Category Archive

Artist: Various Artists
Album: High School Musical 2 OST
Release Date: August 14, 2007, 2007

1. What Time Is It? (HSM Cast)
This is an amazing opening track for both the soundtrack and the movie. There’s so much energy in the performance of this song from everyone. I love the call and response in the chorus. Plus, everyone more or less sounds pretty good throughout this song. I also really like the Hudgens and Efron duets during this song as their harmonies are quite good

2. Fabulous (Sharpay Evans)
This song still annoys me, from the vocals to the composition. Tisdale sounds awful all throughout this song as she twists her vocals all the time and the melody isn’t pleasant at all and don’t flow all that well. To me, this whole song is a mess.

3. Work This Out (HSM Cast)
This song is so whiny, and my general annoyance begins around this sections of the soundtrack. The song also doesn’t have a melody that flows well with the strong percussion in the background, although I do like the banging of the kitchenware in this song; it’s a nice interlude. The melody itself just doesn’t work that well and sounds awkward.

4. You are the Music in Me (Kelsi Nielsen, Gabriella Montez, Troy Bolton)
While the actress for Kelsi is a nice addition to the beginning of the song to tie in the story of te movie to the song, she really has no resonance at all at the beginning and fails to even reach some of the notes at the beginning. The song, however, sounds a lot better once Hudgens comes in. While not as good as some of the other Efron and Hudgens duets, it’s a decent song and flows decently throughout. I like the addition of a background chorus of vocals near the end.

5. I Don’t Dance (Chad Danforth, Ryan Evans)
This is probably the equivalent to “Getcha Head in the Game” from the first soundtrack, except it’s between Grabeel and Bleu. It’s not as catchy as its predecessor; however, it’s still is rather catchy with it’s strong bass line. It does get very repetitive after awhile, though, and my attention quickly wanders off as I’m listening to it, and as I was watching the movie.

6. You are the Music in Me (Sharpay Version)
Tisdale continues to sing off keys in this song. The beginning is extremely horrendous, and while the transformation into an upbeat song is quite decent, the vocal lines in this song are jus horrible to listen to, aside from the Sharpettes’ background vocals. Efron’s vocals lines just don’t match with the main melody for the majority of the song (although I believe this could have been done intentionally for the movie’s storyline).

7. Gotta Go My Own Way (Gabriella Montez, Troy Bolton)
This is probably the second time in the movie where I actually liked the song. The melody for this song is gorgeous, as is the accompaniment for it. Hudgens actually pulls off the solo parts of this song quite well, although sometimes not reaching the pitch completely. Efron starts into this song quite strongly, although the little additions between Hudgen’s main melody that he does later on are lacking energy and emotion. They sound soulless in between Hudgens’ emotional performance.

8. Bet on It (Troy Bolton)
As Efron’s solo song, it’s extremely catchy. He sings with plenty of pulse and although the song is repetitive, he adds lots of accent throughout the song. Efron does alright with his vocals, although I don’t like his falsetto much near the end, and his singing seems a bit tense and doesn’t seem to have much resonance to his singing.

9. Everyday (Troy Bolton, Gabriella Montez)
Efron sings well at the beginning and with a nice vibrato at the beginning, although Hudgens starts off a bit off with a really thin voice. Her singing remains thin and empty throughout the majority of the song, while Efron has a stronger, fuller tone here. Hudgens sticks out in a bad way in this song. The song itself is quite nice, although nothing outstanding. I really love the ending of this song with the addition of the rest of the cast. They sound really good and they blend quite well.

10. All for One (HSM Cast)
… Why I’m I thinking of Hello!Project whenever I see the title of this song? *fails* In any case, this song as a closing isn’t as strong as the first movie’s closing song. It’s an okay song, but the vocals don’t contain as much energy as I would have expected from a closing song. The melody itself is pretty catchy, but the vocals don’t reflect the level of catchiness at all.

11. Humuhumunukunukuapua’a -Bonus- (Sharpay and Ryan Evans)
I don’t even know if I typed the track name correctly XD. Seriously, leave it to Tisdale and Grabeel to pull out an amusing song out of this movie. It has a bit of a Hawaiian sound of it and it amuses me. The song is seriously kind of weird, but the level of amusement is higher than the weird. I want to seriously watch this scene. Somehow.

Overall -
Favourite Track: What Time is It?
Right after I watched the movie, the first thing I thought was that the music is nowhere as good as the first album. Upon listening to this album, it reaffirmed my reaction to the movie: it’s just not that good. While the first album was loaded with some pretty energetic, fun music, the second album let me down in many ways with dull songs. While there are a few good songs, the majority of the album was pretty much forgettable.

Artist: Various
Album: High School Musical: The Concert
Release Date: May 1, 2007

1. Start of Something New (Cast)
“WHAT TEAM?!”
“WILDCATS!”
Ok, I’m done (on with the song). I think it’s kind of interesting how they start off the show. They give little tidbits of each song in the musical, but highly altered before getting into the real song. Drew Seeley has a very strong tenor voice, I’m quite impressed. Vanessa Hudgen’s singing is pretty clean, and she harmonizes well with Drew, but her voice is a little on the thin side. The only moment she uses a fully tone is during the bridge and when she chooses to use her vibrato. You don’t hear the rest of the cast very much, since Drew and Vanessa are the highlights of this song (as it is their duet). Great opener.

2. Stick to the Status Quo (Cast)
The thing I love most about this song is the sheer “musical theatre” feeling it gives. While most of the songs in this musical can easily become simple pop tunes, this one really sets itself apart and makes me think of the musical as it’s being played out. For most of the cast, they’re just singing the chorus after each mini solo goes by (but the mini solos are played from the movie itself). I love the first soloist. I like the intensity of his singing. The second soloist is a little flat, but she’s not bad either. The third soloist is also pretty good but once he hits the higher notes, he kind of loses control and he ends up sounding strained. Going back to the chorus, they sound like any chorus, but the male voices seemed to be drowned out by the females because I can barely hear them. More balance there would fix that problem. I’m very impressed with Ashley Tisdale’s solo here. She actually sounds better than her recording. When she begins to harmonize with Lucas Grabeel, they don’t seem to be completely in tune. That all being said, this is a great song nonetheless, and very fun to listen to (and to perform I’m sure).

3. I Can’t Take My Eyes Off of You (Cast)
New song (and no, it’s not a cover of the one you’re probably thinking of). I believe Drew starts off the song (whoever it is, starts off nice and smoothly). Vanessa still sounds a bit weak in her singing. I definitely like Lucas and Ashley’s duet more. The way they nailed the vocal switches between themselves was amazing and they never let a beat slip. Ashley’s voice sounds pinched for some reason though, so it kind of sticks out like a sore thumb at times. Once again, this was a catchy song, but the vocals seem somewhat shakier than the previous two performances.

4. When There Was Me and You (Vanessa Hudgens)
First (and only) solo of the actual musical. I don’t like how she’s consistently under the tone when she’s singing quietly or in her lower register. She makes the mistake of not supporting herself enough and ends up not singings the notes on pitch. She improves at the song progresses, but that’s because as the song becomes more intense, she starts to open up her voice and sing out with more support. I think she needs to learn to support her singing at all times, and she won’t sound a monotone during the moments where she isn’t belting. Her tone is amazingly inconsistent in this song, so once again, a very thin tone during most of the song, with some strong moments. It’s a very nice ballad for Vanessa, and definitely showcases her vocal range, so with some more improvement, this could have been breathtaking.

5. Get’cha Head In The Game (Drew Seeley, Corbin Bleu)
I always thought this was one of the less appealing songs of the musical. I like this arrangement for the concert version. I like the live band accompanying them. I can’t really hear Corbin Bleu, other than his “What team?!” moments, even though he’s creditted as a soloist. Again, catchy song, but it has a pretty low key vocal performance from Drew. This probably would be better if it was seen performed live than listening to it on a CD.

6. What I’ve Been Looking For (Drew Seeley, Vanessa Hudgens)
All the music in high school musical is rather good, especially the duets between “Troy and Gabriela”. This is longer than the soundtrack version and the piano accompaniment is better and stylish (the original accompaniment sounded very choppy and dull), so it’s definitely a treat for the hardcore fans. Once again, Vanessa’s singing is very light and thin. I think she would blend a little better with Drew if she sang with more tone (as evident in the second verse/chorus). She also has a tendency to sing out of tune, particularly when she’s not taking the melody. Drew is still singing well, but not as well as he was for the opening and he is scratchy at times. He also allows himself to be drowned out especially when he has the melody and Vanessa is providing the harmony. This isn’t a vocally challenging song for either of them (so it seems), so I don’t know why they didn’t take advantage of it and concentrate on their tone to improve their overall sound.

7. What I’ve Been Looking For (Ashley Tisdale, Lucas Grabeel)
Finally, we’re getting some new vocalists. I guess it was more convenient to have consistent vocalists instead of changing them too often. This is the more upbeat version of the nice ballad that was preceding it. There’s dancing involved too so it’s a fun performance overall. I like how Lucas is actually singing out and matching Ashley’s voice. Ashley has a much higher pitched type of voice, so she’s going to sound more prominent, but Lucas is not letting himself be drowned out. I really don’t like how lazy Ashley’s singing is. She slurs all her words excessively, it comes off a little too amateur. She’s good at keeping in tune when she’s singing alone, but she has a little trouble holding her own when it comes to the harmonizing. I would like to see Lucas use more vibrato on his solo parts. Otherwise, this is a cute rendition of the ballad with a great ending, and it was stronger vocally.

8. Bop To The Top (Ashley Tisdale, Lucas Grabeel)
This seemingly cheesy song is actually quite catchy and fun. Both Ashley and Lucas’ solo parts were sung with more flare and turned out much better than the previous duet. The unison parts were pretty rough, but the harmonizing parts turned out better this time around. I really like how they nailed the random syllables (the technical term seems to elude me at the moment). Those could get potentially confusing. They were also right on for the last note and Lucas did a great job belting it out. I was much more impressed by their performance here.

9. Breaking Free (Drew Seeley, Vanessa Hudgens)
Another duet from our lead characters, and a very good one at that. It’s so addicting and catchy that I can get it stuck in my head for days on end. I find it’s more challenging and suitable for our vocalists here. There’s a lot of opportunity for the two of them to show their strengths. The unison parts could be a bit more together coming in and out of their words and syllables, but their tuning is clean. Drew pushes it a little too much during the chorus, because his voice cracks a few times. Plus, it would be better if he didn’t give it 110% on the first chorus so that he could leave himself some room to build towards the key change or last chorus entry (but thanks to the highly responsive audience, he was saved). Amazingly, Vanessa is letting herself be drowned out this time and she has the melody. Vanessa sounds a bit subdued, especially next to Drew. She eventually sings out more towards the end though. It would also be nice if they could make a decision when to sing “So, we’re breaking free” and “Yeah, we’re breaking free” instead of both at once. This is a really nice song, but it had a rather rough performance. It started out pretty well, but seemed to run out of momentum by the end of the performance.

10. We’re All in This Together (Cast)
Alright, 7 minutes, brace yourselves. I’ll admit right now, it is not my favourite tune from the musical. I find it pretty annoying and once again, it’s catchy, but I hate having it stuck in my head. Drew sings well in his solo here, after his shaky “Breaking Free” performance, so that’s one relief. Vanessa’s solo was a little monotone, but it was fine other than that. I dont’ think Lucas has his best moment here because he pushed a little too hard in this singing, so it turned out a bit wild. Ashley’s solo was so short, I don’t even want to comment on it. I find the adlibbing from Vanessa happening during the chorus is so unnecessary and distracting (it isn’t because of her singing though) . The Wildcat’s portion of the song I can do without, but the movie and song cannot, so I won’t complain. I like how the cast voices blend during the choruses overall. They produce a nice sound. The band solos at the end are pretty exciting too. A great performance overall, even if it isn’t one of my favourites.

Bonus Concert Tracks-
11. Push It To The Limit (Corbin Bleu)
I have to admit, Corbin’s voice is much higher than I had expected. His lower register is on the weak side. I have a hard time hearing him whenever he has to sing the lower notes. This is a very powerful song and full of energy, but I feel that Corbin lacks the energy to project and keep up with the band. It’s highly repetitive, so I have to say that it does get a bit boring towards the end. More power from Corbin himself would make this a perfect song for him. A song like this requires the vocalist to carry the song through with less dependence on the band.

12. Say OK (Vanessa Hudgens)
This is a big disappointment in comparison to Vanessa’s works as Gabriella, so I was a taken by surprise by how many things went wrong here. First of all, I don’t understand a single word from her. She isn’t enunciating her words and especially with a melody that doesn’t travel, I eventually tuned out the verses. During the choruses, many of her high notes she sings with an airy tone and barely gets them out. Her low notes are all under the pitch because she comes down on them hard. There is barely any dynamic contrast in her singing, and perhaps her most mechanical performance yet, with the exception of that one note she strains to reach. She should really stay away from songs like these until she learns to sing with more musicality, but there’s no denying that this song was boring to begin with.

13. Dance With Me (Drew Seeley)
Drew is having a similar problem with enunciation, but he seems to forget the consonants at the end of some of his words (yes, it’s very important to sound them out or else you’re stuck with a song with funny lyrics). This song suits Drew very well. For the most part, he sounds good while singing this song, except for the lack of detail and technique during some moments of the song. He comes across as a very dynamic and energetic person, and I like how that shows through his singing.

14. We’ll Be Together (Ashley Tisdale)
This song is a nice slow pop song. I really like the acoustic feel to it, but Ashley’s singing kind of ruins it for me. Once again, I liked Ashley more singing as Sharpay. I dislike how she twists her words even more, and sings notes that shouldn’t even exist in her song. She has a breathy tone and it keeps changing throughout the song, with no control. She seems to have a rhythm problem and speeds up every now and then. Her low notes are rather weak and unsupported. Of the four solo performances, I liked this one the most, and if Ashley could sing with more support and phrasing, this could have been very well done.

Overall -
Favourite Track: N/A
This was a very long album. I can’t say that I liked it all that much, and I probably would have preferred watching the concert (there’s a DVD too) instead of listening to it on a CD. It lacks all the visual aspects of the concert, and leaves a lot of the songs feeling as if they lack something, particularly the more musical theatre dependant tracks. What I do like about it, that would make any fan happy, the extended version of “What I’ve Been Looking For” by Drew and Vanessa. The solos are a nice bonus as well. It’s good to have this to complete your collection, and maybe to have to listen to on the road (or elsewhere) without being limited to the DVD.

Artist: Various
Album: High School Musical OST
Released: January 10, 2006

1. Start of Something New (Gabriella & Troy)
This opening song is excellent in terms of its composition and the vocal performances from both Drew Seeley/Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens. I really like the harmonies in between the two voices. The song itself is typical of pop songs but it has a nice drive, and sweet melody and a nice introduction to the soundtrack.

2. Get’cha Head in the Game (Troy and the Wildcats)
This song is EXTREMELY catchy. I love the introduction to this song with all the basketballs bounching in that rhythm — kind of reminds me of Stomp. The song itself has a very strong bass line going on to add a strong pulse throughout the song.

3. What I’ve been looking for (Sharpay & Ryan)
I love this version of “What I’ve been looking for”; it’s upbeat, and the piano in this song is excellent. The harmonies between the two vocalists are very good as well. Both singers bring out excellent energy in this song.

4. What I’ve been looking for (Reprise) (Gabriella & Troy)
The slower ballad version of the previous song. I wished they did a full version of the song, because this version is very good as well. The accompaniment is simply a piano in the background and is quite pretty. Loving the harmonies as well.

5. Stick to the Status Quo (HSM Cast)
This song is amusing beyond comprehension. As much as the lyrics tend to annoy me at times; the song is just so freakin’ catchy! This brings out the “musical” aspect of the movie’s title. This song in itself lacks a bit of energy for it to be totally effective in terms of the audio recording of it. If you watch people perform it, it’s not as obvious because the people are moving and dancing, but the audio by itself can’t stand by itself. Ashley Tisdale’s (Sharpay) bit near the end is a little awkward when she first comes in… in terms of the strange key she comes in.

6. When there was me and you (Gabriella)
Vanessa Hudgens’ weaknesses as a vocalist is evident in this song. When she sings as a duet, it’s harder to notice and her pitch kind of corrects itself a bit because she’s listening to someone else sing with her. But this song really shows some of the lack of vocal ability she has. The song itself is nice, but Hudgens’ vocals can’t do this song justice.

7. Bop to the Top (Sharpay & Ryan)
Tisdale’s little random stuff at the beginning is HILARIOUS. Like WTF hilarious. Grabeel and Tisdale are such an awesome pair though; if you ever see them perform this… they’re such little bundles of energy. This song is short but full of energy and some “latin” flavour.

8. Breaking Free (Gabriella & Troy)
I’ve never really understood the greatness in this song. Anyways, this is a decent song but I like “Start of Something new” better than this song. In any case, Drew Seeley’s vocals on this track is a little over the top at points, in my opinion. But generally, this is a decent song.

9. We’re All in this Together (HSM Cast)
Group numbers are always a great treat. I love this song and the beat to the song adds a pulse to this song. This fares better than the other group number on this track. Good energy overall from all the vocalists.

10. I Can’t Take My Eyes off of You (Gabriella, Troy, Sharpay, Ryan)
This is the weird song out of the album; it has a different sound to it, but I really like it. Again with the nice harmonies between two vocalists. The song here has a lot of percussion going on in the background.

11. Get’cha Head in the Game (Pop Version) (B5)
I personally prefer Drew Seeley’s version of this song B5’s version because of the introduction and Seeley’s vocals have more energy than this version. This is like a watered down version of Seeley’s other version.

12. Start of Something New (Karaoke Instrumental)

13. Breaking Free (Karaoke Instrumental)

Overall-
Favourite track: What I’ve been looking for (both versions)
This is a very catchy soundtrack for a less than stellar movie. Most of the tracks on this album have the ability to get in my head for hours. While there’s also quite a bit of what people would call “manufactured bubble gum pop”, there’s quite a few excellent songs. Both versions of “What I’ve been looking for” are excellent in composition and the harmonies. While the vocals aren’t excellent throughout the album, they are decent for the most part. A pretty good soundtrack for the movie. It could do without the extra karaoke versions though.