Title: Poor concept with few bright spots
Product review: I bought this CD on the basis of Tina Turner's stunning performance of "Easy as Life," which I sampled in the store. I should have sampled the entire CD before spending my money. Turner's song is perfectly delivered, and James Taylor does a lovely job with "How I Know You." "Elaborate Lives" is also quite excellent. The rest of the CD is pure drivel; it's hard to justify John and Rice's score or musical concept. Yes, "Rent" is a derivative of "La Boheme," but it uses modern musical idioms and contemporary situations to bring something new to the story. Larson repeats with a difference, thus making something new of the material. John and Rice simply rehash old ground without adding anything new or interesting. And it was such good ground to start with, one wonders why they bothered. Buy Verdi, his version is the only AIDA worth spending your money on.
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