I also knew something else - this was made for a CD. It was only a matter of time before it came out, and even before the west coast had seen the ep, most Buffy fans had voted for one on the official website, and all the music was already on the web. Which, of course, is where I immediately downloaded all the songs and put them on my own "Once More With Feeling" CD.
The question then became, what would I do when the actual CD came out? I knew that they'd probably have more clean cut versions of the songs and decided that I would probably buy the CD anyway.
And much to my great surprise and joy, I found out on Amazon.com that, not only did the official CD have all the songs, but also music from other eps, which was done by Christophe Beck (who did most of the music for season two, my personal favorite season, and whose season two music I have also downloaded), including two of my favorite other eps, "Hush" and "The Gift". Needless to say, I needed no other excuse, I bought it and received it about four days after it came out. And I must say, it is definitely superior to the one I made myself.
First of all, the CD I made has major differences in volume (thus you turn it way down for "Under Your Spell" and way up for "Dawn's Lament"). The official CD has been recorded in a studio, therefore the songs are on the same volume level (with exceptions for applicable crescendoing and decrescendoing). In "Dawn's Lament," which I usually skipped on my CD, not only did I not have to turn it up to hear the opening before she sings, this version also included the "Under Your Spell"-ish instrumental part that occurs when Dawn's talking to Tara before her song officially starts.
The reason my version didn't have that is because there is dialogue overlapping it. Being recorded in a studio, rather than right off the episode, the official version has none of the extraneous dialogue, which has two wonderful results. A) You get those opening chords such as in "Dawn's Lament" and "Under Your Spell." B) You can hear all of the songs where the dialogue blocks out part of the music. For example, you hear the ENTIRE parking ticket song (including the underwear line).
Another interesting feature is that it separates "Where Do We Go From Here" from the part Buffy and Spike sing (now called the "Coda"). So you can hear about the trumpets and the curtain and the kiss. And then hear separately Buffy and Spike's little song.
Soundwise, the official CD also is much nicer. Tony and James sound even more awesome on this CD! (For the actor illiterate, that's Giles and Spike). Futhermore, all the background instrumental stuff for the vocal songs sound better on this CD.
Another plus is that it has the words in the insert! You can even see what Sweet is singing in "Walk Through the Fire" (previously a point of great distress for Buffy fans who wanted to know every lyric of the ep). And maybe it's just 'cuz I had just read the words before listening to it, but I swear, it really is easier to hear what he's saying on the official version. One point of embarrassment for me is that it turns out in "Something to Sing About", instead of "that when you vowed, you'd leave the crowd..." (which is what I've been singing), Buffy says, "That when you've bowed, you leave the crowd..." (some script I read somewhere said something about a cloud, which I knew was wrong). That's nice. It works well w/ the premise of the ep too.
It also has funny commentary by Joss in the insert! I couldn't help but laugh at his humorous insistence that everything was really about him, and to feel so happy that he was able to fulfill his dream of the musical, which also made me feel so much more justified about how I stopped thinking of it as a gimmick. Also, you can hear him and his wife Kai sing "Something to Sing About" as the bonus track. And despite what Joss might think about his music ability, he wasn't bad on the piano and he actually has a decent voice.
The CD has suites from "Restless" (which, while not my favorite ep, has great music. Remember the music as Buffy's talking to the first slayer? And what about with Xander talking to his "little sis" while Spike and Giles swing together? It's a funny part, but the music is so gorgeous!), and "Hush" (you know that an ep that's almost ALL music is going to have GOOD music). It also has "Sacrifice" from "The Gift." That is the song playing when Buffy throws herself off the tower to save Dawn/everyone (the "Dawnie, I have to" song). That's another beautiful piece of music.
The only problem I had with it is that the background instruments in "Something to Sing About" threw me off. The problem comes where Buffy's doing "Where there's life, there's hope; Every day's a gift; wishes can come true; whistle while you work..." The instruments do something funky (like come too quickly or pause too much... something like that). But for the second verse "All the joy, life sends..." it's back to normal. I might have gotten used to it eventually, but because of the way the second verse is, I probably will always be thrown off by it.
But overall, the CD gets a rave review from me, and I feel totally justified in buying the CD after having my own homemade version already. Two thumbs up!