimloo, Sierra Boggess, Joseph Millson
Good quality. Some minor overload, nothing enough to make me drop the grade.
There's something about Ramin's speaking parts that ... pronunciation isn't the right word, emphasis on certain sounds? It's odd.
A-
London, April 3, 2010
Tam Mutu (us), Sierra Boggess, Joseph Millson, Summer Strallen, Liz Robertson, Charlie Manton, Niamh Perry, Adam Pearce, Jami Reid-Quarrell
Tam Mutu's first performance behind the mask. Nice and clear. Only the mildest of echoes and overload. mtl24601's master.
A
London, April 6, 2010
Tam Mutu (u/s), Sierra Boggess, Joseph Millson, Janet Mooney (u/s Mme Giry), Summer Strallen, Harry Child, Niamh Perry, Adam Pearce, Jami Reid-Quarrell
VERY nice, clear vocals. If it weren't for the audience laughing as Tam comes out in DTTH I'd wonder if this were soundboard. Tam's DTTH reminds me a lot of Ramin here.
A+
London, May 28, 2010
Ramin Karimloo, Sierra Boggess, Joseph Millson
Somewhat muffled in places. Not bad enough to drop the grade all the way though.
A-
London, June 2, 2010
Ramin Karimloo, Sierra Boggess, Joseph Millson
Good sound, slightly bassy.
A
London, September 1, 2010
Ramin Karimloo, Sierra Boggess, Joseph Millson
Slight overload, but nothing too serious to warrant dropping the grade.
A-
London, December 23, 2010
Ramin Karimloo, Sierra Boggess, Joseph Millson, Liz Robertson, Summer Strallen, Harry Polden (Gustave), Niamh Perry
Nice crisp and clear. Some of the changes had already been implemented (different lyrics for DTTH ... I know, I know, I only really listen to that!) I don't remember hearing Ramin saying "Very good" after Millson would deliver his "look at you" line. But he's *definitely* toying with Raoul here ... it's an oddly likable approach.
A
London, February 9, 2011
Tam Mutu (s/b), Sierra Boggess, Dean Chisnall (u/s), Liz Robertson, Summer Strallen
Mildly heavy on the bass at the loud bits, but otherwise clear.
A-
London, March 2, 2011
Derek Andrews (u/s), Sierra Boggess, Dean Chisnall (u/s)
Good quality, a little overpowering bass in loud bits.
Derek definitely played his Phantom differently than any of the others (based off of DTTH obviously. He seems amused by Raoul, rather than either holding tightly to control or going off the deep end.)
A-
London, March 5, 2011
Ramin Karimloo, Sierra Boggess, Joseph Millson, Liz Robertson, Summer Strallen, Niamh Perry, Adam Pearce, Jami Reid Quarrell, Jack Costello, David Charles Abell
Final performance for several: Sierra Boggess, Joseph Millson, Summer Strallen, Niamh Perry, Jami Reid Quarrell and David Charles Abell.
Quality definitely suffers on this one. Sounds like it was recorded inside a tin can. Some mild mechanical distortion.
B
Australia, May 26, 2011
Ben Lewis, Anna O'Byrne, Simon Gleeson, Maria Mercedes, Sharon Millerchip
Very echo-y, otherwise a decent quality audio. Skirts that area between low A and high B.
A-
Australia, May 27, 2011
Ben Lewis, Anna O'Byrne, Simon Gleeson, Sharon Millerchip, Maria Mercedes, Jack Lyall, Emma J Hawkins, Paul Tabone, Dean Vicne
Traded to me as the "first preview" but given there's an audio of this production from one day prior ...
Sounds a bit tin-can ... tons of echo. And the master must have had some kind of manual adjustments going on because in the last minute of DTTH there's three different qualities going on.
Still, the quality doesn't suffer enough for me not to be impressed by DTTH lol.
B
Australia, June 24, 2011
Ben Lewis, Anna O'Byrne, Simon Gleeson, Maria Mercedes, Sharon Millerchip, Kurtis Papadinis, Emma J. Hawkins, Paul Tabone, Dean Vince
VERY echo-y. Otherwise very good quality. The control that Ben Lewis shows in DTTH ... GOD I wish this man would play the Phantom in ALW's original ... I'd LOVE to hear him sing MOTN.
A
London, July 8, 2011
Tim Walton (us), Celia Graham, David Thaxton, Haley Flaherty, Liz Robertson, Jack Costello, Zara Warren (2nd US), Simon Ray Harvey (us), Charles Brunton
Bit of overload on the loud bits but overall decent.
A-
London August 25, 2011
Tam Mutu (alt), Celia Graham, David Thaxton, Liz Robertson, Haley Flaherty, Daniel Dowling
Tam Mutu's last. Has an odd echo-y quality to it, similar to what I termed the "London Echo" in Phantom recordings.
A-
London, August 27, 2011
Ramin Karimloo, Celia Graham, David Thaxton, Haley Flaherty, Liz Robertson, Daniel Dowling, Tracey Penn, Adam Pearce, Charles Brunton
Final performance for the London production. Includes speech by Andrew Lloyd Webber.
Up until this moment I thought there was NO WAY London could beat out the Aussie Devil Take The Hindmost ...
Raoul: Look at you, foul as sin, hideous, horrible.
Phantom: Very good.
Towards the end of the scene Ramin comes nearly unglued. His last "Deal the cards" needs to be heard to be believed.
Awesome quality.
A+
Denmark, November 8, 2012 (Copenhagen)
Bo Kristian Jensen (u/s), Louise Fribo, Christian Berg, Carl-Emil Lohmann, Camille-Cathrine Rommedahl, Marianne Mortensen, Kirsten Norholt, Kristian Jensen, Simon Duus
My first thoughts: WHY does an audio from 2012 have analog hiss? Have we learned NOTHING? *Sigh* Yes, this has a fair bit of analog hiss, and mic contact noise. I can't give this an A in this day and age. It's a shame because there's clarity underneath.
B-
Vienna, October 23, 2013
Drew Sarich, Milica Jovanovic, Julian Looman, Barbara Obermeier, Maya Hakvoort, Katja Berg, Armin Kahl, Peter Kratochvil, Leonid Shushon
A
Hamburg, October 24, 2015
Mathias Edenborn, Jazmin Gorsline, Yngve Gasoy-Romdal, Masha Karell, Ina Trabesinger, Lauren Barrand, Paul Tabone, Jak Allen-Anderson, Kim Benedikt
Some mild hiss, very unexpected in an audio this new. Slight overload in the loud bits. Track names don't contain numbers so unless you've got details on (and they're actually working correctly) you can't auto-sort by track number, it's alphabetical. Track names in German, so if you don't know German and are looking for a specific track you'll be hunting and pecking a bit. (My German isn't good enough apparantly to find Devil Take The Hindmost.)
B+
Hamburg, November 13, 2015?
Gardar Thór Cortes, Rachel Anne Moore, Yngve Gasoy-Romdal, Masha Karell, Ina Trabesinger, Lauren Barrand, Paul Tabone, Jak Allen-Anderson, Julius (Gustave
There was a question mark by the date coming from the previous trader, so I'm leaving it in.
Slight echo, minor overload.
A-
Hamburg, March 6, 2016
Robert Meyer, Milica Jovanovic, Mathias Edenborn, Masha Karell, Maria Danae Bansen, Lauren Barrand, Paul Tabone, Jak Allen-Anderson, Elias
Only the first four songs of Act 1, Act 2 is complete. Minor overload on the loud bits. Milica Jovanovic's first performance as walk-on Christine.
A-
Videos
Love Never Dies
London, April 29, 2010
Ramin Karimloo, Sierra Boggess, Joseph Millson, Summer Strallen, Liz Robertson, Richard Linnell
Pre-changes. According to most traders, missing about 25 minutes from Act 1, but is otherwise complete. (I admit to not knowing LND well enough to know that on my own.) Other typical boot issues anyone who's ever watched a 'dark' show knows well - spotlight washout during the bright bits, camera going out of focus in spots, also a bar blocks some of the action from time to time. Appears to be filmed from up in the balcony, so that's not too much a surprise. But given the fact it was filmed and likely put right to DVD, there's no (or next to none) generation loss.
A-
Love Never Dies
London, April 29, 2010
Ramin Karimloo, Sierra Boggess, Joseph Millson, Summer Strallen, Liz Robertson, Richard Linnell
Pre-changes. According to most traders, missing about 25 minutes from Act 1, but is otherwise complete. (I admit to not knowing LND well enough to know that on my own.) Other typical boot issues anyone who's ever watched a 'dark' show knows well - spotlight washout during the bright bits, camera going out of focus in spots, also a bar blocks some of the action from time to time. Appears to be filmed from up in the balcony, so that's not too much a surprise. But given the fact it was filmed and likely put right to DVD, there's no (or next to none) generation loss.
A-