Richard O'Brien's
THE ROCKY HORROR SHOW
The Whole Gory Story:
1990 London Revival Cast

*LP*
1990, Chrysalis Records, CHR 1811

*CASSETTE*
1990, Chrysalis Records, ZCHR 1811
1990, EMI/Music For Pleasure, 0946 3 21811 4 1

*CD*
1990, Chrysalis Records, CCD 1811
1990, EMI/Music For Pleasure, 0946 3 21811 2 1

CAST:
Dr. Frank N. Furter: Tim McInnerny
Janet Weiss: Gina Bellman
Brad Majors: Adrian Edmondson
Riff-Raff: Edward Tudor-Pole
Usherette/Magenta: Mary Maddox
Columbia: Linda Davidson
Eddie/Dr. Scott: Gordon Kennedy
Rocky Horror: Adam Caine
The Narrator: Jonathon Adams
Phantoms: Zalie Burrow, Ian Good, Kate O'Sullivan, Paul Reeves, Stephen Thiebault

MUSICIANS
Dave Brown: musical director and pianos
Chris Parren: synthesisers
Geoff Driscoll: tenor saxophone
Clem Cattini: drums
Derek Griffiths: electric/acoustic guitars

MUSICAL NUMBERS PRODUCED AND ARRANGED BY: Richard Hartley
DIALOGUE DIRECTED BY: Robin Lefevre
ENGINEERED BY: Phil Chapman
ADDITIONAL SOUND ENGINEERING BY: John Leonard
ASSISTED BY: Paul Mortimer
GRAPHIC DESIGN: Shaun Webb
RECORDED AT A MAJOR STUDIO AND WESTSIDE STUDIOS, LONDON
CO-ORDINATED FOR ROCKY HORROR LONDON LTD. BY DEBORAH O'BRIEN

RUNNING TIME: 78:46

The 1990 London TRHS cast album (a.k.a. 'The Whole Gory Story') is a one-of-a-kind cast recording. Originally intended to be called "The Rocky Horror Radio Show," this cast album is the ONLY recording to present the ENTIRE RHS--music AND dialogue.

The cast itself features Adrian Edmondson playing Brad (who is well-known as Vivian from "The Young Ones," and husband of Jennifer Saunders.) Edward Tudor-Pole (who took over for Richard O'Brien after he retired from "The Crystal Maze") playing Riff-Raff, and the great Jonathon Adams, who reprises the role of The Narrator, the role he originated in the Original London Cast, as well as going down in Rocky Horror history as playing Dr. Everett V. Scott in TRHPS. (Well, duh!)

The performances on this album are very good, however, after listening to this album several times, the dialogue bits get a little tiring. Most of the dialogue consists of a LOT of overacting (my guess is that it was recorded that way to make up for the disadvantage of not being able to SEE what's going on) which sounds a bit corny, but this is a fabulous album to introduce new Rocky Horror fans to the original stage show. Here, you discover that YES--Rocky speaks!, and a lot of the show's jokes come off a bit funnier than they do in the film. There are even a few small lines added into the recording (I'm not going to give them away--they're funnier when you first hear them for yourself!) that were not in the original show. Even though it's wonderful to have such a complete recording, the dialogue gets dry, and after listening to it repeatedly, one mind find him/herself skipping to the songs.

Being the completist fan I am, I always tend to favour the complete RH albums over the ones that do not feature all the show's songs. (Especially today in the 90's, when it's very easy to fit the whole show onto a single cassette or CD). So, of course, I hold this album in high regards as being one of the best.

When it comes to the songs, they are all pretty good, but at times, the performers seem to lack energy, and in a few places, it sounds like they are just mimicking the soundtrack music to TRHPS. The saddest thing about this album is Tim McInnerny's performance as Frank. It's not all that terrible, but it definitely is not one of the best. It's too bad this album couldn't have been recorded with Anthony Head playing Frank. (He played Frank in the London Revival Cast in the early '90's and gained a TON of acceptance from British RH fans; he went on to record a single of 'Sweet Transvestite,' which is one of the best versions of the song ever recorded, in my opinion. Anthony Head is best-known outside of Rocky Horror as "the guy from the Taster's Choice commercials" and more recently, a co-star on the TV series "Buffy, The Vampire Slayer.") In any case, McInnerny's Frank sounds tired and totally lacking in the energy needed to make Frank sound good on a recording. Gina Bellman's Janet sounds kooky at times, but entertaining all the same; Adam Caine turns in a good Rocky Horror (he also performs Rocky on TRHS N.S.O. Ensemble and Selected Highlights CD's (which are different versions of the same recording). But the highlight performances on this album are those of Jonathon Adams and Adrian Edmondson.

Due to the length of this recording, this album was the first TRHS cast recording to be released as a double-album. (And the only one to date, as well.) This album had two different releases in the UK in 1990. First, it was released on LP, cassette, and CD by Chrysalis Records UK. This release featured the logo of an animated comic-book-style Janet on the front, and other animations on the rest of the sleeve, as well as stills from the production. Not long after these were released, the album rights were secured by EMI, and the album was re-issued (on CD and cassette only--NOT on vinyl) on EMI's Music For Pleasure budget label. This release did NOT feature the animated cover. Instead, the cover art of this release consists of only the title of the album (as pictured above). The Chrysalis release soon went out-of-print, and the LP, cassette, and CD pressings on the Chrysalis label have since become quite difficult to find. Sadly, this album has never been released domestically in the US, and it is only available in the UK.

Overall, I *highly* recommend this album to ALL Rocky Horror fans. It is a fabulous album (especially for those fans unfamiliar with the stage production).

MISSING TRACKS: NONE!!

*****AVAILABILITY*****
I have recently been notified that this album is now currently out-of-print. However, Footlight Records seems to keep this title (the EMI re-issue) in stock.

kev j.b.
--4 March 1998

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