Nightmare Revisited - review
Corporate line:
With “The Nightmare Before Christmas” franchise growing each year, Walt Disney Records is releasing a brand new cover album, “Nightmare Revisited.” The album features unique, ALL NEW RECORDINGS on the eccentric cult classic, “The Nightmare Before Christmas” soundtrack, covered by a diverse group of artists across different music genres. Artists such as Amy Lee from Evanesence, Korn, Rise Against, Shiny Toy Guns, Flyleaf, Polyphonic Spree, and more! Take a spin with these great songs and show us there is still plenty of nightmare to revisit.
The tracks:
“Overture” f/DeVotchKa - Sounds a scottish hoe-down rather than an opening track to a Halloween movie.
“This is Halloween” f/Marilyn Manson - Marilyn Manson is the king of creepiness and his take on this song is brilliant. Manson might be the only artist that could take a song of this album and put it on his own album.
“Jack’s Lament” f/The All-American Rejects - AAR opens brilliantly but this is the sort of song that needs a visual to hold it together.
“Doctor Finkelstein/In the Forest” f/Amiina - Purely instrumental–good for a nap.
“What’s This?” f/Flyleaf - Perhaps my favorite song from the movie–except for “This is Halloween.” Flyleaf’s take doesn’t really do the song justice when performed as a rock track because it’s missing the atmosphere.
“Town Meeting Song” f/The Polyphonic Spree - The Polyphonic Spree shows you what Pink Floyd might do if they were making a soundtrack for a kid’s movie. Here is a suggestion–The Polyphonic Spree and Danny Elfman should get together and write an album. It’d be brilliant to say the least!
“Jack and Sally Montage” f/The Vitamin String Quartet - Another instrumental interlude.
“Jack’s Obsession” f/Sparklehorse - At first I thought–who is this chick singing… nope, it’s a dude. Big mistake.
“Kidnap the Sandy Claws” f/Korn - This song is brilliant. I haven’t heard Korn have this much fun in a decade.
“Making Christmas” f/Rise Against - This is the complete opposite of the Korn track. It lacks atmosphere and playfulness. Rise Against doesn’t make Christmas–they make a Rise Against song without thinking about the overall idea.
“Nabbed” f/Yoshida Brothers - Who are these guys? I had no idea until I looked them up. I want all their albums. Their music is beautiful. This is the only instrumental track that made me listen over and over again.
“Oogie Boogie’s Song” f/Rodrigo y Gabriela - An instrumental track that has the opposite effect of the Yoshinda Brothers.
“Sally’s Song” f/Amy Lee - What can’t Amy Lee sing? Amy Lee is magical. If I was Danny Elfman and Tim Burton I’d be trying to figure out how to get this voice on future projects.
“Christmas Eve Montage” f/Rjd2 - Block rocking beats. Techno/hip-hop has connection with this soundtrack.
“Poor Jack” f/Plain White T’s - As much fun as it sounds–it’s not really more than a color by numbers cover.
“To the Rescue” f/Datarock - This techno track doesn’t fit–no, not in the least.
“Finale/Reprise” f/Shiny Toy Guns - The soundtrack to your nightmares. Is it too dark? So it would seem.
“End Title” f/The Album Leaf - Another miss.
Finally:
There are some really interesting and fun tracks. The usual suspects are absolutely brilliant: see Marilyn Manson, Korn and Amy Lee from Evanesence. There are some huge surprises like the Yoshida Brothers. It’s rare that you get a soundtrack and find an artist that makes you want to go out and buy their albums like the Yoshida Brothers do. If you are a fan of the movie, like myself, this still isn’t a must buy–however those four or five tracks certainly are worth downloading.
Entries (RSS)
Amy Lee’s cover is so beautiful…! There aren’t other words…only beautiful!
I’m sooooo excited to hear this album, especially “Sally’s Song” by Amy Lee, because she RULESSSS!!
I absolutely love Sally’s Song!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Amy Lee is the best!!!! what an AMAZING voice!! I love her!!
amy lee’s sally’s song!!
fuking awesome!!!
she’s a SINGER!!!!
So awesome,damn,amy and sallys song,wow
the song “sally’s song” is the best of the album!
Amy is the complete performace of the all others,
but i love korn and jonathan davis and this song is perfect too!!!
thanks!
Bye
Realmente eu não imagina nada que Amy Lee não possa cantar (…)
Tudo que ela toca se torna melhor e genuino.
I can imaginary the that Amy Lee don´t sing
she has best voice fermale that i listen and best performace
I see concert from evanescence in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro
i only can say that thi´s concert´s is incrible
I like very, very, very much song´s from evanescence
thak´s
Diego from São Paulo / Brazil
the song saaly’s song is perfect.what a amazing wonderfull voice this girl has!!!! amy lee rockssss !! suggest you to dl it right now
I agree wholeheartedly about the Manson, Korn and Amy Lee covers. However, I disagree with what you said about “Jack’s Lament,” “Town Meeting Song,” and “Making Christmas.”
I think that AAR cover of “Jack’s Lament” was off. It was too upbeat for Nightmare.
And “Town Meeting Song” I thought was horrid. They should have stuck to speaking some of it, just like Jack did in the movie.
Now, on the other hand, I LOVED “Making Christmas,” I thought Rise Against did a great job.
And I do agree with you on the “What’s This?” song. As a die hard Nightmare fan, I was THOROUGHLY disappointed when I heard Flyleaf’s cover of it. They missed the mark/feel completely.