Various Artists - Rock Star A Night at the Mayan Theatre (17 tracks) +Album Reviews

Prefered Song Selection Would Be ...

R. Freeman | Central Coast, CA USA | 10/01/2005

(2 out of 5 stars)

"As others have already written, the song selection is extremely disappointing. If I was to put together a highlight CD, the first 8 songs would be:

Baby One More Time - Marty Casey

Pretty Vegas - JD Fortune

Bohemian Rhapsody - Suzy McNeil

Wish You Were Here - Marty Casey

Baby I Love Your Way - Mig Ayesa

Trees - Marty Casey

Pretty Vegas (Encore) - JD Fortune

Trees (Acoustic Encore) - Marty Casey"

"Song Selection, Song Selection, Song Selection!"

Bruce Caines | New York City | 09/24/2005

(2 out of 5 stars)

"I've got to admit it--Paula Abdul, who appears on one of my guilty pleasures, American Idol, has got it right. Song selection is key. Maybe she should have produced this disc.

RockStar:INXS became our TV summer guilty pleasure--and in reality, the music performed on the show is far more the vibe of what we listen to in our house than music performed on Idol. So, with so many outstanding cover performances to choose from I'm wondering what brand of crack was being smoked when the producers picked the songs for this collection. Even in the rush to slap something together and get it in the stores while the fans were still arguing over who should have won, more care could have gone into chosing what we get to buy.

Yeah, to be sure, there are some tasty tracks here like Jordis Unga's "Man Who Sold The World" and Ty Taylor's "Cult of Personality." (Yes Ty, we noticed you were trying to channel Corey Glover throughout the competition.) Deanna Johnston's inspired "Piece of My Heart" (speaking of channeling artists) is worth the price of admission alone, but Marty Casey's fan favorite rendition of Pink Floyd's "Wish You Were Here" and Radiohead's "Creep" are conspicuously absent. And what about the luscious version of "I Can't Make You Love Me" by "Sweet" Suzie McNeil? Where is that? I personally love Casey's dark version of "Baby One More Time." You would NEVER have convinced me I would ever allow a Britney Spears song in the house. Not on this disc either.

Most of the songs were recorded during one night's performance at the Mayan Theater--and not the versions we saw performed throughout the competition. Those later, stronger performances should have been on this disc. Maybe it's a licensing thing--the fees may have been more than the producers wanted to pay to incorporate some tracks into this disc. Maybe it's a marketing thing--see how the public responds to this release and then do a bunch of subsequent releases of other compilations. In all honesty, there weren't enough stellar performances on the show to squeeze more than two discs out of it--and I think they missed the mark with this one. The goal of this seemed to be, "get it in the can and ready to release as soon as the competition is over."

The audio mix on this is good--certainly better and a little cleaner than the live broadcast, so that's a good thing. But you know how there are some CDs you buy for the three or four hot jams? Well, that's what you would be doing here. If you REALLY love the show and most of the contestants (even the ones who deserved to go home before the RS:INXS hit the air), then plunk down your bucks and get it. For my money, I'd rather download individual tracks and get exactly the eight or so I want.

Just an aside: While I wasn't a fan of JD Fortune, I wish him and INXS the best. (I can still enjoy my old vinyl INXS sans Fortune!) If you watched the finale and the selection of JD over Marty Casey seemed oh-so-wrong, check out Marty Casey's band Lovehammers. Their CD, Murder On My Mind kicks butt. Marty's loss is likely Lovehammers' gain--along with everyone else. Sometimes things just work out the way they should..."

Save your money, unless........

Kristin Danninger | Stoughton, WI USA | 11/09/2005

(2 out of 5 stars)

"I was a huge fan of the Rock Star INXS TV show so I bought this CD. But unless you're a bigger fan than me I would say save your money. There were a couple of good songs on the CD, but the majority of the songs I enjoyed on the TV show are not featured on the CD. This CD is not worth the price."

Double Surprise

Garold L. Markle | Marietta, GA | 10/26/2005

(2 out of 5 stars)

"My first surprise was the show, Rockstar INXS. I tuned in expecting it to be more reality show pablam but found instead the soundtrack for the summer. My wife and I recorded every episode and watched several of them multiple times as we shared the best songs with family and friends.

Many old and familiar songs were given new life by these incredibly talented young artists. Contemporary songs were made even more contemporary. Marty, Mig and Jordan blew me away almost every week. JD and otthers had moments of absolute brilliance.

My second surprise was the song selection for this compilation. To say the least, it is very disappointing given the material they theoretically had to work with. Despite the truth in advertising that the title suggests (a one night sampling) I felt cheated not to be given a "Best of" song selection. What we have here is a day of performances, not the greatest hits. And sadly, this was not one of the better days or the best version of most of the songs sampled.

I agree with several previous reviewers that they could have spliced together a brilliant double disc set of the songs and versions that caused audience members, the band and millions of us at home to rise to our feet. Despite having a record/CD collection of over 4K covers, I will likely download the song versions that worked the best and create my own memories of this brilliant show.

Would love to think that the folks in charge or this intellectual property would do the same and let me purchase a greatest hits version at a later date."

Why not the good stuff??

RockRelic | 10/05/2005

(1 out of 5 stars)

"From what I have read, and the selections that are on this CD (With the exception of Jordis "The Man who would save the World" and MiG's "Baby I Love Your Way") I would have thought they might pick the best performance from each singer. I waited impatiently for the performance show each week. I had hoped that they would put out some type of compilation CD, but I will not be buying this one. I will pick and choose my fav perfomances from each fantastic singer on my own."

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