LIZZIE - A CD Review

I don’t doubt I’m the worst person in the world to review this recording; in fact I shouldn’t even do it. You see, I’m an old fashion guy who loves traditional musicals and to whom rock, even pop, is something I don’t understand. It’s true, some modern musicals use rock as its kind of music and I don’t doubt it works for the shows, but not on my music player.

For example, when I bought the RENT cast recording I couldn’t believe it had won the Tony Award for Best Original Score. With the exception of “Seasons of Love” I didn’t enjoy any of the songs. When I saw the show (a live DVD recording) I realized the score worked on stage and was perfect for the show. But I still don’t like the music.

All of this to write a few words about LIZZIE, a rock concept album that, like TOMMY and JESUS CHRIS SUPERSTAR, serves as a reference to future stage productions. This is pure hard rock, or so I think, and I really didn’t enjoy any of tracks. In fact, they all sound the same to me, but I believe it may work on a stage.

As you can probably guess by the title, it tells the legend of the infamous Lizzie Borden, an “axe-wielding double-murderess” (a distant cousin of the lady murderesses of CHICAGO). The subject seems a perfect pitch for this kind of heavy music and the cast (Carrie Manolakos and Storm Large as the Borden sisters, plus Carrie Cimma and Ryah Nixon) delivers strong voices. But this isn’t for me.

One thing I like, the fantastic cover!

If you love hard rock with a strong story and enjoy the likes of TOMMY or even RENT, I’m sure you’re going to like this “musical” by Steven Cheslik-DeMeyer, Tim Maner and Alan Stevens Hewitt.

Rate: 1 (from 1 to 10)

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