"It's Over Now, the Music of the Night."

"He's there... the Phantom of the Opera..."

There are no words to describe how much I love this soundtrack. The Phantom of the Opera. If we're being perfectly honest here (and you know that I have absolutely no reason to lie to y'all), I have two different versions of the soundtrack on my iTunes.

The first one, that I bought from iTunes with my Christmas money back on December 25, 2012, is the 25th Anniversary, Live at the Royal Albert Hall edition. It's simply fantastic. The Phantom's got all this terrifying rage and anguish within him. Christine's got a pure, high voice. This is the first one that I fell in love with, and I'm going to hold to the fact that it's better than the rest.

The second one is a special two-CD set from 1987. It's the original cast recording. (Some sections have been cut out, due to the limited space available on CDs at the time...which is quite unfortunate.) I've never seen the actual version of this one (I've only seen the 25th Anniversary one, because it's on Netflix), I imagine the Phantom here being thin and reedy, the unpopular school boy. It's because of his voice. Christine also sounds a good deal heftier (though not "fat," mind you; just not stick-like). 

Why have I decided to start discussing the Phantom of the Opera, you ask? 

I can't sleep. As usual. 

And when I can't sleep, really weird things fly out of my computer keyboard. Thus the reason behind this post. 

I just got back from my grandmother's house (I'm writing this at 1:42 a.m. on Monday, June 3rd) with four new CDs that I found at my Great Aunt Sue's house. (She's in a nursing home with alzheimer's and her husband's newly deceased. So her house is pretty much in a state of disorganization, and everyone's free to pick what they will.) 

One of those CDs was the original cast recording from the first performance of the Phantom of the Opera. Isn't that awesome? So that's what I've been doing with my night. I've been listening to the Phantom of the Opera, and trying not to cry. (It's full of...feelings. This soundtrack brings back memories. I don't want to stop listening to this, I don't want to let HIM win, but I don't know if I can handle it... Especially Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again and Think of Me. Reer.)

So, what's next? What will I listen to when this CD runs out (as it's bound to do eventually, because it's been edited for time and whatnot)? 

Well, I'm glad you asked... Here's my agenda for the rest of the night. All of these CDs were obtained this past weekend, and I have just finished putting them on my iTunes. Tomorrow, I'll put them on my iPod, so I can have them in my car. (I've got to take some Zelda music off my iPod...All I do is skip the song whenever it comes up. Clean out the iPod, load new music onto it, and presto! Happy Lauren! [Hopefully.])

There's this CD of what I'm assuming is Celtic music; there's a lot of hammered dulcimer in there... It's pretty much all hammered dulcimer, maybe with a bit of violin. There's a lot of singing, too. I had no idea it'd be full of singing. I saw it on a shelf in Sue's workshop (she used to do stained glass, you see), and I grabbed it out of curiosity. I've got a soft spot for Celtic music, unfortunately. It's actually really good; it grows on you after a while, that's for sure :) I love it.

Now this one...This was also a workshop-shelf find (while dodging spiderwebs and dust and dangerous sharp objects on the floor), and I only grabbed it at the last second because I saw the words "John Williams" on the cover. I love John Williams. This CD doesn't have anything Star Wars related, unfortunately, but it does have a Star Trek theme, and the Love Theme from Superman. I don't think I'll be running out of odd music to listen to any time soon. 

Can I just say that I love classical music? I was going to pick up a four-CD box set of classical music, but unfortunately, every single CD was missing from its case. Same with the Tchaikovsky CD that I spotted on a top shelf. Imagine my delight, then, when I saw this CD on the shelf, STILL IN ITS PLASTIC WRAP. Classical music is fantastic for putting on as background music when you're sleeping :) Normally it's not loud and obnoxious. My music library is sorely lacking in Mozart...

Do you have any more musical suggestions for me? I'm always looking for new songs to try, especially because most of my old songs have really painful memories attached to them. I need new ones to fill up my iPod! (I still have 3.26 GB left! Yay!)