Andrew Lloyd Webber - Divas

This compilation of previously released material gathers the best-known tunes sung by women in Andrew Lloyd Webber's repertoire. Do all the singers here count as divas? A surprisingly high number certainly does. A few offer both outsize personality and outsize pipes: Betty Buckley ("Memory"), Patti LuPone ("Buenos Aires"), Barbra Streisand ("As If We Never Said Goodbye"). Some don't have as much name recognition but still offer blistering readings of famous songs (Yvonne Elliman's vintage version of "I Don't Know How to Love Him," from Jesus Christ Superstar). Others go for nuance, like Marti Webb and her lovely "Tell Me on a Sunday" or Barbara Dickson's "Another Suitcase in Another Hall." And then there are the ones who pull through on sheer bravado: Madonna and her vibrato-laden "Don't Cry for Me Argentina," Glenn Close's harsh "With One Look"–both of them making you long for La LuPone. (In which universe Minnie Driver counts as a diva is anybody's guess.) The overall track selection offers a fairly standard overview of Sir Andrew's career, though it does include Kiri Te Kanawa's "The Heart Is Slow to Learn," from the aborted sequel to Phantom.

Tracklist:
1. Memory (from "Cats") - Betty Buckley
2. Music Of The Night (from "The Phantom Of The Opera") - Katherine Jenkins
3. Don't Cry For Me Argentina (from "Evita") - Madonna
4. All I Ask Of You (from "The Phantom Of The Opera") - Shirley Bassey
5. Surrender (from "Sunset Boulevard") - Sarah Brightman
6. With One Look (from "Sunset Boulevard") - Glenn Close
7. Learn To Be Lonely (from "The Phantom Of The Opera") - Minnie Driver
8. The Perfect Year (from "Sunset Boulevard") - Dina Carroll
9. I Don't Know How To Love Him (from "Jesus Christ Superstar") - Yvonne Elliman
10. Buenos Aires (from "Evita") - Patti LuPone
11. As If We Never Said Goodbye (from "Sunset Boulevard") - Barbra Streisand
12. Rainbow High (from "Evita") - Elaine Paige
13. Tell Me On A Sunday (from "Song And Dance") - Marti Webb
14. The Heart Is Slow To Learn (from sequel to "The Phantom Of The Opera") - Kiri Te Kanawa
15. Another Suitcase Another Hall (from "Evita") - Barbara Dickson