Blogcritics The critical lens on today's culture & entertainment
Guys, Dolls
Conductor John Wilson and Sinfonia of London have been putting out a series of complete recordings of golden-age Broadway musicals. Oklahoma!, Carousel, and My Fair Lady are already available, and on September 18, 2026 Chandos will release Frank Loesser’s Guys and Dolls.
In this series, Wilson returns to the original orchestrations from the shows’ opening nights. Opening night for Guys and Dolls was in 1950. The show ran for 1,200 performances on Broadway and won the Tony Award for Best Musical. But that original orchestration was lost – until a recent “painstaking reconstruction” by Larry Moore, which we’ll be able to hear on the new recording.
Links where you can listen and buy will be available at the Sinfonia of London website.
More Dolls
Going a teensy bit less far back into ancient history, the Goo Goo Dolls are touring again with a 20th-anniversary expanded edition of their Let Love In album. Along with the original tracks it has “10 ‘Live and Intimate’ recordings from a special session captured at Capitol Studios.” There’s a two-CD version and also a red vinyl edition (the vinyl has just the original album). Listen and buy (buy?? what century is this??) here.
The Goo Goo Dolls‘ U.S. tour with Neon Trees kicked off last Friday. Here’s a new video for “Ocean.”
Velvet Vinyl
Speaking of vinyl: You’ve seen that crazy David Lynch movie Blue Velvet? The film score by Angelo Badalamenti is coming out again on its 40th anniversary, now in a variety of vinyl editions (the color depends where you buy it – if you want actual blue, gotta hit Barnes & Noble). You can also get your hands on a CD or your ears on a 48-track digital deluxe edition.
***See also: “In Memory of David Lynch: Keep Your Eye on the Donut and Not on the Hole”***
Either way, 25 years ago Entertainment Weekly said Blue Velvet was one of the 100 greatest film soundtracks. Movie music lovers might want to pick this one up.
Eye of the Storm
How about a new live album from Foreigner? You want to know what love is, right? Vocalists Lou Gramm, Kelly Hansen, and Luis Maldonado are all here.
Fanclub Fantasy
“Apparently some things can retain (and even gain) quality with time,” says Stereogum. Seems they were talking about Teenage Fanclub. The indie rock faves are back with Do Not Dare to Dream, their 13th studio album. They recorded it on a remote Scottish island and you’ll hear a church organ they found there. Pretty sure that’s it on the single “Day in the Sun.” Pre-order the Merge Records release here.
