Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Once More with Feeling [Soundtrack]

The musical episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, "Once More, With Feeling", is one of the most inventive, astonishing, brilliantly acted and directed hours of television of all time. It received enormous amounts of critical praise, and huge fan adoration. The songs, written by show creator Joss Whedon and performed by the cast themselves, were all excellent. The musical format was ideal for this genre-bending show. And now, the songs are finally available to buy on this beautifully packaged CD. The booklet contains a nice intro from Joss, and the complete song lyrics. Here is the track listing, and my little reviews:

1. Overture/Going Through The Motions: The overture is a cute little piece, made up of tunes from other songs. On Going Through The Motions, Sarah Michelle Gellar displays her adequate vocal talents in this well-written song of suicidal despair. 9/10

2. I've Got A Theory/Bunnies/If We're Together: This song contains much humour as the Scooby Gang wildly theorize about what is causing the strange singing curse. The Bunnies segment is absolutely hysterical. Buffy's section has beautiful, life-affirming, ironic lyrics. 9/10

3. The Mustard: Mildly amusing, short song about successful laundry. (Sung by Buffy writer/director David Fury) 7/10

4. Under Your Spell- Possibly the best song on here. Amber Benson's voice is beautiful and sweet, the lyrics are haunting and wonderfully expressive of Tara's deep feelings for Willow.
10/10

5. I'll Never Tell- Funnily performed and written, this is a warm and affectionate song behind all the bickering. It is reminiscent of duet's from the classic movies of the 50's and it works well. 8/10

6. The Parking Ticket- Short, sweet song about the pain of getting parking tickets, sung by Buffy Co-Exec Producer Marti Noxon. Kind of a satire of epic, sweeping ballads? 8/10

7. Rest In Peace- Great rock song, with awesome lyrics, finally letting us know some of what Spike really thinks about Buffy. It is enhanced by James Marsters' expressive voice. 8/10

8. Dawn's Lament- Showcases Michelle Trachtenberg's cute voice and Dawn's desperate feelings. 8/10

9. Dawn's Ballet- Nice piece of music, but it doesn't really work too well without the action onscreen. 7/10

10. What You Feel- Smooth jazz song, with impressive vocals and funny and disturbing lyrics. 8/10

11. Standing- Beautiful song. Anthony Stewart Head's voice is so full of pain and anguish, and the lyrics are wonderfully evocative. 9.5/10

12. Under Your Spell/ Standing (Reprise)- Amber Benson and Anthony Stewart Head's voices blend very well to produce this heartbreaking farewell to two very different types of love.
9/10

13. Walk Through The Fire- Melodic, epic song, combining all the characters, all struggling against personal demons, their senses of wrong and right, and the horrifying urge to sing. Particularly impressive are Amber Benson and Nick Brendon, who, although is not a great singer, he is a real trooper and gives his all. The lyrics of this song are cleverly metaphorical.
9.5/10

14. Something to Sing About- This is a stunning song. Sarah Michelle Gellar truly impresses. It really shows the huge amount of effort she is putting in, and the results it gets. The lyrics are poignant, full of despair, and eventually heartbreaking as Buffy reveals the horrible truth of where she was to her friends. 10/10

15. What You Feel- Reprise- Nice reprise, amusing lyrics. "That's what it's all about." 9/10

16. Where Do We Go From Here?- Very moving song. Haunting lyrics and vocals, enough to make the hair on the back of your neck stand up on end. 9.5/10

17. Coda- In the episode, this song comes complete with shocking impact and a stunning final shot. It is slightly less powerful on CD, but is still a nice wrap-up to this very emotional episode. 9/10

18. End Credits (Broom Dance/ Grr Arrgh)- Funny, definitely listenable jazz bop. 8/10

19. Main Title- Cute little variation on the regular theme tune. Is it me or does this sound a little bit Christmassy?
8/10

20. Suite From Restless- Atmospheric arrangement, in particular the African theming and soft singing linger in the mind. 8/10

21. Suite From Hush- Amazingly creepy music. Brilliantly evokes the terrifying silent episode Hush. Few will ever forget the sight of the Gentleman slowly gliding down the street, with the haunting music sending a shiver through your body. 8/10

22. Sacrifice- Who didn't cry when they first heard this? The lasting images of Buffy swandiving into the portal, of Dawn weeping at the top of the tower, of the gang's discovery of the body, of the horribly final sight of Bufyf's gravestone. This music is touching, painful, beautiful, and entirely unforgettable. 10/10

23. Something To Sing About- Okay, so this is Joss' wife, Kai Cole, singing Buffy's big number. It's not a great listen, (her voice is okay, but nothing special, and don't say "well, you could say the same thing about SMG", because the situation is different) and the backing is lacking (rhymes!), and though I know (and again!) that is because this is a demo, it is still not particularly interesting. 6/10

So overall, this CD is a worthy addition to any Buffy-lover's collection, and possibly any person who enjoys (mostly) good music. It compliments, and slightly adds too, what I believe to be the best episode of Buffy of all time, and yes, DEFINITELY one of the best hours of television of all time.

If you're not a Buffy fan already, you probably wouldn't be interested in this CD - aside from anything else, lots of the lyrics of the songs would probably not make much sense to you. But to Buffy fans, this is a good album.

Some of the singers are not as good as others - and why should they be; they're really actors on a drama show, they weren't cast for their singing abilities. However, they all do their best, and some of the singers, for instance Amber Benson, Anthony Stewart Head and James Marsters, are pretty good.

There's a mix of songs on the album, and they're nice to listen to - I've played the album many times since I bought it. Some of the lyrics are great - 'I'll Never Tell' being a good example. The addition of some scores from other Buffy episodes is wonderful - I particularly like 'Sacrifice' from 'The Gift,' it always makes me remember the scene in which it was played. I'm not so keen on the inclusion of the demo of 'Something To Talk About' - it was interesting to hear once, but not something I really want to keep playing.

Overall, a good album and one I listen to quite frequently, but probably only worth it for people who already know the Buffy story and have seen the episode Once More, With Feeling.

...Okay, so maybe the cast aren't posessed of the greatest voices since Nat King Cole and Sheryl Crow, but they do pretty damn well. Joss Whedon (creator, producer and writer of this whole episode) has proved himself a genius, mixing all kinds of musical styles to create an unforgettable episode. I wasn't sure how well it would work without the visuals but it does work, and it's still damn good.
Laugh at Anya's hysterical bunny rant (and if anyone knows why she hates bunnies I'd love to find out) in track two. Get all wistful and romantic with Tara's love song to Willow in the lovely track four, Under Your Spell. Her voice could be stronger but for someone with no training it's pretty amazing. Listen to all the lyrics of the Parking Ticket aria on track six. It will make you laugh so hard, and who hasn't thought of doing that?
James Marsters... well, really I'd prefer to look at him than listen to him on track seven, but his voice is pretty sexy too, really. It's at this point you start to realise there is a point to this series of songs: they all start to say something about how the characters feel about each other. Track eleven is a bittersweet ballad by Giles about how he has to leave Buffy to stand on her own feet. It's followed by what I think is the highlight of the album: his duet with Tara when they both realise they must leave, him to go to England, her to live without Willow's mind-control magic.
Track thirteen is a blatant 'Tonight' from West Side Story copy, but it's still pretty funky and has some great harmonies, as well as Willow's wry 'I think this line's mostly filler'. FYI, apparently the actress didn't want to sing on this, although I think she does okay. If bad minor notes make you cringe, then stay away from track fourteen, although it is a major turning point in the story of the series. Buffy can't quite slide the notes, although Spike just about carries it off.
The last four tracks are not OST from the episode, but still worth a listen. The demo at the end is actually better sung than the real version, just remember: it's a tape recorder, not a studio. It's supposed to sound raw. Track 22, called Sacrifice, is the theme to which Buffy died at the end of series five. It's beautiful. It really made me cry.
Okay. That's the longest review ever. Buy this soundtrack ('cos these guys really need the money, huh?), it's really actually pretty good. Plus the photos of the cast are cool, and Joss Whedon's commentary is really funny.