Nightmare Revisited and Tim Burton Musicals

Music Review: Nightmare Revisited
While I would prefer the original movie performances to this album, most of the artists appearing on it do a fantastic job of putting their own spin on things (with the exception of "Oogie Boogie's Song" by Rodrigo y Gabriela having no lyrics but solid instrumentals and "Nabbed" by the Yoshida Brothers overplaying its welcome by about two minutes). A favorite of mine (aside from "This Is Halloween," which you can never go wrong with) is Amy Lee's rendition of "Sally's Song." Korn's performance of "Kidnap the Sandy Claws" is comparable to that of Marilyn Manson's "This Is Halloween" but the only times I really liked this song were when it was used with Organization XIII or the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Other notable mentions are All American Rejects ("Jack's Lament") and Plain White T's ("Poor Jack," but Nostalgia Critic's short version at the end of his first commercials episode cannot be beaten).
Two animated shows that lend themselves well to this soundtrack (either this album or the original movie recording) are Soul Eater and Invader ZIM, as evidenced by many amvs on youtube which tend to keep getting taken down. BTW, the Collectors Edition DVD is well worth the money to hear Christopher Lee read the original poem by Tim Burton. I think I used to have the picture book version. The animatics match that of some of Tim Burton's original concept art. It's so awesome that you can just picture Christopher Lee reading it to children (as he voiced Ansem the Wise at one time I drew him reading it to Ienzo circa BBS).

Tim Burton Movie Musicals
My three favorite Tim Burton movies are The Nightmare Before Christmas, Corpse Bride, and Sweeney Todd, which also happen to be musicals. While Burton himself may not have had much to do with the songs in these movies, they were a big part of the reason why I like them.
Paw already reviewed Nightmare and it's already topped the two holiday movie lists I wrote about, but if I had to pick the best songs of it, I would have to say "This is Halloween" and "Jack's Lament" are my favorites. The opening number solidifies the theme of Halloween and the town that embodies the holiday. What follows is "Jack's Lament," in which he explains that although he's good at what he does, he feels stuck in a rut and is tired of the praise he gets from the whole town. While most of the other songs are great too, those are the ones I find myself listening to over and over.
Before I even saw Corpse Bride in its entirety, two sequences/songs really stood out: "Tears to Shed" and "Remains of the Day." Although "Tears to Shed" is another like "Jack's Lament" in which the character is feeling sorry for him/herself, it does stick in the mind and Helena Bonham Carter sings it beautifully. "Remains of the Day" is catchy and gives the explanation for how the Corpse Bride came to be, which sad too but the song is upbeat as everyone there is dead anyway.
Sweeney Todd already had a stage incarnation, but I think the movie version pulled it off just as well. It had a terrific cast and the songs were interpreted to a tee. "No Place Like London" and "Epiphany" were both explication songs (I guess I really have a thing for those) and were performed well by Johnny Depp. Helena Bonham Carter did well also, but my favorite version of "Not While I'm Around" was in fact sung by Angela Lansbury from the stage play. It's not on YouTube anymore, but there was a clip of her singing it at a concert post-9/11 and she said it was important for children to feel safe in this changed world. A clip from the same concert of her singing "Beauty and the Beast" (one of my favorite Disney songs) is still up, though, I think.