Here's my track-by-track guide to ONCE MORE, WITH FEELING...

TRACK 1 - OVERTURE/GOING THROUGH THE MOTIONS
Nice overture, and Going Through the Motions is one of the many comedic highlights of the episode while also showing Buffy's discontentment with her life. A great song, but would've worked better with the sound effects from the episode.

TRACK 2 - I'VE GOT A THEORY/BUNNIES/IF WE'RE TOGETHER
Awesome track, and still very funny on CD. I've Got A Theory has a cool little ring to it, and is so fitting for the Scoobies. Emma Caulfield's Bunnies is hilarious, and If We're Together is a touching track sung brilliantly by Sarah Michelle Gellar.

TRACK 3 - THE MUSTARD
This doesn't quite fit in the CD. It's hilarious in the episode though.

TRACK 4 - UNDER YOUR SPELL
Amber Benson proves she has an amazing voice. This is a great song with excellent guitar work and stunning vocals. I listen to it a lot.

TRACK 5 - I'LL NEVER TELL
Another really funny song, which shows Anya and Xander's nervousness before their wedding. Their complaints about each other are hilarious and always entertaining to listen to.

TRACK 6 - THE PARKING TICKET
I was happy they inclduded this, it was hilarious in the episode. It was nice to hear the full version.

TRACK 7 - REST IN PEACE
One of the more darker songs in the album. James Marsters is a member of the band Ghost of the Robot and he proves here why. He has an awesome voice and his Billy Idol-like song is a great addition to the episode and sounds great spinning on the CD.

TRACK 8 - DAWN'S LAMENT
Short but nice collection of little orchestrals. Lets you know how Dawn might be feeling at the time, and the scary music at the end is really cool. Would've worked better hearing Dawn's scream.

TRACK 9 - DAWN'S BALLET
A very short but brilliantly played ballet tune. The music here is exciting, fairy-tale like and memorable.

TRACK 10 - WHAT YOU FEEL
Jazzy, catchy and entertaining tune to listen to, it sounds almost better on CD. I think it would've ben just that tad bit better with the conversations between Sweet and Dawn. Hinton Battle is a great singer!

TRACK 11 - STANDING
Anthony Stewart Head is a great singer! This is the first of the very depressing songs on the album. It was written very well and shows the reason why Giles must leave and make Buffy stand on her own two feet. Just as great on CD.

TRACK 12 - UNDER YOUR SPELL/STANDING Reprise
Amber Benson and Anthony Stewart Head's voices just mesh really well together! They sound amazing as they are probably the strongest singers of the cast. Excellent stuff, and I loved hearing the two tunes of Standing/Under your Spell mixing together.

TRACK 13 - WALK THROUGH THE FIRE
On screen and on CD, this track brings a tear to my eye. It's brilliant. Sarah Michelle Gellar's singing here is very strong and the lyrics are heartbreaking. This is probably my favourite song on the track, I cherish it and listen to it a lot.

TRACK 14 - SOMETHING TO SING ABOUT
Brilliant lyrics and brilliant singing. Sarah Michelle Gellar hits all the right notes here, she rocks. This is just behind Walk Through the Fire for my favourite track on the album.

TRACK 15 - WHAT YOU FEEL - REPRISE
Wonderfully theatrical exit for Sweet. Great music and catchy tune.

TRACK 16 - WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE
A short song but I love it all the same. One of my favourite songs on the album, it's very sad and the music is great. Loved hearing the full version.

TRACK 17 - CODA
Nice little exit for the episode with Sarah and James' voices meshing well.

TRACK 18 - END CREDITS
Another jazzy tune and a very happy note to go out on such a depressing episode. Very cool.

TRACK 19 - MAIN TITLE
Altered Nerf Herder music especially for the musical. Very cool remix!

TRACK 20 - SUITE FROM RESTLESS
Loved all of the tunes here, Willow's Nightmare is a scary one, while First Rage is awesome and action packed.

TRACK 21 - SUITE FROM HUSH
A great collection of music from a brilliant epiode. I love the track Enter the Gentlemen, it's very creepy and brings back memories of the Gentlemen demons. First Kiss is lovely.

TRACK 22 - SACRIFICE (FROM THE GIFT)
I love this music, it is so sad. It brings back acute memories of seeing Buffy jump into the portal to save the world in the season 5 finale. Brilliant, tearfully sad music.

TRACK 23 - SOMETHING TO SING ABOUT (DEMO)
A lovely touch to end the CD, Joss' wife Kai sings Something To Sing About. Great voice Kai, and nice to know what the song would sound like with just the piano.

**

TOP 5 TRACKS

1. Walk Through the Fire
2. Something to Sing About
3. I've Got A Theory/Bunnies/If We're Together
4. Under Your Spell
5. Suite from Restless

**

This is an essential item for any Buffy fan. I just love this album and I love all the songs on it. Perhaps it would've worked better with some more sound effects but Joss probably wanted to made the episode individual with those and have the CD with JUST the music. That works fine with me! I don't really know what else to say, oh, wait this - BUY IT!

NOW!

:)


Something to Sing About   October 13, 2002
 93 out of 95 found this review helpful

Everyone involved in Once More With Feeling - from Joss to Christophe, from Jesse to Marti, from every mainstay and guest star to each extra or backup dancer - is to be thanked and praised. A musical episode is a huge undertaking and it was pulled off brilliantly.

Once More, With Feeling was a true musical. Sometimes, folks burst into song for no reason; other times, it was just the right time and place. It offered funny tunes (The Parking Ticket), a jazzy duet (I'll Never Tell), showstopping ballads (Under Your Spell, Standing), the group numbers and more. The hour was replete not just with songs but with emotion. It moved the stories, the people and the plots forward. This episode shook up almost every friendship and relationship and altered the course of the season. Secrets were revealed, hearts were broken, lives were changed.

Much like I pay heavy attention to the writing in a regular episode - the dialogue, the snappy our-show-only lingo to which we've grown fond, grown accustomed - here, I listened closely to the lyrics. I wasn't expecting everyone to sound perfectly. I was watching their acting and listening to the words. Not everyone wanted to sing, but they did. They were brave enough to do it. What I say to the naysayers who are telling me so-and-so sang poorly is this: Were you up there, on that screen, bearing your heart for the world to see? Just standing up there on stage - or in this case, in front of a camera - takes guts.

What an absolute pleasure it is to have the entire cast actually sing and take part in the episode rather than lipsynch to other people's voices. Granted, some shy away from singing, so Joss had them only sing a few lines by themselves and otherwise take part in the group chorus. Everyone took part; everyone was passable...

Some were outright outstanding. Amber Benson (Tara) stole the screen with "Under Your Spell," a lyrical, magical love ballad. Our hearts broke right along with her later on the reprise, and with Anthony Stewart Head (Giles) as he proclaims himself a hinderance to Buffy in "Standing." When you couple the two voices for their duet, not only do you get the mirroring of stories, but lovely harmonies. Tony and Amber deserve standing ovations. Nicholas Brendon and Emma Caulfield, as Xander and Anya, made me laugh out loud with "I'll Never Tell," the perfect piece for the two lively actors who possess such great comic timing. Sarah Michelle Gellar (Buffy) impressed me quite a bit. From the Disney-esque inquisitive "Going Through the Motions" to the emotional "Life's A Show," that girl gave it her all.

One cannot remark upon this music and not mention Christophe Beck. This amazing composer worked on the series full time for years, then departed to focus on scoring films, but returned to provide instrumental pieces and the overture for Once More, With Feeling. The bonus tracks also give us score pieces from famous episodes "Hush," "Restless" and "The Gift," also scored by Beck and instantly recognizable by any fan.

With an immediately-addicting hour packed with harmony, revelations and shakeups, this episode was rightly named: "Once More, With Feeling."


As Usual, Words Without Pictures are Less Than Half the Show   October 19, 2002
 44 out of 53 found this review helpful

Well, here's the CD we wanted.

And, as usual, the music part of a musical play turns out to be less of an experience than the production as a whole. Big surprise, huh?

That said, the songs are pretty good -- for music written by a non-musician, and the performances are quite good -- for a cast composed mostly of non-singers.

Standouts are Tara (Amber Benson) singing "Under Your Spell", a love-song to Willow, Anya and Xander (Emma Caulfield and Nicholas Brendon) with "I'll Never Tell", their paean to cold feet and Spike (James Marsters -- one of the two real singers in the regular cast) channelling Billy Idol on "Rest in Peace".

Anthony Stewart Head (Giles), the other singer (who played Frank N. Furter in a 1990 London production of "Rocky Horror")does well with his big number, "Standing", meditating on the line between helping and hindering.

"Walk Through the Fire", the big ensemble number, is a big ensemble number. Without the full-cast staging and visuals (the fire trucks were a brilliant touch), though, it's not quite so impactful.

Sarah Michelle Gellar's performance of Buffy's big number, "Something to Sing About" confirms my suspicion that she's a good actress. "DOn't quit your day job" applies, to others of the cast as well as to her. The irony of this song, of course, is that it's Spike, the vampire, who drives home the point that the only way to deal with life is just to live it.

Unlike some musical cast/soundtrack albums, this one cuts doesn't throw in bits of dialog to set up songs (which is an aesthetic decision, and may well go different ways for different shows or producers), but also cuts some dialog cues that were actually part of the songs or closely related to them -- especially several bits of Dawn's dialog with Sweet, the dancing demon responsible for the musical curse that has descended on Sunnydale, which i miss -- particularly her quote of Buffy's line from the end of Season Five "The hardest thing to do in this world is to live in it."

Most of the extra material included is Nice But So What -- instrumental suites from two shows and another instrumental -- but it's nice to hear Joss and his wife's demo of "Something to Sing About".

I sort of hoped there might be hidden tracks, maybe ASH's solo acoustic performance of "Behind Blue Eyes", say, but no -- 'twas not to be. Oh well.

If you're a "Buffy" fan, this is solid value for money. But then, if you're a "Buffy" fan, you saw the show when it was on teevee, and you know what's going on -- why people are singing and dancing and catching fire and so on.

Because, as i said, without the visuals (or the memory of the visuals) a lot of this disc, sadly, doesn't stand up very well.

But, since i remember the visuals, and i enjoyed the original boradcast, and because this CD calls it up for me, a solid four stars.

Best line in a song: Willow (Alysson Hannigan, definitely one of the non-singers in the cast) rhymes Spike's "First I'll save her, then I'll kill her" with "I think this line's mostly filler"... (After all, they KNOW that they're in a musical...)

So, if you're a fan of the show, buy this CD. Actually, if you're a real fan of the show, since it's been out almost a month, you probably already HAVE bought it...

So enjoy.


More book numbers than breakaway pop hits   October 6, 2002
 26 out of 40 found this review helpful

When the Buffy website asked for votes on whether the soundtrack to the landmark episode "Once More With Feeling" should be released as a CD, I voted no because I didn't think the songs would hold up well enough apart from the visual to justify it. Of course, I also knew damn well that I'd go and buy it anyway.

I suspect these songs are too specific to the plot of the episode to interest the casual fan. In "Once More With Feeling," Broadway musical veteran Hinton Battle plays a demon who makes people sing and dance themselves to death ("I can bring whole cities to ruin and still have time to get a soft shoe in," from "What You Feel"). This is bad news for the Buffster, who was at the time pretty bummed about having been pulled from heaven by her well-meaning friends only to face hell on earth again in Sunnydale, CA. Since Season Seven promises a shinier, happier Buffy, people buying this CD and tuning in to the show might be confused.

I almost gave this 2 stars and risked the wrath and unhelpful votes of fellow fans who have completely lost their objectivity. But here are some reasons for the third star. Emma Caulfield, Anthony Stewart Head, and sweet Amber Benson really can sing ("Under Your Spell" could more than hold its own at any Lilith Fair). James Marsters, as usual, is just cool (or cold, as evidenced in his solo "Rest In Peace"). Also, in the "Suites" from other episodes "Hush" (I was expecting this to be just silence) and "Restless," we get timely Halloween mood music as a bonus.

Of course, those of us who are of the fanatical understand and forgive any and all of the above problems. But as I'm writing this Amazon ranks this disc at an amazing Number 8. Someone out there is gonna be disappointed that lovely Alyson Hannigan is limited to one minor line in one song, and that Nicholas Brendon really can't sing too well. Especially since they're both pictured prominently on the CD cover.

As for the Goddess/Diva herself, Sarah Michelle Gellar (Prinze, Jr.), our Buffy: it's apparent that she's not a professional singer, but she carries her 3 songs ("Going Through The Motions," "Walk Through The Fire," and "Something To Sing About," by sheer force of personality. I think everything she does is wonderful, so for space considerations I'll just say: (insert drool here).

Cross-marketing note: some Buffy cast members (including Hannigan and Benson) also sing on Anthony Head's CD with George Sarah, "Music For Elevators." It's interesting, and also available through Amazon.com.


A real musical...   September 13, 2003
 26 out of 26 found this review helpful

Wow, the first time that I saw "Once more with feeling", an episode of my favorite serie I was astonished, I still can`t believe how they managed to create such amazing songs, and what can I say about the musical performances of the show by the whole cast, AWESOME, I live in Mexico, so I was dying about getting the album with the music of the special, it was kind o hard to get it, specially in this part of America, but now I can say that I own it, let me tell you, it is great, my favorite songs are: Going through the motions, Overture (Anya's part is hilarious), under your spell, walk through the fire, something to sing about, where do we go from here and suite from "the gift". It is simply the best.