Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. Ragtime
2. Goodbye My Love
3. Journey On
4. Crime Of The Century
5. What Kind Of Woman
6. A Shtetl Iz Amereke
7. Success
8. His Name Was Coalhouse Walker
9. Gettin' Ready Rag
10. Henry Ford
11. Nothing Like The City
12. Your Daddy's Son
13. Courtship
14. New Music
15. Wheels Of A Dream
16. Night That Goldman Spoke At Union Square
17. Gliding
18. Trashing Of The Car
19. Justice
20. President
21. Till We Reach That Day

Disc 2:

1. Entr'acte
2. Harry Houdini Master Escapist
3. Coalhouse's Soliloquy
4. Coalhouse Demands
5. What A Game
6. Fire In The City
7. Atlantic City
8. Buffalo Nickel Photoplay Inc
9. Our Children
10. Harlem Nightclub
11. Sarah Brown Eyes
12. He Wanted To Say
13. Back To Before
14. Look What You've Done
15. Make Them Hear You
16. Ragtime/Wheels Of A Dream
17. Ragtime Symphonic Suite

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #75505 in Music
• Released on: 2003-03-17
• Number of discs: 2
• Format: Soundtrack
• Dimensions: .31 pounds

Customer Reviews

Ragtime-Great time
This is one of the greatest musicals of the last twenty years. Not only is the show faithful to the original novel which is well worth reading but it transfers the entire era and culture to the stage. This recording is equally successful in transferring to CD the music and atmosphere of the show.

Compelling!
In 1997, Canadian theatrical producer brought out a musical based on E.L. Doctorow's 1975 hit novel, Ragtime. This hit play tells several stories simultaneously, but largely revolves around one complacent white family coming to terms with the issues of race and class in early 20th century America. The 38(!) songs on this two CD set walk the listener through the play, giving you a wonderful familiarity with the story.

The songs on these CDs are wonderfully written and performed, and are truly each a work of art. I have enjoyed hours of listening to the songs over and over again. Indeed, closing your eyes, you can listen to these songs and feel as if you have seen the play; the songs are that compelling! Overall I enjoyed these CDs and highly recommend them to everyone.

'Ragtime' hits the right notes!
'Ragtime' the latest addition to the London theatre set is a collection of thumping good songs and strong narrative, charting the cultural changes in turn-of-the century America. The soundtrack is nearly two hours long and not a second of it is disappointing.

The title song 'Ragtime' introduces the principal characters and allows the listener to get comfortable with the rather unusual method of story-telling used throughout the show. Characters come forward from the song and tell us about their lives; as the songs progress the story unfolds.

The listener soon begins to care about the plight of the characters, especially Sarah and Coalhouse; this makes the soundtrack interesting and charged with emotion. I am certainly encouraged to see the stage show.

Although for now this is a lesser known show in the UK, I believe the show will soon become established. The cakewalk style of 'New Music' depicts the changing of the times, 'Gettin' Ready Rag' has you dancing in your seat, and the lament of 'Til we reach that day' brings a tear your eye. There is even humour in the strangest of situations, when in vaudeville style 'The crime of the century' brings to life a heinous murder which has the unforeseen benefit of making one of it's victims a celebrity.

For a new musical experience, on a level with greats such as 'Showboat' and '42nd Street, the music of 'Ragtime' is well worth listening to.