Live From las Vegas: The Harem World Tour
Sarah Brightman
Engineer: Colin Boland,
Producer: Frank Peterson
Angel Records, 2004
1 CD
Catalogue #: 57801
EAN: 0724355780126
UPC: 724355780126
You save: 20%
Personnel: Sarah Brightman (vocals); Gunther Laudahn (vocals, guitar, bouzouki, harp, lute, sitar, keyboards); Markus Birkle (guitars); Markus Koessler (keyboards, bass instrument); Jan-Eric Kohrs (keyboards); Flo Dauner (drums); Roland Peil, Ronnie Barak (percussion).
Recording information: MGM Grand, Las Vegas, Nevada.
Considering her lengthy career in musicals and her onetime role as wife and muse of Broadway's golden boy Andrew Lloyd Webber, it's surprising that it took until 2004 for Sarah Brightman to release a live record. THE HAREM WORLD TOUR: LIVE FROM LAS VEGAS is the recorded version of a popular PBS special that presents a performance of one of Brightman's most elaborate tours in one of the most lavish cities on the planet. The tour came on the heels of her 12th record, HAREM, a Middle Eastern-flavored affair.
Brightman's always been one to experiment, as evidenced by the incredible variety in the song selection. Of course, she does a powerful rendition of a medley of songs from Webber's THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, in which she starred. However, she also adds her own touch to everything from compositions by Dvorak to such rock classics as Kansas's "Dust in the Wind" and Procol Harum's "A Whiter Shade of Pale." Predictably, the atmosphere is charged with the overwhelming energy of a performer who has lived on stage for most of her life, and THE HAREM WORLD TOUR marks her long overdue live debut on CD.
Tracklist
Sarah Brightman
British siren Sarah Brightman started her musical career as a pure popster, singing dance music with the hit UK group Hot Gossip in the late '70s. Before long, though, her angelic voice and striking beauty led her to musical theater, and she starred in Andrew Lloyd Webber's hit show CATS (she would eventually marry the composer). In due course, she found herself on Broadway in PHANTOM OF THE OPERA. Brightman had a number of hits with songs from various musicals in which she appeared, but by the '90s she was a full-fledged crossover star bridging the worlds of opera, showtunes, and pop with hit albums containing everything from Procol Harum's "A Whiter Shade of Pale" to Puccini's "Nessun Dorma."
