Additional personnel includes: Murray Head, The Trinidad Singers, Barbara Streisand, Sarah Brightman, Jose Carreras, Michael Crawford, Madonna, Donny Osmond, Betty Buckley, Glen Close, Alan Campbell, Tom Jones, Sounds Of Blackness, Boyzone, Mandy Patinkin, Charlotte Church, Yvonne Elliman, Patti Lupone, Michael Ball, Cliff Richard (vocals); Gary Hines (arranger); David Caddick, Michael Reed, John Mauceri, Michael Dixon, Sean Edwards, Paul Bogaev (conductor); Orchestra Of The Welsh National Opera, The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.
Producers include: Tim Rice, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Barbara Streisand, Nigel Wright, Martin Levan.
Compilation producer: Tris Penna.
Engineers include: Alan M. O'Duffy, Martin Levan, Dick Lewzey.
Recorded between 1969 & 1998. Includes liner notes by Paul Gambaccini.
All tracks have been digitally remastered.
The king of the modern musical, Andrew Lloyd Webber has achieved iconic status as a composer nonpareil. For those too overwhelmed by the prospect of disseminating his voluminous legacy via the five-disc box set NOW AND FOREVER, some career highlights have conveniently been culled for the single-disc distillation that is appropriately titled GOLD.
One is immediately struck by the perfect mating of singer and material here. Just as Michael Crawford's big, dramatic voice lends itself perfectly to the two cuts included here from PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, so too does the emotional-facism subtext of EVITA's "You Must Love Me" perfectly suit self-made diva Madonna's will to power. Still, what's perhaps most striking about this collection is the fact that regardless of the decade, Webber's music seems remarkably impervious to trend or fashion. The only exception to this is the hippie orientation of the two tracks from JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR (the churning, Sly Stone-like rhythm of "Superstar" and the gentle folk-rock of "I Don't Know How to Love Him," and that's obviously intentional anyway. If you've ever sighed longingly over the music from CATS, PHANTOM, or any of ALW's other successes, go for the GOLD.
