Album Review: The Confession Room Concept Album

The Confession Room 

Concept Album

SimG Records

The Confession Room, with music and lyrics by Dan Looney, book by Patrick Wilde (based on an original idea by Dan Looney and Reece Looney) and additional lyrics by Reece Looney and Sam Champness, is a brand new, hilarious musical comedy. A full length concept album has been released featuring some of the West End's biggest stars including Billy Elliot's Anna Jane Casey, Top Hat's Alex Gaumond and Rock Of Ages' Ross Hunter.

The show is about a group of people who come to The Confession Room to share their most embarrassing confessions and stories as they find it easier to pour their hearts out in front of strangers. The confessions are varied and a few are very unexpected! However, counsellor Caroline is also trying to overcome her own personal problems...

Sometimes concept albums only feature a handful of songs but I love the fact that The Confession Room is a full length album. When listening to the album in its entirety you really get a feel for the story and I could almost picture it on stage. There are a lot of characters so sometimes it is a little tricky to distinguish who is who without flicking through the album booklet for guidance.

In most musicals there is one particular song that the entire audience leave humming. For example the title song in The Phantom of the Opera, or Somewhere Over The Rainbow in the Wizard Of Oz. But what I love about The Confession Room is that, as Dan Looney has written so many catchy songs, if the show was put on stage I think I would come away singing three or four of them.

It's quite fitting that the album has been released at the same time as The Book of Mormon is taking the West End by storm. The Confession Room has no boundaries and is certainly not for those easily offended. A few of the songs are ridiculously funny. I found myself howling with laughter as I drove up the motorway so perhaps the album should come with a warning as it could be potentially dangerous to listen to while driving.

My favourite track on the album is 'In Bed'. The song starts with a gentle build up but nothing prepared me for the hysterical twist! The Confession Room also makes fun out of musicals. I love the script which is performed over the introduction of 'Caroline's Confession' where the group tell Caroline she doesn't have to share her confession but she replies by saying "Well, they're playing the intro now". I love the tongue 'n' cheek style of The Confession Room, I think it would translate well on stage. I also love Alex Gaumond's rendition of 'Second Chances', his voice never fails to impress. A couple of numbers are slightly weaker but with some further development the score would be outstanding.

The Confession Room is a fun, quirky concept album which is a little different to anything else you will have heard before. The lyrics are outrageously funny and I have been left wanting to see a stage production. If done in the right way a stage production could be incredible but if done in the wrong way a stage production would run risk of being cheap and tacky. I am certainly interested to see what the future holds for The Confession Room!

Reviewed by Andrew Tomlins (Editor)
andrew@westendframe.com

To purchase The Confession Room Concept Album visit www.simgproductions.com.

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