| Disc: 1 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Beautiful Day - U2 | |||
| 2. Supersonic - Oasis | |||
| 3. You Get What You Give - The New Radicals | |||
| 4. Buck Rogers - Feeder | |||
| 5. World in Motion | |||
| 6. Riverboat Song - Ocean Colour Scene | |||
| 7. Love Is the Law - Seahorses | |||
| 8. Shining Light - Ash | |||
| 9. Only One I Know - The Charlatans UK | |||
| 10. Bartender and the Thief - Stereophonics | |||
|
See all 20 tracks on this disc
| |||
| Disc: 2 | |||
| 1. In the City - The Jam | |||
| 2. Teenage Kids - The Undertones | |||
| 3. Kids Are United | |||
| 4. Do Anything You Wanna Do - Eddie & the Hot Rods, | |||
| 5. Stay With Me - Faces | |||
| 6. Turning Japanese 2 | |||
| 7. Glorious - Andreas Johnson | |||
| 8. Erase/Rewind - The Cardigans | |||
| 9. Great Escape 2000 [Terrace Drum 'N' Brass Mix] | |||
| 10. Go England - England Boys | |||
|
See all 20 tracks on this disc
| |||
Editorial Reviews
Product Description
UK compilation of 40 football feel good anthems & footie related tracks including U2's 'Beautiful Day', The England Boys 'Go England', Baddiel/Skinner/Lightning Seeds 'Three Lions', Black Grape 'England's Irie', the England Supporters Band 'The Great Escape', Collapsed Lung 'Eat My Goal' & many, many more. 2002.
And another thing that gets me is no one even bothered to mention "Alicia Discovers Nash's Dark World" I happened to like this one this is the song that plays when he is in the hospital.
James Horner's soundtrack for A BEAUTIFUL MIND is as psychologically intense as the film it so effectively embellishes.
Charlotte Church provides an appropriately eerie and largely non-verbal soprano to this remarkable motion picture score, yet one that would seem only quirky were it not so beautifully embedded in a musical stream that draws one inexorably and almost vicariously into the emotional turbulence of the Princeton mathematician John Nash.
There is an angelic nature to the shape and texture of this music, one that is able to turn demonic as the story line requires. Both by brilliance and by dementia, Nash seems the object of external forces, rising with supreme heroism (at least in the film's version of events) to conquer. The music is there at each score, coaxing the viewer into empathic solidarity with this deeply troubled man and his long-suffering and preternaturally beautiful wife.
This is mood music of the deeply engaging variety. Its lush tonal landscape is achieved under the baton of the composer himself. The score's vast range of volume and expression would certainly have made it a joy to watch in performance.
Alas, we don't have that.
But we have this.
An ethereal, compelling, even gripping tone poem. Buy it.
Best soundtrack ive ever heard.
It starts out beautifully. "Not While I'm Around" has never sounded more intimate to me than Terfel's caressing pianissimo. Fleming's "Moonglow" is stunningly good. Terfel makes a medley out of "I Don't Remember You and Sometimes a Day Goes By" that makes you want to cheer, and Fleming does a lovely Sondheim medley as well. Bryn sings "Stars" and makes me long for him in Les Mis. And then...things tend to go downhill. The bombast takes over and gets to you - it overwhelms two of the biggest voices now recording. Then Fleming begins to swoop and scoop, over-coloring and often coming off as simply self-indulgent, reminding one of a kid who makes a point of putting his face in a camera shot.
I don't mind Bryn as Prof. Harold Hill - I frankly think the Welsh accent is kinda cute - and it doesn't bother me on "Wheels of Dream," either, but Fleming seems to have lost her mind on that great song, and rather than indulging her, it would have simply been better left off the album. Ditto "All that Wasted Time" which is pretty much unlistenable. Ms. Fleming needs to stop thinking she is a jazz singer.
The four stars are because this album does contain some truly GLORIOUS moments, particularly in the duets, and in Terfel's solo's which are warm and memorable. Without him, the kettle drums and Fleming's self-indulgence would have made the whole endeavor unbearable.
Listen to (not necessarily buy) this album for the first track, The Angel of the South. It should be a timeless classic of instrumental music. Other highlights are Tete a Tete, The Panama Cat, and the title track.
However, the rest of the album is forgettable or worse when compared to everything produced during the Nick Webb era. I hate 'Kidstuff'; it starts with a baby's goofy voice giggling 'I don't know [unintelligible] I feel about you' or something like that. 'Big Sky Country, Nashville Version' is irritating, although their regular takes on 'Big Sky' and 'Trail Blazer' are not bad). 'Hold On To Your Heart,' 'Jubilation,' and 'Hats of Magic,' are yawners, pieces of music I had to hear again just now so I could remember what they sound like. (Most Acoustic Alchemy tunes are harder to forget.)
Try another Acoustic Alchemy album first (probably Arcanum, a reworked hits collection, or The Best of Acoustic Alchemy); but in any case, listen to The Beautiful Game, too--if only for "The Angel of the South."
But it didn't! This is a tacky and totally forgettable presentation only suitable for elevators and ... well, you know, some public facilities. It makes the critically panned 'Phantom of the Opera' movie like a masterpiece! It's not so much the music's or musician's faults. There just isn't any thought process in the music making at all. If the cello is just going to play by the numbers, what's the point then? And the music arrangements on the orchestra side are just as shameful and insulting.
Compare to 'Yo-Yo Ma Plays Ennio Morricone', it's a clear example how a good taste of music adaptation can make a difference between Heaven and Hell.
It should be a minus star!
It was worth the wait.
The concept is great. The packaging is great. The recording is great. Disc five is really cool for an ALW aficionado. There are a few real gems on it; my favorites are Petula Clark's "I Could Have Given You More" and "Benedicite."
I've always thought "Gus the Theatre Cat" made a great medley on the piano with "Unexpected Song" and "I DOn't Know How to Love Him," but wished there was an alternate lyric to match the other two songs. Now that I know there *is*, and it's a good lyric, it's a dream come true.
The melody of "Benedicite" is one of my favorites from _Sunset_ (the book mis-identifies it as "SUrrender"; it's actually "The Lady's Paying" and "Eternal Youth is Worth a Little Suffering"). The lyrics are the canticle from Daniel 3, which comes up every odd Sunday in the Divine Office, so it's nice to have cool music to sing it with.
I haven't bought _By Jeeves_ or _THe Beautiful Game_ yet, to it was great to sample them.
There are other parts of the CD taht aren't found in my collection. I like CD 4 "The Hits."
But the selections on CDs 1-3 don't make sense.
First, any self-respecting ALW fan has the Original London Cast of _Phantom_, so six tracks are totally useless. Why not draw from the Canadian cast with Colm Wilkinson? Or pull out some obscure recordings never published.
Why two different tracks with Michael Ball singing "Love Changes Everything", yet they're hardly any different?
On Disc 5 is "It's Only Your Lover Returning," sung by Julie Covington. It's an early draft of the song (Lloyd Webber and Rice went through several suggested titles) and quite nice. The very thing one expects on a Boxed Set.
So why have the Julie Covington "Don't Cry for Me" on disc 1?? The only difference is a few words, but it's otherwise identical. Why not Elaine Paige or Patti Lupone or Madonna?
The _Evita_ section is otherwise the best, choosing a sample from each major recording, though I'd have chosen slightly differently (as above).
There is a great selection of "Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer" from the Sydmonton festival, using the original music that was changed when _Cats_ went to Broadway_. It would have been nice if they'd included more recordings from Sydmonton, like the original lyric of "All I Ask of You" shown on the second DVD to the _Phantom_ movie.
With so many great actress-singers who've played Norma Desmond, why does the collection beat us over the head with Glenn Close?
Paul Miles Kingston must be set for life in royalties, for the number of albums the original recording of "Pie Jesu" has appeared on. "Amigos Para Siempre" is nice, but it reminds me of Shari Lewis's "The Song that Doesn't End," especially when it's been used on so many compilations.
In short, this is a great collection for the obscure material, if you can get it cheap. But for a boxed set, it's a poor sampling, drawn mostly from the most familiar recordings.
Over the years many compilations of his work have emerged. In the late 80-is and early 90-is it was the "Encore" series and lately the one-disc collection called "Gold". The one in question here can be considered one of the best currently on the market. First, it includes a 3-disc selections from all of his shows, minus the latest one, i.e., "The Woman in White", which, considering the triviality of the score, is no great lost. The fourth disc covers some of his most known songs sung by the famous artists. Then, there is the fifth disc with previously unreleased material, most of which are the songs ALW wrote with Tim Rice for various artists during the 70-is. The disks are all neatly packed in a hardcover book that features 67 pages of pictures and text with information about each of ALW's shows. One of the other assets here is the perfect sound quality, since all of the tracks have been digitally remastered.
Here are my basic impressions and comments regarding the material on the discs:
* Disc #1 has the selections from "Jesus Christ Superstar", "Evita", "Cats" and "Song & Dance". The Superstar material mostly comes from the Concept Recording. Although the songs sound beautiful as always, their orchestration is a bit dated now. Only Steve Balsamo's "Gethsemane" from the 1996 revival cast has a modern rock sound. "Evita" comes with the material from all of the major recordings: London, Broadway and the movie productions, as well as the Concept album. No objections here; since this is one of ALW's most satisfying works, every song is just perfect, although Patti LuPone, the Broadway and overall the best Evita, is left with only a couple of lines. With the selections from "Cats", however, I have some doubts. A plus to the choice of the "Jellicle ball" impressive orchestral sequence from the 1998 movie version and "Mister Mistoffelees" from the 1981 London cast. One of the best known ALW's songs, "Memory", also comes from that album. It's a pretty version and Elaine Paige's rendition cannot be matched, but why include this when the definite version, featuring an 80-piece orchestra and Elaine Paige with much better interpretation, can be found in the same movie version. Thusly, one has to buy Elaine Paige's latest 2-disc compilation "Centre Stage: The very best of Elaine Paige" to get that one. And "Gus the theatre cat" is more a recital than a song, so there was not much point in including that. Marti Webb brings her vocal charm to the "Song & Dance" sequence, Sarah Brightman sings "Unexpected song" with her famous soprano, but as much as I like her version, Bernadette Peters, who was in this show on Broadway is strangely left out here.
* Disc # 2 starts with "Starlight Express". This was never one of my favorite ALW's shows; the plot is even lighter than in "Cats" and the 1984 original cast recording is terribly dated. Yet, here we have one terrific duet, "I am starlight" from the original together with three songs from the later revivals and it seems that fresh orchestrations were just the thing Starlight needed. My favorite remains a touchy ballad, "Next time you fall in love". "Requiem" is the most solemn of all ALW's compositions, written in 1985 to commemorate the death of his father. Placido Domingo's tenor rides together with the chorus all the way through the strong "Hosanna", only to be joined by Sarah Brightman in the final moments of this song. She then gives an echoing deliverance of "Pie Jesu". What can be said of ALW's next show, "The Phantom of the Opera"? A phenomenon in its own right, it's easy to see from the six numbers included here why this is one of the best and most beloved musicals of all time. The cast, the music, the story - everything is perfect. Although "Aspects of love" was never a popular hit, it does have some of the most beautiful love melodies ALW has ever written. "Love changes everything" sung by Michael Ball is probably one of the best tunes ever about love. The rest of the selected material here has a dreamy love flavor and the melodies find their way into your brain in the best Lloyd Webber way.
* ALW's first musical, "Joseph and the amazing Technicolor dreamcoat" was more successful in its revival form than the original from the 70-is. The three songs included here are sung by the show stars, Jason Donovan and Donny Osmond. Maria Friedman was not a lucky choice to play the narrator, as the track from the 1998 movie version shows. "By Jeeves" was ALW's only big flop when it came to the stage in the 70-is. The 1995 revival sounds much better though, full of funny numbers in the best manner of the musical comedy. "Travel hopefully" remains one of the show's highlights on this compilation. "Sunset Boulevard" comes next. "Sunset" remains for me one of Webber's best scores; lush and beautiful. I listen to the original cast recording with Patti LuPone all the time. However, here most of the songs are performed by Glenn Close. A big mistake. If you've ever listened the American premiere recording with her, you'll know what I am talking about. She may have a strong stage presence, but her vocal abilities are too limited, and her aggressive approach to the role lacks any subtlety. Therefore, the two big numbers from this show, "With one look" and "As if we never said goodbye" are ruined by the fact she can't sing. The same goes for the American Joe Gillis, who was played by Alan Campbell. Luckily, Patti LuPone and Kevin Anderson, the original Norma and Joe from the London production, make their brief entrance here with the "Perfect year"; enough to show how better they are. The funny thing is, on the jacket and inside of it, Glenn Close and Alan Campbell are credited as performers in this song as well. If this was a mistake on ALW's part, it was a good one. The next ALW's show, "Whistle down the wind" was never a critic's dear and yet the audiences rushed in to see it in London. The score brings back ALW to his rock and roll roots of the seventies and the story is quite interesting. But the selections here are not the happiest, since the cast recording boasts with much better songs. And finally, "The Beautiful Game". Again, we have one of those ALW's shows that is worth in its individual parts rather than as a whole. "Our kind of love" and "Let us love in peace" are two catchy ballads. The latter is a nice amalgam version not available elsewhere. The two other tracks here I could live without.
* Disc # 4 has the songs from all the above shows performed by different artists. The assembled tracks have their pros and cons. For example, we have some previously unreleased stuff, like Dame Kiri Te Kanawa's operettic rendition of "The heart is slow to learn", or a stunning and epic "A kiss is a terrible thing to waste" from "Whistle down the wind", performed by The Metal Philharmonic Orchestra. Then again, what was the point in including almost identical tracks as the ones on the previous disks? So we have Michael Ball again singing "Love changes everything" with only a bit different orchestration; Sarah Brightman comes out again with the same Phantom duets, but only with the different male singers. It would be much more appropriate to include tracks from the Toronto Cast of the Phantom, with Colm Wilkinson. Other pop deliverances (Tina Arena's "Whistle down the wind", Barbra Streisand's "As if we never said goodbye", Boyzone's "No matter what" and many more) were wisely chosen. Patti LuPone is again nowhere to be found and Petula Clark's "With one look" sounds too worn-out.
* The last disc is probably the one that will be of most interest to Lloyd Webber aficionados. It consists of entirely previously unreleased material ALW for the most part wrote for various artists during his early years, with Tim Rice. Some of these tunes, not successful as a singles, were later used in his shows. Thus "Down thru' summer" became "Buenos Aires"in Evita, "Try it and see", an unsuccessful attempt for the Eurovision was used for "King Herod's song" in "Superstar" and so on. Some of these songs are nicely made pop songs: "Make believe love", ALW's first recorded composition, for which he provided the lyrics; "Goodbye Seattle", sung by Paul Raven, who later became Gary Glitter; "Come back Richard, your country needs you", from a never made musical, sung here by Tim Rice, or Latin flavored "Magdalena", with Tony Christie singing. My all time favorite here is a song called "It's easy for you", sung by none other than Elvis Presley himself. Lloyd Webber and Rice sent him a demo recording that he accepted and recorded this live version a couple of weeks before he died. It's amazing to hear how his voice remained in the perfect shape. Also, there is a track of Andrew Lloyd Webber singing "Policle dogs and Jellicle cats" while plying the piano. His voice doesn't sound bad at all.
Taken as a whole, this compilation makes a perfect birthday or Christmas present to any fan of Andrew Lloyd Webber shows, or just anybody interested in some of the best tunes from the modern era of the musical theatre; despite the flaws I mentioned above. To the former, it may just be the final addition for the Andrew Lloyd Webber collection.
Opera") and the longest-running show of all time ("Cats"), the man whose homes are filled with three Grammys, five Oliviers, a Golden Globe, and Oscar and too many other honors and hosannas to mention, the man knighted in 1992 certainly doesn't need an introduction. Now Decca Broadway pays tribute to Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber with "Now and Forever," a spectacular 5-CD set compiled and produced by Sir Andy himself. It's cheaper than a
ticket to "The Producers" ... and more much exciting. This treasure trove contains highlights from all of Webber's shows, and a bonus disc of tunes sung by Betty Buckley, Barbara
Streisand, Jose Carreras, Boy George, Charlotte Church, Madonna, Tom Jones, Petula Clark, even Elvis! A must for lovers of theatre---and good music.
The cuts from the musicals are great but are likely owned by ALW fans as they are on the original cast albums. And I'm glad that there were tunes included from the composers most recent efforts which have yet to make it beyond London (Whistle Down the Wind, Beautiful Game).
My only complaint is the inclusion of way too many tracks by Sarah Brightman. She must've received a great divorce settlement that included having tunes on any ALW collection until the end of time!! Her interpretations of some of the tunes were limp and uninspired. I would've much rather heard casts from around the world rather than yet another song by this disdainful soprano! How about Colm Wilkinson's version of "Music of the Night" from the original Canadian cast of "Phantom"? Or Michael Crawford's version of "Unexpected Song"? What? No Betty Buckley from "Sunset Blvd."? And of course there are songs you KNOW are going to be on the collection before you even listen to it as they have been on EVERY ALW collection for the past decade or so.
A great collection but too much Sarah Brightman!
My bad. I guess I had to read the FINE PRINT.
bad description, especially when this cd format is not widely known.
Highly recommended!
The previous review is way off the mark. This is definitely not a waste of time or money. This is 25 years of preserving Broadway shows, Off-Broadway shows, studio recordings (mostly from the city center concerts), etc. So what if they "aren't as good as the original", DRG is preserving many recordings and artists that other mainstream labels don't or won't. You have wonderful recordings from Brian Stokes Mitchell, Nathan Lane, Debbie Gravitte, Tyne Daly, Anthony Perkins, Joanna Gleason, Marin Mazzie, Carol Burnett, Heather Headley, Patti LuPone, Barbara Cook, etc., and many of these are from Original Cast Recordings just as they appeared on Broadway. This is an excellent sampler of the work going on at DRG. No...I'm not an employee...just an avid listener and collector of theatre recordings.
It is a good collection for inexpensively getting a lot of Andrew Lloyd Webber's most popular songs in one place and having them there to be able to listen to get the idea of what a certain song sounds like and is about. It isn't the collection of definitive recordings for certain roles. In fact in a couple examples, I wonder if the performer fully understood the context of the song he or she was singing &/or what it was about. Overall, the album is good, for the most part, if not excellent.
However, the liner notes for "The Essential Songs of Andrew Lloyd Webber" is another matter. I don't mean to be unkind, but the author of the comments on the different tracks (one Rexton S. Bunnett) is blatantly WRONG in multiple instances. I don't mean just in nit-picky details, but in major plot details/context of songs, like the fact that Bunnett identifies "Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again" as being sung by "our heroine" (who he does not even identify by name as Christine Daae) as she thinks about her lover, not as being sung about Christine's dead father. He also says that the Phantom has found his perfect love and "Angel of Music" in Christine... because HE is the Angel of Music who Christine believes has been sent to her by her dead father, and because although the Phantom is obsessed with Christine, that relationship is far from "loving" (even if Christine shows him compassion. I feel like these (and a couple other mistakes) are major plot points to get wrong. A good amount of the commentary reads as if Bunnett might have written it at the last minute, fudging his way through entries on musicals of which he had little knowledge; like what an essay I might write on a book I never read for my college class but had quickly looked up on Cliff's Notes would sound like. In terms of sheer editing, there are spelling mistakes, run-on sentences and spacing errors ("Any DreamWill Do")in the liner notes. Where was the copy editor?
And the most frightening fact of all, under Bunnett's credentials, it says "Harper Collins has just published his revision and updating of the Collins Book of the Musical."
I am being very critical, but I think that for a widely-released CD it is reasonable to expect the liner notes to be at a professional level, as they were most likely supposed to be.
Pros:
Two classic songs that are performed excellently are Phantom of the Opera and I Don't Know How to Love Him.
Of course you want to compare Phantom to the classic Michael Crawford/ Sarah Brightman version. Well, guess what? This version is BETTER. The woman has a deeper voice than Brightman, and her singing style is just awesome. The ending of this version (you know, the "Sing, my angel of music, sing for me!") is different, but in a good way... I think.)
And of course, the standard for I Don't Know How to Love Him is Yvonne's version. This version is different, but it grew on me quickly. This version has a country feel to it, almost. Somehow it works and sounds great.
There are a lot of great performances in this collection. My favorites include: Heaven on Their Minds, Everything's Alright, Could We Start Again Please, Another Suitcase in Another Hall, Buenos Aires, Rainbow High, Only You, Starlight Express, Angel of Music, Masquerade, All I Ask of You, Half a Moment, and Whistle Down the Wind. I think they're all great versions of their more famous counterparts.
Cons:
First of all, there are some technical problems that are kind of disappointing. A few of the songs have a very echoey sound. Any Dream Will Do, Another Suitcase in Another Hall, Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again, and There's Me are the songs that come to mind that are the worst in this regard. It isn't really bad, just enough to be slightly annoying, more so when the volume is turned way up on your CD player.
A few songs are worthy of skipping over when listening to this collection. In my opinion, Superstar, Sunset Boulevard, and Gethesmane are the biggest disappointments.
Superstar just doesn't cut it for me. The singer really overdoes it, making it overstylized... really makes you yearn for Murray Head. I can't stand listening to it. Just my opinion.
Sunset Boulevard is one of my very favorite musicals, so I was really hoping that the singer would do justice to its title song. Unfortunately I don't think he did. You can't help but compare it to Alan Campbell's fantastic version. This guy has a very choppy way of singing, when I'm used to it being sung so smoothly. Maybe it would grow on me, but I don't think I'll give it a chance to. However, that last note is much stronger than Alan Campbell's. It doesn't make up for the rest of the song, though.
Finally, Gethsemane. The inevitable fact is that NO ONE can sing this song like Michael Ball. This guy tries, he really does. But he doesn't have the right voice or the right style. So please listen to Michael Ball's performance of Gethsemane if you want to know how breathtaking of a song it can be. It's on the Royal Albert Hall DVD, and I'm sure he's got it on one of his CDs.
Anyway, overall, this is a good CD if you like quantity over quality. Don't buy it for the classics, you'll probably end up disappointed with many of them. Buy it for the lesser known songs. You probably won't like every song, especially if you're a big ALW fan, but for the price, it's worth it.
If you want classic versions of classic ALW songs, you might prefer something like "The Very Best of Andrew Lloyd Webber: The Broadway Collection".
"Whistle down the wind", was ALW previous musical and it returned him to his rock and roll roots of Jesus Christ Superstar. It was never much accepted by the critics and it never made it to Broadway, although it ran for 4 years in London and the audiences liked it. Therefore, the composer chose to do something different for his next project. It happened before: in 1981 with "Cats" and in 1989 with "Aspects of love". He admitted he felt he was repeating himself and therefore decided to do something unusual for his reputation of a creator of blockbuster and flashy musicals. That's why he chose Ben Elton as his next collaborator and lyricist. It was an uncommon partnership: Elton had a reputation of a comedian and a play writer very close to the English political Left; that is the Labour Party, while Lloyd Webber had a knighthood and was commonly associated with the Tories. The important thing was that Elton conceived a completely new story to be put on stage. It was a new direction for ALW, since the rest of his musicals are based on the lives of the historical characters (Jesus, Eva Peron); movies (Sunset Blvd) or books (Cats, The Phantom of the opera or, more recently The Woman in White). The story of The Beautiful game is actually genuine enough. It is set in the Northern Ireland of the late 1960-is and 70-is and we follow a group of young teenagers who are connected by the local football club as they try to overcome the religious divisions, violence and hatred, together with the challenge of becoming adults. More specifically, the main characters, John and Mary, fall in love, but because of the problems mentioned above, their love story hasn't got a happy ending.
This was much different from the shows we were accustomed to have from ALW. There were no big spectacles and lush stage sets; no star name in the cast; no apotheosis of a character (such as Grizabella in "Cats" or Eva Peron in "Evita"). It was all too simple and common to be made by him, and that's probably why the show lasted only a year in London's West End: from September 2000 to September 2001.
This cast recording suffers from a few other problems. First, when you listen to it all the way through, you cannot form a clear story in your head. All you get is bits and pieces: Ireland; football, catholic-protestant antagonism, several boys and girls falling in love and an unhappy ending for the main couple. Without a good synopsis, which is, by the way, nowhere to be found in the booklet, you can't figure out what exactly is going on. Thus it seems that a lot of the dialogue, essential to understand the story, was cut from this recording. The booklet does contain the lyrics and production photos, however, there is no information about what is going on the stage, so in the end it's hard to follow or imagine what exactly is going on.
Then there is the problem with the orchestrations. Lloyd Webber turned to the minimalism unlike any of his other shows. The orchestra has only 9 instruments and it all sounds like they are using a synthesizer and the pipes to create an Irish atmosphere. That is why this recording sounds like an amateur school production rather than the theatre piece. I'm sure that the better orchestrations with a bigger orchestra would work much better. There is an example of "The Aspects of love". That too had a smaller orchestra, but it still sounded very much like one, and the melodies were nicely done as a smaller, intimate chamber piece. Here, that is not the case.
Besides this drawback, the musical numbers also suffer from the lack of big songs that would sweep you away and stay in your head. At times, there pops out a song you can grow to like with the repeated listening (like, "God's own country", "Clean the kit", "Don't like you"), but it's way below ALW's standard. The song I consider the best of the lot is "Our kind of love", a nice ballad with a catching tune. However, it's not a new piece of music. That melody was first presented at ALW's 50th birthday celebration at London's Royal Albert Hall in 1998, which can be found here on DVD. It had a different title ("The heart is slow to learn"), and a much better and fuller operettic orchestration, and the lyrics were written by Don Black. The song itself was on that occasion beautifully sung by the famous New Zealand's soprano, Dame Kiri Te Kanawa. On this recording, the lyrics are different and they used pipes to play the melody, which is not so good. But, on the whole, this is the best song.
The cast here is comprised of young and unknown individuals. No real complaint abot them, since they have fine voices and did their best with this material. Josie Walker, who plays Mary, is especially good. The lyrics are nothing special, and they can sound awkward at times. Some of the riming is very unusual, to say the least!
So my overall opinion is that this is not Lloyd Webber's most satisfying work, but it also isn't the rock bottom. We should view it as the composer's attempt to do something different than the big, mega-musicals he is best known for. Luckily, in the last year he presented his newest piece, "The Woman in white", which seemed to get him back on the track. I would therefore, recommend this to ALW's aficionados that are eager to have the complete collection of his work. Those of you, however, who are just getting acquainted with his music, skip this and buy one of his compilations and then start with his different shows, like "Superstar", "Evita", "Sunset Blvd" with Patti LuPone playing the lead or "The Phantom of the opera". Only when you get a certain insight into Lloyd Webber's music, you might consider getting this.
UK compilation of 40 football feel good anthems & footie related tracks including U2's 'Beautiful Day', The England Boys 'Go England', Baddiel/Skinner/Lightning Seeds 'Three Lions', Black Grape 'England's Irie', the England Supporters Band 'The Great Escape', Collapsed Lung 'Eat My Goal' & many, many more. 2002.
Beautiful Game,Various Artists,Universal Int'l,Alternative Dance,Alternative Pop/Rock,British Trad Rock,Britpop,Pop,Punk,Rock/Pop Collections,V/a Compilations
Average customer rating: 
|
Broadway - The American Musical (PBS Series)
Manufacturer: Sony ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD  Ballets
| Ballets & Dances
| Classical
| Styles
| Music
All Works by Bernstein
| Bernstein, Leonard
| ( B )
| Featured Composers, A-Z
| Classical
| Styles
| Music
All Works by Gershwin
| Gershwin, George
| ( G )
| Featured Composers, A-Z
| Classical
| Styles
| Music
All Works by Porter
| Porter, Cole
| ( P )
| Featured Composers, A-Z
| Classical
| Styles
| Music
All Works by Weill
| Weill, Kurt
| ( W )
| Featured Composers, A-Z
| Classical
| Styles
| Music
All Works by Mancini
| Mancini, Henry
| ( M )
| Featured Composers, A-Z
| Classical
| Styles
| Music
General
| Classical
| Styles
| Music
General
| Opera & Vocal
| Styles
| Music
Modern & 20th Century
| Historical Periods
| Opera & Vocal
| Styles
| Music
English
| Languages
| Opera & Vocal
| Styles
| Music
German
| Languages
| Opera & Vocal
| Styles
| Music
Movie Scores
| Soundtracks
| Styles
| Music
Movie Soundtracks
| Soundtracks
| Styles
| Music
General
| Soundtracks
| Styles
| Music
General
| Musicals
| Broadway & Vocalists
| Styles
| Music
General
| Broadway & Vocalists
| Styles
| Music
General
| Vocal Pop
| Pop
| Styles
| Music
Similar Items:
ASIN: B00064ADMK Release Date: 2004-10-19 |
Tracks:
- Give My Regards To Broadway- Joel Grey
- Swanee- Al Jolson
- When The Moon Shines On The Moonshine- Bert Williams
- A Pretty Girl Is Like A Melody- John Steel
- My Man- Fanny Brice
- Fascinating Rhythm- Fred Astaire, Adele Astaire
- If You Knew Susie (Like I Know Susie)- 78rpm Version Eddie Cantor
- Someone To Watch Over Me- Gertrude Lawrence
- Bill- 78 rpm Version Helen Morgan
- Ol' Man River- Paul Robeson
- Ain't Misbehavin'- Louis Armstrong & His Orchestra
- Ten Cents A Dance- Ruth Etting
- Body And Soul- Libby Holman
- Brother, Can You Spare A Dime- Bing Crosby
- Night And Day- Fred Astaire
- Heat Wave- Ethel Waters
- Smoke Gets in Your Eyes- Tamara
- You're The Top- Ethel Merman
- Summertime- Anne Brown
- September Song- Walter Huston
- My Heart Belongs To Daddy- Mary Martin
- It Never Entered My Mind- Shirley Ross
- Bewitched, Bothered, Bewildered- Vivienne Segal
- Oh, How I Hate To Get Up In The Morning- Irving Berlin
- Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin'- Alfred Drake
Tracks:
- New York, New York- Cris Alexander,Adolph Green,John Reardon
- If I Loved You- John Raitt,Jan Clayton
- Come Rain Or Come Shine- Ruby Hill,Harold Nicholas
- There's No Business Like Show Business- Ensemble
- How Are Things In Glocca Morra? From "Finian's Rainbow"- Ella Logan
- Once In Love With Amy- Ray Bolger
- Wunderbar- Alfred Drake,Patricia Morison
- Some Enchanted Evening- Ezio Pinza
- Lost In The Stars- Todd Duncan
- Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend- Carol Channing
- Luck Be A Lady- Robert Alda,Guys
- Getting To Know You- Gertrude Lawrence
- Who Cares?- Jack Carson,Betty Oakes
- Stranger In Paradise- from " Kismet" Doretta Morrow,Richard Kiley
- Ballad Of Mack The Knife- Gerald Price
- Hey There- from "The Pajama Game" John Raitt
- Whatever Lola Wants- Gwen Verdon
- I Could Have Danced All Night- Julie Andrews
- Standing On The Corner- from "The Most Happy Fella, 1956" Shorty Long,John Henson,Alan Gilbert
- The Party's Over- Judy Holliday
- Glitter And Be Gay- Barbara Cook
- Tonight- Larry Kert, Carol Lawrence
Tracks:
- Seventy-Six Trombones- Robert Preston
- I Enjoy Being A Girl- from "Flower Drum Song, 1958" Pat Suzuki
- Everything's Coming Up Roses- Ethel Merman
- My Favorite Things- from "The Sound Of Music" Mary Martin
- Put On A Happy Face- from "Bye Bye Birdie" Dick Van Dyke
- Try To Remember- Jerry Orbach
- Camelot- from "Camelot" Richard Burton
- Love Makes The World Go 'Round- Anna Maria Alberghetti
- I Believe In You- Robert Morse And Co.
- The Sweetest Sounds- Diahann Carroll,Richard Kiley
- Comedy Tonight- Zero Mostel
- What Kind Of Fool Am I?- Anthony Newley
- As Long As He Needs Me- Georgia Brown
- Hello, Dolly!- Carol Channing,Cast
- People- Barbra Streisand
- Anyone Can Whistle- from "Anyone Can Whistle" Lee Remick
- If I Were A Rich Man- Zero Mostel
- Night Song- Sammy Davis, Jr.
- The Impossible Dream- Richard Kiley
- If My Friends Could See Me Now- Gwen Verdon
- Open a New Window- from Mame Voice
Tracks:
- Willkommen- from "Cabaret" Joel Grey
- Let The Sunshine In- James Rado,Lynn Kellogg,Melba Moore,Cast
- I'll Never Fall In Love Again- Jill O'Hara,Jerry Orbach
- The Ladies Who Lunch- from "Company" Elaine Stritch
- Tea For Two- Roger Rathburn,Susan Watson
- I'm Still Here- Yvonne De Carlo
- I Don't Know How To Love Him- Yvonne Elliman
- We Go Together- Adrienne Barbeau,Barry Bostwick,Walter Bobbie,Cast
- Corner Of The Sky- John Rubinstein
- Send In The Clowns- Glynis Johns
- Ease On Down The Road- Stephanie Mills,Tiger Haynes,Ted Ross,Hinton
- One- from "A Chorus Line" Cast
- All That Jazz- Chita Rivera,Ensemble
- Tomorrow- Andrea Mcardle
- Don't Cry For Me Argentina- Patti Lupone
- Come Follow The Band
- Lullaby Of Broadway- Jerry Orbach
- And I'm Telling You I'm Not Going- Jennifer Holliday
- The Bells Of St. Sebastian- Raul Julia
Tracks:
- Memory- Betty Buckley
- I Am What I Am- George Hearn
- Move On- Bernadette Peters,Mandy Patinkin
- Do You Hear The People Sing?- Michael Maguire,Cast
- The Music Of The Night- Michael Crawford
- You're Nothing Without Me- James Naughton,Gregg Edelman
- The American Dream- Jonathan Pryce,Cast
- Doctor Jazz- Gregory Hines,Company
- With One Look- Glenn Close
- On Broadway- Adrian Bailey,Frederick B. Owens,Ken Ard,Victor Trent Cook
- Le Jazz Hot- Julie Andrews,Ensemble
- Seasons Of Love-
- Hakuna Matata- Max Casella,Tom Alan Robbins,Scott Irby-Ranniar,Jason Raize
- I Wanna Be A Producer- Matthew Broderick,Ensemble
- Dancing Queen- Louise Plowright,Jenny Galloway
- Good Morning Baltimore- Marissa Jaret Winokur
- Movin' Out- Michael Cavanaugh,Band
- I Go To Rio- Hugh Jackman,Company
- Defying Gravity- Kristin Chenoweth,Idina Menzel
Customer Reviews:
Fabulous for any Broadway-lover.......2007-01-30
Top Shelf.......2007-01-04
TERRIFIC CD'S.......2006-03-23
Great Collection of Broadways greatest Songs .......2005-06-14
Great Compilation!.......2005-01-17
Average customer rating: 
|
A Beautiful Mind: Original Motion Picture Score
James Horner Manufacturer: Decca U.S. ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD Movie Scores
| Soundtracks
| Styles
| Music
Movie Soundtracks
| Soundtracks
| Styles
| Music
General
| Soundtracks
| Styles
| Music
General
| Vocal Pop
| Pop
| Styles
| Music
The Decca Records Store
| Specialty Stores
| Music
Similar Items:
ASIN: B00005TPFV Release Date: 2001-12-11 |
Tracks:
- A Kaleidoscope Of Mathematics
- Playing A Game Of 'Go!'
- Looking For The Next Great Idea
- Creating 'Governing Dynamics'
- Cracking The Russian Codes
- Nash Descends Into Parcher's World
- First Drop Off. First Kiss
- The Car Chase
- Alicia Discovers Nash's Dark World
- Real Or Imagined?
- Of One Heart, Of One Mind
- Saying Goodbye To Those You So Love
- Teaching Mathematics Again
- Prize of One's Life... The Prize of One's Mind
- All Love Can Be - Charlotte Church
- Closing Credits
Amazon.com
This Ron Howard film parlays the troubled story of Nobel laureate John Forbes Nash Jr., a gifted Princeton mathematics professor tormented for decades by paranoid schizophrenia, into something considerably richer than typical Hollywood triumph-against-all-odds fare. Howard has teamed here again with frequent collaborator James Horner, and it's the composer who deftly shades the film's difficult emotional landscape and helps impart a compelling humanity. Horner's first task is not inconsiderable: musically portraying the arcane realm of mathematical theorems that are the story's backdrop. In doing so, the composer leans heavily on modern minimalist technique, bright flourishes that recur briefly throughout an orchestral score that increasingly reflects Nash's bleak inner landscape in its quietly somber and brooding tones. And while Horner has frequently been accused of excessively repeating himself in his scores, the neo-minimalist gambit employed on this reflectively pastoral, postmodernist soundscape neatly nips such criticism in the bud. Nash's triumph is ultimately an intensely personal one, well reflected in Welsh soprano Charlotte Church's lilting performance of the Horner/Will Jennings ballad "All Love Can Be." This enhanced CD also features notes by the director and composer, as well as exclusive photos and the film's trailer. --Jerry McCulleyCustomer Reviews:
Haven't I heard this before?.......2007-06-20
And another thing that gets me is no one even bothered to mention "Alicia Discovers Nash's Dark World" I happened to like this one this is the song that plays when he is in the hospital.
a beautiful score.......2007-02-09
James Horner's soundtrack for A BEAUTIFUL MIND is as psychologically intense as the film it so effectively embellishes.
Charlotte Church provides an appropriately eerie and largely non-verbal soprano to this remarkable motion picture score, yet one that would seem only quirky were it not so beautifully embedded in a musical stream that draws one inexorably and almost vicariously into the emotional turbulence of the Princeton mathematician John Nash.
There is an angelic nature to the shape and texture of this music, one that is able to turn demonic as the story line requires. Both by brilliance and by dementia, Nash seems the object of external forces, rising with supreme heroism (at least in the film's version of events) to conquer. The music is there at each score, coaxing the viewer into empathic solidarity with this deeply troubled man and his long-suffering and preternaturally beautiful wife.
This is mood music of the deeply engaging variety. Its lush tonal landscape is achieved under the baton of the composer himself. The score's vast range of volume and expression would certainly have made it a joy to watch in performance.
Alas, we don't have that.
But we have this.
An ethereal, compelling, even gripping tone poem. Buy it.
A Beautiful Mind.......2006-08-09
Haunting, lovely, majestic.......2006-04-04
Dark.......2006-02-20
Best soundtrack ive ever heard.
Average customer rating: 
|
Renee and Bryn: Under the Stars
John Harold Kander , Andrew Lloyd Webber , Claude-Michel Schoenberg , Richard Rodgers , Gerard Presgurvic , Jason Robert Brown , Meredith Willson , Lucy Simon , Cole Porter , Stephen Flaherty , Ralph Salmins , and David Hartley Manufacturer: Decca ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD All Works by Porter
| Porter, Cole
| ( P )
| Featured Composers, A-Z
| Classical
| Styles
| Music
General
| Classical
| Styles
| Music
General
| Opera & Vocal
| Styles
| Music
General
| Easy Listening
| Pop
| Styles
| Music
General
| Vocal Pop
| Pop
| Styles
| Music
Classic
| Vocal Pop
| Pop
| Styles
| Music
The Decca Records Store
| Specialty Stores
| Music
Similar Items:
ASIN: B000088E7D Release Date: 2003-02-11 |
Tracks:
- "Not While I'm Around" (from Sweeney Todd by Stephen Sondheim)
- "Moonfall" (from The Mystery of Edwin Drood by R. Holmes)
- "I Don't Remember You The Happy Tim" and "Sometimes a Day Goes By" (from Woman of the Year by Kander & Ebb)
- "All the Love I Have" (from The Beautiful Game by Ben Elton & Andrew Lloyd Webber)
- "I Wish I Could Forget You / Loving You" (from Passion by Stephen Sondheim)
- "Stars" (from Les Misirables by Boublil & Schvnberg)
- "All I Ask of You" (from The Phantom of the Opera by Andrew Lloyd Webber)
- "Hello, Young Lovers" (from The King and I by Rodgers & Hammerstein)
- "Pretty Women" (from Sweeney Todd by Stephen Sondheim)
- "Aimer" (from Romio et Juliette by Presgurvic)
- "All the Wasted Time" (from Parade by J. Brown)
- "Seventy-Six Trombones" (from The Music Man by Willson)
- "How Could I Ever Know" (from The Secret Garden by Simon and Norman)
- "So In Love" (from Kiss Me Kate by Cole Porter)
- "Wheels Of a Dream" (from Ragtime by Ahrens & Flaherty)
Amazon.com
In these days of the crossover, it is hardly surprising to find two great opera singers making a foray into numbers from Broadway musicals by such composers as Cole Porter, Stephen Sondheim, and Andrew Lloyd Webber. What's remarkable is that they seem completely at home in this music. Both say they grew up listening to it, and indeed they approach these songs with no less care and seriousness than they'd give the most demanding operatic arias, and without a trace of condescension. However, their vocal, expressive, and interpretive styles are very different, both in the solos and the duets. Terfel projects assertive manliness, tender, intimate affection, and rollicking humor without external effects, using only his incomparably sonorous voice and powerful personality. His diction is impeccably clear, and though he has sometimes let his theatrical flair spill over into Schubert songs, he is the soul of simplicity here. This is in stark contrast to Fleming's tendency to exaggerate colors and dynamics and to turn sentiment into sentimentality. Moreover, though she claims a background as a jazz singer, her "crooning" sounds artificial and unnatural. However, her top notes, culminating in a triumphant high C at the end of the final number, ring gloriously. Her voice glows and shimmers with irresistible luster, soaring from seductive whispers to thrilling climaxes. The program features a great variety of love songs, and includes an antiwar protest (from Beautiful Game), a celebration of the American dream (from Ragtime), and a rousing fun piece (from The Music Man). Unfortunately, even the best songs are marred by thoroughly corny arrangements. Listeners will find their own favorites, but the real "stars" on this record are the two singers. --Edith EislerCustomer Reviews:
Delightful .......2006-07-24
A Master Class in Singing.......2006-06-20
Bryn is swell, but the bombast is annoying.......2006-05-03
It starts out beautifully. "Not While I'm Around" has never sounded more intimate to me than Terfel's caressing pianissimo. Fleming's "Moonglow" is stunningly good. Terfel makes a medley out of "I Don't Remember You and Sometimes a Day Goes By" that makes you want to cheer, and Fleming does a lovely Sondheim medley as well. Bryn sings "Stars" and makes me long for him in Les Mis. And then...things tend to go downhill. The bombast takes over and gets to you - it overwhelms two of the biggest voices now recording. Then Fleming begins to swoop and scoop, over-coloring and often coming off as simply self-indulgent, reminding one of a kid who makes a point of putting his face in a camera shot.
I don't mind Bryn as Prof. Harold Hill - I frankly think the Welsh accent is kinda cute - and it doesn't bother me on "Wheels of Dream," either, but Fleming seems to have lost her mind on that great song, and rather than indulging her, it would have simply been better left off the album. Ditto "All that Wasted Time" which is pretty much unlistenable. Ms. Fleming needs to stop thinking she is a jazz singer.
The four stars are because this album does contain some truly GLORIOUS moments, particularly in the duets, and in Terfel's solo's which are warm and memorable. Without him, the kettle drums and Fleming's self-indulgence would have made the whole endeavor unbearable.
Surprisingly Fine Crossover from Fleming and Terfel.......2006-04-18
BREATHTAKING VOCAL MAGNIFICENCE~BRAVO!!!.......2004-10-11
Average customer rating:
|
The Beautiful Game
Acoustic Alchemy Manufacturer: Higher Octave ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD General
| Jazz
| Styles
| Music
Smooth Jazz
| Jazz
| Styles
| Music
General
| New Age
| Styles
| Music
New Age
| Indie Music
| Stores
| Music
| Ambient
| Celtic
| Environmental
| General
| International
| Jazz
| Meditation Music
| Piano
| World Dance
General
| Jazz
| Indie Music
| Stores
| Music
Smooth Jazz
| Jazz
| Indie Music
| Stores
| Music
Similar Items:
ASIN: B00004T9SL Release Date: 2000-05-23 |
Tracks:
- Angel Of The South
- The Panama Cat
- Trail Blazer
- The Beautiful Game
- Hats Of Magic
- Tete A Tete
- The Last Flamenco
- Kidstuff
- Big Sky Country
- Hold On To Your Heart
- Jubilation
- Big Sky Country (Nashville Version)
- Trail Blazer (Nashville Version)
Amazon.com
Without question, this is the finest Acoustic Alchemy outing since their 1987 smooth-jazz classic, Red Dust and Spanish Lace. Back then, the current leader, Greg Carmicheal, co-led the group as a duet with his partner, Nick Webb, who died from cancer in early 1998. With a new, expanded version of Acoustic Alchemy, Carmichael has significantly retooled the sound of the group, with the help of San Francisco keyboardist Terry Disley and Incognito member Richard Bull. The stamp of Bull's acid-jazz leanings is evident on "The Panama Cat" and "Trailblazer," while "Hats of Magic" and "Hold on to Your Heart" are two of Carmichael's prettiest guitar ballads ever. Loyal fans shouldn't fear Alchemy's change of direction; while the band seems headed more toward London, Carmichael still remembers that his first American records came from MCA's Nashville office. He does enough serious pickin' on "Kidstuff," "Tete à Tete," and the Dobro-enhanced "Big Sky Country" to help bolster the claim that jazz and bluegrass are cousins. --Mark RuffinCustomer Reviews:
Fusion lacking a fuse..........2006-04-22
Uneven; masterful and mediocre.......2005-01-23
Listen to (not necessarily buy) this album for the first track, The Angel of the South. It should be a timeless classic of instrumental music. Other highlights are Tete a Tete, The Panama Cat, and the title track.
However, the rest of the album is forgettable or worse when compared to everything produced during the Nick Webb era. I hate 'Kidstuff'; it starts with a baby's goofy voice giggling 'I don't know [unintelligible] I feel about you' or something like that. 'Big Sky Country, Nashville Version' is irritating, although their regular takes on 'Big Sky' and 'Trail Blazer' are not bad). 'Hold On To Your Heart,' 'Jubilation,' and 'Hats of Magic,' are yawners, pieces of music I had to hear again just now so I could remember what they sound like. (Most Acoustic Alchemy tunes are harder to forget.)
Try another Acoustic Alchemy album first (probably Arcanum, a reworked hits collection, or The Best of Acoustic Alchemy); but in any case, listen to The Beautiful Game, too--if only for "The Angel of the South."
Beautiful Album.......2004-12-05
Great!.......2003-06-15
Absolutely wonderful!.......2003-01-11
Average customer rating:
|
Julian Lloyd Webber plays Andrew Lloyd Webber
Manufacturer: Philips ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD General
| Concertos
| Forms & Genres
| Classical
| Styles
| Music
Requiems
| Forms & Genres
| Early Music
| Historical Periods
| Classical
| Styles
| Music
Cello
| Strings
| Instruments
| Classical
| Styles
| Music
General
| Symphonies
| Classical
| Styles
| Music
General
| Classical
| Styles
| Music
General
| Opera & Vocal
| Styles
| Music
Requiems
| Vocal Non-Opera
| Opera & Vocal
| Styles
| Music
General
| Musicals
| Broadway & Vocalists
| Styles
| Music
General
| Broadway & Vocalists
| Styles
| Music
General
| Soundtracks
| Styles
| Music
Similar Items:
ASIN: B00005BJNF Release Date: 2001-05-08 |
Tracks:
- Whistle Down The Wind: No Matter What
- The Phantom Of The Opera: The Phantom Of The Opera
- The Phantom Of The Opera: Music Of The Night
- Cats: Memory
- Evita: Don't Cry For Me Argentina
- The Beautiful Game: Our Kind Of Love
- Sunset Boulevard: With One Look
- Jesus Christ Superstar: I Don't Know How To Love Him
- Starlight Express: Starlight Express
- Evita: Buenos Aires
- Aspects Of Love: Love Changes Everything
- Sunset Boulevard: The Perfect Year
- The Phantom Of The Opera: All I Ask Of You
- The Beautiful Game: God's Own Country
- Song And Dance: Tell Me On A Sunday
- Vars: Vars 1-4
- Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat: Close Every Door
- Jesus Christ Superstar: John
- Requiem: Pie Jesu
- Whistle Down The Wind: Whistle Down The Wind - Julian Lloyd Webber/Andrew Lloyd Webber
Amazon.com
Apparently, Julian and Andrew Lloyd Webber's first collaboration occurred when the latter was 9 and the former 6. It took place on the stage of a toy theater, and Julian's role was then limited to operating the collection of tiny plastic soldiers that made up the cast of Andrew's latest musical. More than 40 years have passed since then but, as this disc proves, the brothers still enjoy a remarkable familial and musical relationship. Julian first recorded a series of cello arrangements of hits from Andrew's musicals in 1990, and this disc updates the enterprise with six new tracks from Whistle Down the Wind, The Beautiful Game , and Sunset Boulevard. The orchestral arrangements are deliciously soupy (especially "All I Ask of You" from Phantom of the Opera, "Love Changes Everything" from Aspects of Love, and the Riverdance-esque "God's Own Country" from The Beautiful Game) and suit Julian's appropriately swoony and uninhibited approach to the music. Fans of the Lloyd Webbers shouldn't be disappointed. --Warwick ThompsonCustomer Reviews:
Awful and Tacky!.......2005-05-11
But it didn't! This is a tacky and totally forgettable presentation only suitable for elevators and ... well, you know, some public facilities. It makes the critically panned 'Phantom of the Opera' movie like a masterpiece! It's not so much the music's or musician's faults. There just isn't any thought process in the music making at all. If the cello is just going to play by the numbers, what's the point then? And the music arrangements on the orchestra side are just as shameful and insulting.
Compare to 'Yo-Yo Ma Plays Ennio Morricone', it's a clear example how a good taste of music adaptation can make a difference between Heaven and Hell.
It should be a minus star!
Julian Lloyd Weber Plays Andrew Lloyd Weber.......2001-07-14
Too much of a good thing and I prefer the originals.......2001-06-02
Lloyd Webber Plays Lloyd Webber.......2001-05-22
Boy was I wrong...but pleassantly so. Julian Lloyd Weber does a brilliant job of his brothers work...Purely instrumentational and incredibly beautiful... definately worth buying if your are ALW fan
Absolutely excellent!.......2001-05-14
Average customer rating:
|
Andrew Lloyd Webber: Now & Forever
Various Artists Manufacturer: Decca Broadway ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD Requiems
| Forms & Genres
| Early Music
| Historical Periods
| Classical
| Styles
| Music
General
| Classical
| Styles
| Music
General
| Opera & Vocal
| Styles
| Music
Noels
| Vocal Non-Opera
| Opera & Vocal
| Styles
| Music
Requiems
| Vocal Non-Opera
| Opera & Vocal
| Styles
| Music
General
| Musicals
| Broadway & Vocalists
| Styles
| Music
Contemporary Musicals
| Musicals
| Broadway & Vocalists
| Styles
| Music
General
| Broadway & Vocalists
| Styles
| Music
General
| Soundtracks
| Styles
| Music
General
| Vocal Pop
| Pop
| Styles
| Music
General Christmas
| Holiday
| Miscellaneous
| Styles
| Music
Broadway & Musicals
| Broadway & Vocalists
| Box Sets
| Stores
| Music
The Decca Records Store
| Specialty Stores
| Music
General Christmas
| Holiday Music
| Special Features
| Music
Similar Items:
ASIN: B00005R5UJ Release Date: 2001-11-20 |
Tracks:
- Jesus Christ Superstar: Overture - Andrew Lloyd Webber
- Jesus Christ Superstar: Everything's Alright - Yvonne Elliman/Murray Head/Ian Gilllan
- Jesus Christ Superstar: I Don't Know How To Love Him - Yvonne Elliman
- Jesus Christ Superstar: Gethsemane (I Only Want To Say) - Steve Balsamo
- Jesus Christ Superstar: Superstar - Murray Head
- Evita: Oh What A Circus/Sing You Fools - Antonio Banderas
- Evita: I'd Be Surprisingly Good For You - Elaine Paige/Joss Ackland
- Evita: Another Suitcase In Another Hall - Barbara Dickson
- Evita: Don't Cry For Me Argentina - Julie Covington
- Evita: High Flying, Adored - Mandy Patinkin/Patti LuPone
- Cats: The Jellicle Ball - Andrew Lloyd Weber
- Cats: Memory - Elaine Paige
- Cats: Gus: The Theatre Cat - Susan Jane Tanner/John Mills
- Cats: Mr Mistoffelees - Paul Nicholas
- Song And Dance: Take That Look Off Your Face - Marti Webb
- Song And Dance: Tell Me On A Sunday - Marti Webb
- Song And Dance: Unexpected Song - Sarah Brightman
- Song And Dance: Nothing Like You've Ever Known - Sarah Brightman
- Song And Dance: Introduction - Andrew Lloyd Webber
- Song And Dance: Variations 1 -4 - Andrew Lloyd Webber
Tracks:
- Starlight Express: Starlight Express - El Debarge
- Starlight Express: Crazy - Greg Ellis/Reva Rice/Caron Cardelle/Samantha Lane/Voyd
- Starlight Express: Next Time You Fall In Love - Reva Rice/Greg Ellis
- Starlight Express: I Am The Starlight - Lon Satton/Ray Shell
- Starlight Express: Light At The End Of The Tunnel - The Company
- Requiem: Hosanna - Placido Domingo
- Requiem: Pie jesu - Sarah Brightman/Paul Miles-Kingston
- The Phantom Of The Opera: The Phantom Of The Opera - Michael Crawford/Sarah Brightman
- The Phantom Of The Opera: The Music Of The Night - Michael Crawford
- The Phantom Of The Opera: All I Ask Of You - Sarah Brightman/Steve Barton
- The Phantom Of The Opera: Entr'acte - Andrew Lloyd Webber
- The Phantom Of The Opera: Masquerade - The Company
- The Phantom Of The Opera: Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again - Sarah Brightman
- Aspects Of Love: Aspects Of Aspects - Orchester Der Vereinigten Buehnen Wien
- Aspects Of Love: Love Changes Everything - Michael Ball
- Aspects Of Love: Seeing Is Believing - Michael Ball/Ann Crumb
- Aspects Of Love: The First Man You Remember - Kevin Colson/Diana Morrison
- Aspects Of Love: Anything But Lonely - Sarah Brightman
- Aspects Of Love: Chanson D'Enfance - Sarah Brightman
Tracks:
- Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat: Any Dream Will Do - Jason Donovan
- Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat: Joseph's Coat - Maria Friedman/Richard Attenborough/Donny Osmond
- Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat: Close Every Door - Donny Osmond
- By Jeeves: Travel Hopefully - John Scherer/Martin Jarvis/Don Stephenson
- By Jeeves: When Love Arrives - Steven Pacey/Diana Morrison
- By Jeeves: Half A Moment - Sarah Brightman
- Sunset Boulevard: With One Look - Glenn Close
- Sunset Boulevard: New Ways To Dream - Glenn Close/Alan Campbell
- Sunset Boulevard: The Perfect Year - Glenn Close/Alan Campbell
- Sunset Boulevard: Sunser Boulevard - Alan Campbell
- Sunset Boulevard: As If We Never Said Goodbye - Glenn Close
- Whistle Down The Wind: Whistle Down The Wind - James Graeme/Lottie Mayor
- Whistle Down The Wind: Cold - Everly Brothers
- Whistle Down The Wind: No Matter What - Children/Adult Chorus
- Whistle Down The Wind: The Nature Of The Beast - Marcus Lovett/Lottie Mayor
- The Beautiful Game: Overture - Andrew Lloyd Webber
- The Beautiful Game: The Beautiful Game - The Company
- The Beautiful Game: Our Kind Of Love - Hannah Waddingham
- The Beautiful Game: Dont Like You - Josie Walker/David Shannon
- The Beautiful Game: Let Us Love In Peace - Josie Walker/Omagh Youth Community Choir
Tracks:
- Oh What A Circus - David Essex
- Memory - Betty Buckley
- The Phantom Of The Opera - Sarah Brightman/Steve Harley
- All I Ask Of You - Sarah Brightman/Cliff Richard
- Love Changes Everything - Michael Ball
- Any Dream Will Do - Donny Osmond
- Amigos Para Siempre (Friends For Life) - Sarah Brightman/Jose Carreras
- As If We Never Said Goodbye - Barbra Streisand
- The Perfect Year - Dina Carroll
- With One Look - Petula Clark
- You Must Love Me - Madonna
- The Heart Is Slow To Learn - Kiri Te Kanawa
- A Kiss Is A Terrible Thing To Waste - The Metal Philharmonic Orchestra
- Whistle Down The Wind - Tina Arena
- No Matter What - Boyzone
- The Vaults Of Heaven - Tom Jones
- Try Not To Be Afraid - Boy George
- Pie Jesu - Charlotte Church
Tracks:
- Make Believe Love - Wes Sands
- Down Thru' Summer - Ross Hannaman
- I'll Give All My Love To Southend - Ross Hannaman
- Believe Me I Will - Sacha Distel
- Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (1969 Radio Luxembourg Commercial) - Joseph Consortium/Pete Murray
- Try It And See - Rita Pavone
- Come Back Richard Your Country Needs You - Time Rice And The Webber Group
- Goodbye Seattle - Paul Raven
- John 19:41 - The Andrew Lloyd Webber Orchestra
- What A Line To Go Out On - Yvonne Elliman
- Disillusion Me - Gary Band
- The Ballad Of Robert And Peter - Tim Rice
- Christmas Dream - Maynard Williams
- It's Only Your Lover Returning/All Through My Crazy And Wild Days/Don't Cry For Me Argentina - Julie Covington
- It's Easy For You (1977 Jungle Room Session Version) - Elvis Presley
- Magdalena - Tony Christie
- Buenos Aires - The Roja Rockers
- Pollicle Dogs And Jellicle Cats - Andrew Lloyd Webber
- Mungojerrie And Rumpleteazer (Live At The Sydmonton Festival 1980) - Gemma Craven
- I Could Have Given You More - Petula Clark
- I've Been In Love Too Long - Marti Webb
- Benedicite - The Stephen Hill Singers
Album Description
Disc 1: Selections from Jesus Christ Superstar, Evita, Cats, and Song and DanceDisc 2: Selections from Starlight Express, Requiem, Phantom of the Opera, and Aspects of Love
Disc 3: Selections from Joseph nad the Amaziong Technicolor Dreamcoat, By Jeeves, Sunset Boulevard, Whistle Down the Wind, and The Beautiful Game
CD 4: 1. "Oh What a Circus" --David Essex 2. "Memory" - Betty Buckleey 3. "The Phantom of the Opera" -Sarah Brightman, Steve Harley 4. "All I Ask of You" --Sarah Brightman, Cliff Richard 5. "Love Changes Everything"--Michael Ball 6. "Any Dream Will Do"--Donny Osmond 7. "Amigos Para Siempre (Friends for Life)"--Sarah Brightman, Jose Caerras 8. "As if We Never Said Goodbye"--Barbra Streisand 9. "The Perfect Year"--Dina Carroll 10. "With One Look" --Petula Clark 11. "You Must Love Me" 12. "The Heart Is Slow To Learn" --Kiri Te Kanawa 13. "Whistle Down the Wind"--Tina Arena 14. "A Kiss Is a Terrible Thing To Waste"--The Metal Philharmonic 15. "No Matter What"--Boyzone 16. "The Vaults of Heaven"--Tom Jones and Sounds of Blackness 17. "Try Not To Be Afraid"--Boy George 18. "Pie Jesu"--Charlotte Church
Disc 5: (All tracks available for the first time) 1. "Make Believe Love"--Wes Sands 2. "Down Thru' Summer"--Ross Hannaman 3. "I'll Give All My Love to Southend"--Ross Hannaman 4. "Believe Me I Will"--Sacha Distel 5. "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat: 1969 Luxembourg Radio Commercial--The Jospeh Consortium, Pete Murray 6. "Try It and See"--Rita Pavone 7. "Come Back Richard Your Country Needs You"--Tim Rice and the Webber Group 8. "Goodbye Seattle"-- Paul Raven 9. "John 19:41"--The Andrew Lloyd Webber Orchestra 10. "What a Line To Go Out On"--Yvonne Elliman 11. "Disillusion Me" --Gary Bond 12. "The Ballad of Robert and Peter"--Tim Rice 13. "Christmas Dream" --Maynard Williams 14. "It's Only Your Lover Returning/All through My Wild and Crazy Days/Don't Cry for Me Argentina--Julie Covington 15. "It's Easy for You" (1977 Jungle Room Session version)--Elvis Presley 16. "Magdalena"--Tony Christie 17. "Buenos Aires"--The Rioja Rockers 18. "Pollicle Dogs and Jellicle Cats"--Andrew Lloyd Webber original demo 19. "Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer" (Live at Sydmonton Festival 1980)-Gemma Craven 20. "I Could Have Given You More"--Petula Clark 21. "I've Been in Love Too Long"--Marti Webb 22. "Benedicte"-- Stephen Hill Singers
Customer Reviews:
I waited for this for five years.......2006-06-30
It was worth the wait.
The concept is great. The packaging is great. The recording is great. Disc five is really cool for an ALW aficionado. There are a few real gems on it; my favorites are Petula Clark's "I Could Have Given You More" and "Benedicite."
I've always thought "Gus the Theatre Cat" made a great medley on the piano with "Unexpected Song" and "I DOn't Know How to Love Him," but wished there was an alternate lyric to match the other two songs. Now that I know there *is*, and it's a good lyric, it's a dream come true.
The melody of "Benedicite" is one of my favorites from _Sunset_ (the book mis-identifies it as "SUrrender"; it's actually "The Lady's Paying" and "Eternal Youth is Worth a Little Suffering"). The lyrics are the canticle from Daniel 3, which comes up every odd Sunday in the Divine Office, so it's nice to have cool music to sing it with.
I haven't bought _By Jeeves_ or _THe Beautiful Game_ yet, to it was great to sample them.
There are other parts of the CD taht aren't found in my collection. I like CD 4 "The Hits."
But the selections on CDs 1-3 don't make sense.
First, any self-respecting ALW fan has the Original London Cast of _Phantom_, so six tracks are totally useless. Why not draw from the Canadian cast with Colm Wilkinson? Or pull out some obscure recordings never published.
Why two different tracks with Michael Ball singing "Love Changes Everything", yet they're hardly any different?
On Disc 5 is "It's Only Your Lover Returning," sung by Julie Covington. It's an early draft of the song (Lloyd Webber and Rice went through several suggested titles) and quite nice. The very thing one expects on a Boxed Set.
So why have the Julie Covington "Don't Cry for Me" on disc 1?? The only difference is a few words, but it's otherwise identical. Why not Elaine Paige or Patti Lupone or Madonna?
The _Evita_ section is otherwise the best, choosing a sample from each major recording, though I'd have chosen slightly differently (as above).
There is a great selection of "Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer" from the Sydmonton festival, using the original music that was changed when _Cats_ went to Broadway_. It would have been nice if they'd included more recordings from Sydmonton, like the original lyric of "All I Ask of You" shown on the second DVD to the _Phantom_ movie.
With so many great actress-singers who've played Norma Desmond, why does the collection beat us over the head with Glenn Close?
Paul Miles Kingston must be set for life in royalties, for the number of albums the original recording of "Pie Jesu" has appeared on. "Amigos Para Siempre" is nice, but it reminds me of Shari Lewis's "The Song that Doesn't End," especially when it's been used on so many compilations.
In short, this is a great collection for the obscure material, if you can get it cheap. But for a boxed set, it's a poor sampling, drawn mostly from the most familiar recordings.
Excellent collection but BIG PUBLISHING MISTAKE! .......2006-01-10
ONE OF LLOYD WEBBER'S BEST COMPILATIONS, DESPITE A FEW FLAWS.......2005-03-21
Over the years many compilations of his work have emerged. In the late 80-is and early 90-is it was the "Encore" series and lately the one-disc collection called "Gold". The one in question here can be considered one of the best currently on the market. First, it includes a 3-disc selections from all of his shows, minus the latest one, i.e., "The Woman in White", which, considering the triviality of the score, is no great lost. The fourth disc covers some of his most known songs sung by the famous artists. Then, there is the fifth disc with previously unreleased material, most of which are the songs ALW wrote with Tim Rice for various artists during the 70-is. The disks are all neatly packed in a hardcover book that features 67 pages of pictures and text with information about each of ALW's shows. One of the other assets here is the perfect sound quality, since all of the tracks have been digitally remastered.
Here are my basic impressions and comments regarding the material on the discs:
* Disc #1 has the selections from "Jesus Christ Superstar", "Evita", "Cats" and "Song & Dance". The Superstar material mostly comes from the Concept Recording. Although the songs sound beautiful as always, their orchestration is a bit dated now. Only Steve Balsamo's "Gethsemane" from the 1996 revival cast has a modern rock sound. "Evita" comes with the material from all of the major recordings: London, Broadway and the movie productions, as well as the Concept album. No objections here; since this is one of ALW's most satisfying works, every song is just perfect, although Patti LuPone, the Broadway and overall the best Evita, is left with only a couple of lines. With the selections from "Cats", however, I have some doubts. A plus to the choice of the "Jellicle ball" impressive orchestral sequence from the 1998 movie version and "Mister Mistoffelees" from the 1981 London cast. One of the best known ALW's songs, "Memory", also comes from that album. It's a pretty version and Elaine Paige's rendition cannot be matched, but why include this when the definite version, featuring an 80-piece orchestra and Elaine Paige with much better interpretation, can be found in the same movie version. Thusly, one has to buy Elaine Paige's latest 2-disc compilation "Centre Stage: The very best of Elaine Paige" to get that one. And "Gus the theatre cat" is more a recital than a song, so there was not much point in including that. Marti Webb brings her vocal charm to the "Song & Dance" sequence, Sarah Brightman sings "Unexpected song" with her famous soprano, but as much as I like her version, Bernadette Peters, who was in this show on Broadway is strangely left out here.
* Disc # 2 starts with "Starlight Express". This was never one of my favorite ALW's shows; the plot is even lighter than in "Cats" and the 1984 original cast recording is terribly dated. Yet, here we have one terrific duet, "I am starlight" from the original together with three songs from the later revivals and it seems that fresh orchestrations were just the thing Starlight needed. My favorite remains a touchy ballad, "Next time you fall in love". "Requiem" is the most solemn of all ALW's compositions, written in 1985 to commemorate the death of his father. Placido Domingo's tenor rides together with the chorus all the way through the strong "Hosanna", only to be joined by Sarah Brightman in the final moments of this song. She then gives an echoing deliverance of "Pie Jesu". What can be said of ALW's next show, "The Phantom of the Opera"? A phenomenon in its own right, it's easy to see from the six numbers included here why this is one of the best and most beloved musicals of all time. The cast, the music, the story - everything is perfect. Although "Aspects of love" was never a popular hit, it does have some of the most beautiful love melodies ALW has ever written. "Love changes everything" sung by Michael Ball is probably one of the best tunes ever about love. The rest of the selected material here has a dreamy love flavor and the melodies find their way into your brain in the best Lloyd Webber way.
* ALW's first musical, "Joseph and the amazing Technicolor dreamcoat" was more successful in its revival form than the original from the 70-is. The three songs included here are sung by the show stars, Jason Donovan and Donny Osmond. Maria Friedman was not a lucky choice to play the narrator, as the track from the 1998 movie version shows. "By Jeeves" was ALW's only big flop when it came to the stage in the 70-is. The 1995 revival sounds much better though, full of funny numbers in the best manner of the musical comedy. "Travel hopefully" remains one of the show's highlights on this compilation. "Sunset Boulevard" comes next. "Sunset" remains for me one of Webber's best scores; lush and beautiful. I listen to the original cast recording with Patti LuPone all the time. However, here most of the songs are performed by Glenn Close. A big mistake. If you've ever listened the American premiere recording with her, you'll know what I am talking about. She may have a strong stage presence, but her vocal abilities are too limited, and her aggressive approach to the role lacks any subtlety. Therefore, the two big numbers from this show, "With one look" and "As if we never said goodbye" are ruined by the fact she can't sing. The same goes for the American Joe Gillis, who was played by Alan Campbell. Luckily, Patti LuPone and Kevin Anderson, the original Norma and Joe from the London production, make their brief entrance here with the "Perfect year"; enough to show how better they are. The funny thing is, on the jacket and inside of it, Glenn Close and Alan Campbell are credited as performers in this song as well. If this was a mistake on ALW's part, it was a good one. The next ALW's show, "Whistle down the wind" was never a critic's dear and yet the audiences rushed in to see it in London. The score brings back ALW to his rock and roll roots of the seventies and the story is quite interesting. But the selections here are not the happiest, since the cast recording boasts with much better songs. And finally, "The Beautiful Game". Again, we have one of those ALW's shows that is worth in its individual parts rather than as a whole. "Our kind of love" and "Let us love in peace" are two catchy ballads. The latter is a nice amalgam version not available elsewhere. The two other tracks here I could live without.
* Disc # 4 has the songs from all the above shows performed by different artists. The assembled tracks have their pros and cons. For example, we have some previously unreleased stuff, like Dame Kiri Te Kanawa's operettic rendition of "The heart is slow to learn", or a stunning and epic "A kiss is a terrible thing to waste" from "Whistle down the wind", performed by The Metal Philharmonic Orchestra. Then again, what was the point in including almost identical tracks as the ones on the previous disks? So we have Michael Ball again singing "Love changes everything" with only a bit different orchestration; Sarah Brightman comes out again with the same Phantom duets, but only with the different male singers. It would be much more appropriate to include tracks from the Toronto Cast of the Phantom, with Colm Wilkinson. Other pop deliverances (Tina Arena's "Whistle down the wind", Barbra Streisand's "As if we never said goodbye", Boyzone's "No matter what" and many more) were wisely chosen. Patti LuPone is again nowhere to be found and Petula Clark's "With one look" sounds too worn-out.
* The last disc is probably the one that will be of most interest to Lloyd Webber aficionados. It consists of entirely previously unreleased material ALW for the most part wrote for various artists during his early years, with Tim Rice. Some of these tunes, not successful as a singles, were later used in his shows. Thus "Down thru' summer" became "Buenos Aires"in Evita, "Try it and see", an unsuccessful attempt for the Eurovision was used for "King Herod's song" in "Superstar" and so on. Some of these songs are nicely made pop songs: "Make believe love", ALW's first recorded composition, for which he provided the lyrics; "Goodbye Seattle", sung by Paul Raven, who later became Gary Glitter; "Come back Richard, your country needs you", from a never made musical, sung here by Tim Rice, or Latin flavored "Magdalena", with Tony Christie singing. My all time favorite here is a song called "It's easy for you", sung by none other than Elvis Presley himself. Lloyd Webber and Rice sent him a demo recording that he accepted and recorded this live version a couple of weeks before he died. It's amazing to hear how his voice remained in the perfect shape. Also, there is a track of Andrew Lloyd Webber singing "Policle dogs and Jellicle cats" while plying the piano. His voice doesn't sound bad at all.
Taken as a whole, this compilation makes a perfect birthday or Christmas present to any fan of Andrew Lloyd Webber shows, or just anybody interested in some of the best tunes from the modern era of the musical theatre; despite the flaws I mentioned above. To the former, it may just be the final addition for the Andrew Lloyd Webber collection.
SUCH MAGICAL MUSIC OF THE NIGHT!.......2003-01-19
Opera") and the longest-running show of all time ("Cats"), the man whose homes are filled with three Grammys, five Oliviers, a Golden Globe, and Oscar and too many other honors and hosannas to mention, the man knighted in 1992 certainly doesn't need an introduction. Now Decca Broadway pays tribute to Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber with "Now and Forever," a spectacular 5-CD set compiled and produced by Sir Andy himself. It's cheaper than a
ticket to "The Producers" ... and more much exciting. This treasure trove contains highlights from all of Webber's shows, and a bonus disc of tunes sung by Betty Buckley, Barbara
Streisand, Jose Carreras, Boy George, Charlotte Church, Madonna, Tom Jones, Petula Clark, even Elvis! A must for lovers of theatre---and good music.
A Must Have for Sir Andrew fans.......2002-05-21
The cuts from the musicals are great but are likely owned by ALW fans as they are on the original cast albums. And I'm glad that there were tunes included from the composers most recent efforts which have yet to make it beyond London (Whistle Down the Wind, Beautiful Game).
My only complaint is the inclusion of way too many tracks by Sarah Brightman. She must've received a great divorce settlement that included having tunes on any ALW collection until the end of time!! Her interpretations of some of the tunes were limp and uninspired. I would've much rather heard casts from around the world rather than yet another song by this disdainful soprano! How about Colm Wilkinson's version of "Music of the Night" from the original Canadian cast of "Phantom"? Or Michael Crawford's version of "Unexpected Song"? What? No Betty Buckley from "Sunset Blvd."? And of course there are songs you KNOW are going to be on the collection before you even listen to it as they have been on EVERY ALW collection for the past decade or so.
A great collection but too much Sarah Brightman!
Average customer rating:
|
Beautiful Mind (Score) (Sl)
Various Artists Manufacturer: Decca U.S. ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD Movie Soundtracks
| Soundtracks
| Styles
| Music
General
| Soundtracks
| Styles
| Music
The Decca Records Store
| Specialty Stores
| Music
Similar Items:
ASIN: B00006WL5I Release Date: 2002-10-29 |
Customer Reviews:
decieving.......2006-07-08
My bad. I guess I had to read the FINE PRINT.
bad description, especially when this cd format is not widely known.
How Amazon screwed me this time.......2005-10-04
Put it on and hit the repeat button.......2004-01-01
Highly recommended!
Very surprised it didn't win an Oscar.......2003-09-26
Horner opens with "A Kaleidoscope of Mathematics." It comepletely draws the listener, or watcher (if viewing the movie), in. The music literally sounds like a Kaleidoscope, as if one could litterally HEAR the different colors ... and yet not randomly, but in a cohesive mathimatical way. And then, approximately one and a half minutes into the piece, a sobering, more pensive movement, yet colored again with the interesting flurishes abundant in the first minute and a half.
I've never reviewed music before, but have been an avid listener to scores and soundtracks for years. This, along with the single piece from Castaway by Alan Silvestri, and both the scores from Empire of the Sun and Hook by John Williams, TOPS the list of all time favorites. Check 'em out!
Awesome Sound Quality.......2003-06-02
Average customer rating: 
|
DRG 25th Anniversary Show Stopping Performances
Manufacturer: Drg ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD All Works by Porter
| Porter, Cole
| ( P )
| Featured Composers, A-Z
| Classical
| Styles
| Music
General
| Previn, André
| ( P )
| Featured Composers, A-Z
| Classical
| Styles
| Music
Chamber Music
| Forms & Genres
| Modern, 20th, & 21st Century
| Historical Periods
| Classical
| Styles
| Music
Vocal & Song
| Modern, 20th, & 21st Century
| Historical Periods
| Classical
| Styles
| Music
General
| Classical
| Styles
| Music
General
| Opera & Vocal
| Styles
| Music
Movie Scores
| Soundtracks
| Styles
| Music
Movie Soundtracks
| Soundtracks
| Styles
| Music
General
| Soundtracks
| Styles
| Music
General
| Musicals
| Broadway & Vocalists
| Styles
| Music
General
| Broadway & Vocalists
| Styles
| Music
General
| Vocal Pop
| Pop
| Styles
| Music
Broadway & Vocalists
| Indie Music
| Stores
| Music
General
| Soundtracks
| Indie Music
| Stores
| Music
Similar Items:
ASIN: B00005Q6IN Release Date: 2001-10-23 |
Tracks:
- A Day In Hollywood A Night In Ukraine: Just Go To The Movies - Priscilla Lopez/David Garrison/Frank Lazarus/Stephen James/Peggy Hewett/Kate Draper
- Babes In Arms: I Wish I Were In Love Again - Christopher Fitzgerald Jessica Stone
- Pal Joey: Bewitched, Bothered And Bewildered - Patti LuPone
- Gentlemen Prefer Blondes: Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend - KT Sullivan
- Nunsense: I Just Want To Be A Star - Christine Anderson
- Louisiana Purchase: Wild About You - Debbie Gravitte & New York Voices
- Oil City Symphony: Beaver Ball At The Bug Club - Mike Craver/Mark Hardwick/Debra Monk/Mary Murfitt
- Falsettoland: The Baseball Game - Michael Rupert/Chip Zien/Faith Prince/Janet Metz/Heather MacRae/Stephen Bogardus
- Very Good Eddie: Isn't It Great To Be Married? - Virginia Seidel/Spring Fairbank/Charles Repole/Nicholas Wyman
- The Fantasticks: A Perfect Time To Be In Love - Harvey Schmidt
- Call Me Madam: You're Just In Love - Tyne Daly/Lewis Cleale
- Taking My Turn: Fine For The Shape I'm In - Margaret Whiting/Marnie Nixon/Cissy Houston
- A Party With Betty Comden & Adolph Green: The French Lesson - Betty Comdon/Adolph Green
- The Madwoman Of Central Park: Better - Phyllis Newman
- Greenwillow: Never Will I Marry - Anthony Perkins
- Song Of Singapore: I Can't Remember - Loretta Swit & Company
- Tintypes: Elite Syncopation/I'm Goin' To Live Anyhow, 'Til I Die - Lynne Thigpen
- I Love My Wife: Someone Wonderful I Missed - Joanna Gleason/Ilene Graff
- The Good Companions: The Pleasure Of Your Company - Malcolm Rennie/Christopher Gable
- Forbidden Broadway 20th Anniversary: Liza One-Note - Christine Pedi
- Meet Me In St. Louis: The Trolley Song - Donna Kane & Ensemble
Tracks:
- 4 Guys Named Jose...And Una Mujer Named Maria!: Feel It - Philip Anthony/Henry Gainza/Allen Hidalgo/Ricardo Puente
- Fame - The Musical: There She Goes!/Fame - Natasha Rennalls & Ensemble
- Do Re Mi: What's New At The Zoo? - Heather Headley/The Animal Girls
- High Society: Once Upon A Time/True Love - Melissa Errico/Daniel McDonald
- Tenderloin: Artificial Flowers - Patrick Wilson
- State Fair: Driving At Night/Our State Fair - Company
- Kiss Me, Kate: Were Thine That Special Face - Brian Stokes Mitchell
- Black And Blue: Black And Blue - Linda Hopkins/Ruth Brown/Carrie Smith
- The Green Bird: O Foolish Heart - Company
- Out Of This World: From This Moment On - Marin Mazzie/Gregg Edelman
- The Boys From Syracuse: This Can't Be Love - Davis Gaines/Sarah Berry
- Snoopy!!!: Poor Sweet Baby - Pamela Myers
- SeesawNobody Does It Like Me - Michele Lee
- March Of The Falsettos: I Never Wanted To Love You - Michael Rupert/Stephen Bogardus/Alison Fraser/Chip Zien/James Kushner
- Lunch: Perfectly Alone - Carol Burnett
- 3hree: Foolish Dreamin'/Something Beautiful/Real Enough To Change My Mind - Jessica Molaskey/Will Gartshore/Rachel Ulanet
- Lucky In The Rain: Love Me As If There Were No Tomorrow - Barbara Cook
- Godspell: All Good Gifts - Sal Sabella & Company
- The Act: Walking Papers - Liza Minnelli & Company
Customer Reviews:
Great compilation.......2002-05-10
The previous review is way off the mark. This is definitely not a waste of time or money. This is 25 years of preserving Broadway shows, Off-Broadway shows, studio recordings (mostly from the city center concerts), etc. So what if they "aren't as good as the original", DRG is preserving many recordings and artists that other mainstream labels don't or won't. You have wonderful recordings from Brian Stokes Mitchell, Nathan Lane, Debbie Gravitte, Tyne Daly, Anthony Perkins, Joanna Gleason, Marin Mazzie, Carol Burnett, Heather Headley, Patti LuPone, Barbara Cook, etc., and many of these are from Original Cast Recordings just as they appeared on Broadway. This is an excellent sampler of the work going on at DRG. No...I'm not an employee...just an avid listener and collector of theatre recordings.
A disappointment.......2001-12-15
Average customer rating:
|
The Essential Songs of Andrew Lloyd Webber
Manufacturer: Metro Music ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD Requiems
| Forms & Genres
| Early Music
| Historical Periods
| Classical
| Styles
| Music
General
| Classical
| Styles
| Music
Lounge
| Easy Listening
| Pop
| Styles
| Music
General
| Opera & Vocal
| Styles
| Music
Requiems
| Vocal Non-Opera
| Opera & Vocal
| Styles
| Music
Movie Soundtracks
| Soundtracks
| Styles
| Music
General
| Soundtracks
| Styles
| Music
General
| Musicals
| Broadway & Vocalists
| Styles
| Music
General
| Broadway & Vocalists
| Styles
| Music
Instrumental Pop & Lounge
| Pop
| Indie Music
| Stores
| Music
General
| Soundtracks
| Indie Music
| Stores
| Music
Musicals
| Soundtracks
| Indie Music
| Stores
| Music
Similar Items:
ASIN: B00005Y47E Release Date: 2002-02-22 |
Tracks:
- Any Dream Will Do
- Close Every Door
- Heaven On Their Minds
- Everything's Alright
- Gethsemane
- I Don't Know How To Love Him
- Jesus Christ Superstar
- Could We Start Again Please?
- Don't Cry For Me Argentina
- Another Suitcase In Another Hall
- Buenos Aires
- Rainbow High
- High Flying Adored
- Memory
- Jellicle Cats
- Mister Mistofeles
- Unexpected Song
- Last Man In My Life
- Rolling Stock
- U-N-C-O-U-P-L-E-D
Tracks:
- Only You
- Starlight Express
- There's Me
- Pie Jesu
- Angel Of Music
- Masquerade
- Wishing Somehow You Were Here Again
- All I Ask Of You
- The Phantom Of The Opera
- Music Of The Night
- Love Changes Everything
- The First Man You Remember
- Seeing Is Believing
- As If We Never Said Goodbye
- Sunset Boulevard
- With One Look
- Too Much In Love To Care
- Half A Moment
- Whistle Down The Wind
- Our Kind Of Love
Album Description
Full title, 'Essential Songs Of Andrew Lloyd Webber'. UK budget-price compilation. 40 superlative performances featuring songs from every one of Andrew Lloyd Webber's hit musicals. Guest artists include John Barrymore, Issy Van Randwyck, Dave Willetts, Maria Friedman, Kim Criswell, Graham Bickley and the National Symphony Orchestra. Housed in a slipcase. 2002.Customer Reviews:
Okay, but kind of disappointing.......2006-04-17
It is a good collection for inexpensively getting a lot of Andrew Lloyd Webber's most popular songs in one place and having them there to be able to listen to get the idea of what a certain song sounds like and is about. It isn't the collection of definitive recordings for certain roles. In fact in a couple examples, I wonder if the performer fully understood the context of the song he or she was singing &/or what it was about. Overall, the album is good, for the most part, if not excellent.
However, the liner notes for "The Essential Songs of Andrew Lloyd Webber" is another matter. I don't mean to be unkind, but the author of the comments on the different tracks (one Rexton S. Bunnett) is blatantly WRONG in multiple instances. I don't mean just in nit-picky details, but in major plot details/context of songs, like the fact that Bunnett identifies "Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again" as being sung by "our heroine" (who he does not even identify by name as Christine Daae) as she thinks about her lover, not as being sung about Christine's dead father. He also says that the Phantom has found his perfect love and "Angel of Music" in Christine... because HE is the Angel of Music who Christine believes has been sent to her by her dead father, and because although the Phantom is obsessed with Christine, that relationship is far from "loving" (even if Christine shows him compassion. I feel like these (and a couple other mistakes) are major plot points to get wrong. A good amount of the commentary reads as if Bunnett might have written it at the last minute, fudging his way through entries on musicals of which he had little knowledge; like what an essay I might write on a book I never read for my college class but had quickly looked up on Cliff's Notes would sound like. In terms of sheer editing, there are spelling mistakes, run-on sentences and spacing errors ("Any DreamWill Do")in the liner notes. Where was the copy editor?
And the most frightening fact of all, under Bunnett's credentials, it says "Harper Collins has just published his revision and updating of the Collins Book of the Musical."
I am being very critical, but I think that for a widely-released CD it is reasonable to expect the liner notes to be at a professional level, as they were most likely supposed to be.
Not quite what I expected..........2005-04-23
Some great performances, some not so great..........2005-04-18
Pros:
Two classic songs that are performed excellently are Phantom of the Opera and I Don't Know How to Love Him.
Of course you want to compare Phantom to the classic Michael Crawford/ Sarah Brightman version. Well, guess what? This version is BETTER. The woman has a deeper voice than Brightman, and her singing style is just awesome. The ending of this version (you know, the "Sing, my angel of music, sing for me!") is different, but in a good way... I think.)
And of course, the standard for I Don't Know How to Love Him is Yvonne's version. This version is different, but it grew on me quickly. This version has a country feel to it, almost. Somehow it works and sounds great.
There are a lot of great performances in this collection. My favorites include: Heaven on Their Minds, Everything's Alright, Could We Start Again Please, Another Suitcase in Another Hall, Buenos Aires, Rainbow High, Only You, Starlight Express, Angel of Music, Masquerade, All I Ask of You, Half a Moment, and Whistle Down the Wind. I think they're all great versions of their more famous counterparts.
Cons:
First of all, there are some technical problems that are kind of disappointing. A few of the songs have a very echoey sound. Any Dream Will Do, Another Suitcase in Another Hall, Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again, and There's Me are the songs that come to mind that are the worst in this regard. It isn't really bad, just enough to be slightly annoying, more so when the volume is turned way up on your CD player.
A few songs are worthy of skipping over when listening to this collection. In my opinion, Superstar, Sunset Boulevard, and Gethesmane are the biggest disappointments.
Superstar just doesn't cut it for me. The singer really overdoes it, making it overstylized... really makes you yearn for Murray Head. I can't stand listening to it. Just my opinion.
Sunset Boulevard is one of my very favorite musicals, so I was really hoping that the singer would do justice to its title song. Unfortunately I don't think he did. You can't help but compare it to Alan Campbell's fantastic version. This guy has a very choppy way of singing, when I'm used to it being sung so smoothly. Maybe it would grow on me, but I don't think I'll give it a chance to. However, that last note is much stronger than Alan Campbell's. It doesn't make up for the rest of the song, though.
Finally, Gethsemane. The inevitable fact is that NO ONE can sing this song like Michael Ball. This guy tries, he really does. But he doesn't have the right voice or the right style. So please listen to Michael Ball's performance of Gethsemane if you want to know how breathtaking of a song it can be. It's on the Royal Albert Hall DVD, and I'm sure he's got it on one of his CDs.
Anyway, overall, this is a good CD if you like quantity over quality. Don't buy it for the classics, you'll probably end up disappointed with many of them. Buy it for the lesser known songs. You probably won't like every song, especially if you're a big ALW fan, but for the price, it's worth it.
If you want classic versions of classic ALW songs, you might prefer something like "The Very Best of Andrew Lloyd Webber: The Broadway Collection".
Disappointed.......2005-03-11
Musical Talent at Its Best.......2003-01-03
Average customer rating:
|
The Beautiful Game (2000 Original London Cast)
Andrew Lloyd Webber , Ben Elton , Josie Walker , and Michael Shaeffer Manufacturer: Decca Broadway ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD General
| Musicals
| Broadway & Vocalists
| Styles
| Music
General
| Broadway & Vocalists
| Styles
| Music
General
| Soundtracks
| Styles
| Music
The Decca Records Store
| Specialty Stores
| Music
Similar Items:
ASIN: B00007BH8Z Release Date: 2002-11-26 |
Tracks:
- Overture
- The Beautiful Game
- Clean The Kit
- Don't Like You
- God's Own Country
- God's Own Country (Protestant March)
- Let Us Love In Peace
- The Final (A Game Of Two Halves)
- Off To The Party
- The Craic
- Don't Like You (Reprise)
- Our Kind Of Love
- Let Us Love In Peace (Reprise)
- The Happiest Day
- To Have And To Hold
- The First Time
- I'd Rather Die On My Feet Than Live On My Knees
- God's Own Country (Reprise)
- The Selection
- Dead Zone
- If This Is What We're Fighting For
- All The Love I Have
- Finale
Customer Reviews:
A Beautiful CD.......2006-01-29
Amazing Show with Amazing Music.......2005-12-17
NOT AMONG LLOYD WEBBER'S BEST.......2005-02-13
"Whistle down the wind", was ALW previous musical and it returned him to his rock and roll roots of Jesus Christ Superstar. It was never much accepted by the critics and it never made it to Broadway, although it ran for 4 years in London and the audiences liked it. Therefore, the composer chose to do something different for his next project. It happened before: in 1981 with "Cats" and in 1989 with "Aspects of love". He admitted he felt he was repeating himself and therefore decided to do something unusual for his reputation of a creator of blockbuster and flashy musicals. That's why he chose Ben Elton as his next collaborator and lyricist. It was an uncommon partnership: Elton had a reputation of a comedian and a play writer very close to the English political Left; that is the Labour Party, while Lloyd Webber had a knighthood and was commonly associated with the Tories. The important thing was that Elton conceived a completely new story to be put on stage. It was a new direction for ALW, since the rest of his musicals are based on the lives of the historical characters (Jesus, Eva Peron); movies (Sunset Blvd) or books (Cats, The Phantom of the opera or, more recently The Woman in White). The story of The Beautiful game is actually genuine enough. It is set in the Northern Ireland of the late 1960-is and 70-is and we follow a group of young teenagers who are connected by the local football club as they try to overcome the religious divisions, violence and hatred, together with the challenge of becoming adults. More specifically, the main characters, John and Mary, fall in love, but because of the problems mentioned above, their love story hasn't got a happy ending.
This was much different from the shows we were accustomed to have from ALW. There were no big spectacles and lush stage sets; no star name in the cast; no apotheosis of a character (such as Grizabella in "Cats" or Eva Peron in "Evita"). It was all too simple and common to be made by him, and that's probably why the show lasted only a year in London's West End: from September 2000 to September 2001.
This cast recording suffers from a few other problems. First, when you listen to it all the way through, you cannot form a clear story in your head. All you get is bits and pieces: Ireland; football, catholic-protestant antagonism, several boys and girls falling in love and an unhappy ending for the main couple. Without a good synopsis, which is, by the way, nowhere to be found in the booklet, you can't figure out what exactly is going on. Thus it seems that a lot of the dialogue, essential to understand the story, was cut from this recording. The booklet does contain the lyrics and production photos, however, there is no information about what is going on the stage, so in the end it's hard to follow or imagine what exactly is going on.
Then there is the problem with the orchestrations. Lloyd Webber turned to the minimalism unlike any of his other shows. The orchestra has only 9 instruments and it all sounds like they are using a synthesizer and the pipes to create an Irish atmosphere. That is why this recording sounds like an amateur school production rather than the theatre piece. I'm sure that the better orchestrations with a bigger orchestra would work much better. There is an example of "The Aspects of love". That too had a smaller orchestra, but it still sounded very much like one, and the melodies were nicely done as a smaller, intimate chamber piece. Here, that is not the case.
Besides this drawback, the musical numbers also suffer from the lack of big songs that would sweep you away and stay in your head. At times, there pops out a song you can grow to like with the repeated listening (like, "God's own country", "Clean the kit", "Don't like you"), but it's way below ALW's standard. The song I consider the best of the lot is "Our kind of love", a nice ballad with a catching tune. However, it's not a new piece of music. That melody was first presented at ALW's 50th birthday celebration at London's Royal Albert Hall in 1998, which can be found here on DVD. It had a different title ("The heart is slow to learn"), and a much better and fuller operettic orchestration, and the lyrics were written by Don Black. The song itself was on that occasion beautifully sung by the famous New Zealand's soprano, Dame Kiri Te Kanawa. On this recording, the lyrics are different and they used pipes to play the melody, which is not so good. But, on the whole, this is the best song.
The cast here is comprised of young and unknown individuals. No real complaint abot them, since they have fine voices and did their best with this material. Josie Walker, who plays Mary, is especially good. The lyrics are nothing special, and they can sound awkward at times. Some of the riming is very unusual, to say the least!
So my overall opinion is that this is not Lloyd Webber's most satisfying work, but it also isn't the rock bottom. We should view it as the composer's attempt to do something different than the big, mega-musicals he is best known for. Luckily, in the last year he presented his newest piece, "The Woman in white", which seemed to get him back on the track. I would therefore, recommend this to ALW's aficionados that are eager to have the complete collection of his work. Those of you, however, who are just getting acquainted with his music, skip this and buy one of his compilations and then start with his different shows, like "Superstar", "Evita", "Sunset Blvd" with Patti LuPone playing the lead or "The Phantom of the opera". Only when you get a certain insight into Lloyd Webber's music, you might consider getting this.
Off His Game.......2004-09-22
Andrew Lloyd Webber's quest to write world's WORST musical!.......2004-05-06
What possessed him to collaborate with Ben Elton to write the word's first football musical, set in Belfast, 1969? If the intention was to make the rivalry on the playing field a metaphor for the on-going tensions between the Catholics and the Protestants, they miss the point. The football doesn't really figure in the plot. Instead we have a convoluted story, which doesn't cover much ground in Act One then tries frantically to cram all the action into Act Two.
Then there's the score. It is no secret to anyone who has read my reviews that Lloyd Webber is NOT my favourite composer, but usually ha can come up with one or two good tunes: Even the awful SUNSET BLVD has "With One Look" and "As If We Never Said Goodbye" which outside of the context are decent diva arias. There are no such bonbons in the score for THE BEAUTIFUL GAME. The orchestrations allow a proper Irish feel, but there are NO TUNES in this piece.
There are lyrics by Ben Elton. (Who told this man he was qualified to write lyrics? Oh yes, Andrew Lloyd Webber - as if he would know a good lyric!!) Most of the lyrics are empty, but some are downright stupid. The booklet has the lyrics - not that you'll want to read them - but lacks any information about the show, including a synopsis.
It is quite possible that a winning cast and some solid production values may have overcome the weaknesses in the writing but judging from the reviews and the short run attained by THE BEAUTIFUL GAME that doesn't appear to be the case.
People - it's time to stop supporting shows just because Andrew Lloyd Webber plasters his name on the. Listen to his shows critically - ask yourself: is the story being told through the songs? Are the characters being developed through the songs? THAT is what good musical theatre writing is all about.
Christian Music:
- Best of the Early Years [Import]
- Blame It On Love [Explicit Lyrics]
- Bop Bop Baby, Vol. 1 [CD-single] [Import]
- Cartoon Heroes: Best Of [Import]
- Celebrity [Enhanced] [Import]
- Celebrity [Import]
- Disco Christmas Party
- Eurovision Song Contest 2002 [Import]
- Everybody Get Up [CD-single] [Import]
- Game Over [Explicit Lyrics]
Christian Music