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1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
 OK Jan 10, 2008
I really like songs for a new world and the last 5 years. was excited to purchase this disc but was kinda disappointed. lacks the edgy variation and creativity of the others. not bad and the cover track is fun--just not up to the success of the other jason robert brown work.
Great music and lyrics! Nov 21, 2007
What a great writer! The lyrics are clever and often humorous. I especially love "Music of Heaven" and "Grow Old With Me".
Maturing Composer Jul 09, 2007
Mr. Brown is the future of the American Musical. Each of his songs are like novelettes filled with rich specific detail. The range of his talent are exhibited here--from gospel to the 'big band' sound of Sinatra, with every stop along the way covered.
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
Good Stuff May 19, 2007
Definitely is good stuff. Great voice. Diverse and wonderful. Check out Someone to Fall Back On.
4 of 4 found the following review helpful:
This may be the beginning of an obsession... Mar 08, 2007
I liked Jason Robert Brown before (I knew his musicals and one or two of his many names), but I love him now. Here is someone working in the world of musical theatre who is doing it right. To new listeners - be warned that it takes a few times listening through a song to begin to appreciate it - I've found that I, at least, get easily bored with songs I like right away, so consider this a good thing. To old hats, if you loved one of his shows, you'll love this. No question. So, Wearing Someone Else's Clothes. There is some absolutely incredible stuff on this CD. Take for instance the title song, a funked-out tale of a common problem - what do you do when society doesn't like you as you are? Wear someone else's clothes, of course! This falsely cheerful song doesn't preach against this occurrence, as I think a lesser writer would have done, but gets his character in deep - "anyone can be a bland infatuated sellout," he says, but amends "I think you are gonna be impressed" (at how far he takes it). It feels good fitting in ("it's been highly recommended that I smile"), but if it's not who you are it does feel like someone else's life. Very clever.
Then there's the beautiful "Someone to Fall Back On" which I guess in one of his oldest songs on the album. Much like the last number I described (and many others on this CD), it tells of an insecure man who is unsure of what he has to offer the world - this time the woman he loves. As he lays out his faults and insists that having someone to come home to is a greater joy than a fast and furious flame, his assertions grow stronger until he becomes all the things he insisted he wasn't. Also - this song contains some of the best lyrical moments on the CD ("I've been alone, I'd rather be...the half of us, the least of you, the best of me").
"Over" is a beautiful ballad of an ugly subject, the narrative of a soldier recently killed in war, flying over the world as he leaves it. It pokes at patriotism but treats the human elements of war with much sympathy. "Nothing in Common" took me a few more listenings (I was distracted the first several times, so I missed important lyrics) - it's yet another beautiful song, this time about JRB and his relationship with his brother, beginning with the boy he knew several years back that lived in his house and looked like his mother and going through the different people that this constant in his life became as they grew up. "I Could Be in Love with Someone Like You," as I said, is the superior version of The Last Five Years' song (there was a lawsuit of sorts, so really he couldn't use it). This song is riddled with wonderful jokes, lines that jump out and surprise you, and a couple wonderfully driving moments that are very exciting and musically powerful.
Lastly, another fantastic song is the final, very jazzy "Grow Old With Me," in which he's finally offering himself as all he is and all that he'll become. Written very much in the style of cheesy-broadway love-me-forever songs, it includes lines like, "grow old with me, baby lets fossilize," and "don't leave me cold, don't leave me rusted and crusted with mold." It's adorable and it's funny in the same way as the Beatle's "When I'm Sixty-Four."
So, if you have any interest in musical-type numbers and aren't afraid of songs that tell a meaningful story that you have to work a little bit to uncover, then you will love this album. This isn't music to have quietly playing in the background - it's stick-it-in-your-ears-and-let-the-rest-of-the-world-slide-away stuff. You won't be sorry.
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