Name: Centre Stage
Brand: Universal Music Distribution
SKU: 227660
Price: 8.52 USD
Availability: InStock

Centre Stage

Rating

Album: Centre Stage
#	Song Title		Time
1)	Every Story	More Info...	2:49
2)	Can You Feel The Love Tonight	More Info...	4:06
3)	The Boy From Nowhere	More Info...	4:25
4)	Lift The Wings	More Info...	3:42
5)	Not While I'm Around	More Info...	4:00
6)	The Phantom Of The Opera	More Info...	4:24
7)	Music Of The Night	More Info...	5:22
8)	The Winner Takes It All	More Info...	4:59
9)	Seasons Of Love	More Info...	4:05
10)	Bring Him Home	More Info...	3:15
11)	Tell Me On A Sunday	More Info...	3:36
12)	Immortality	More Info...	4:11
13)	Send In The Clowns	More Info...	4:20
14)	Tell Me It's Not True	More Info...	3:53

Album: Centre Stage
#	Song Title		Time
1)	Every Story	More Info...	2:49
2)	Can You Feel The Love Tonight	More Info...	4:06
3)	The Boy From Nowhere	More Info...	4:25
4)	Lift The Wings	More Info...	3:42
5)	Not While I'm Around	More Info...	4:00
6)	The Phantom Of The Opera	More Info...	4:24
7)	Music Of The Night	More Info...	5:22
8)	The Winner Takes It All	More Info...	4:59
9)	Seasons Of Love	More Info...	4:05
10)	Bring Him Home	More Info...	3:15
11)	Tell Me On A Sunday	More Info...	3:36
12)	Immortality	More Info...	4:11
13)	Send In The Clowns	More Info...	4:20
14)	Tell Me It's Not True	More Info...	3:53

Tracks

1. Evert Story

2. Can You Feel The Love Tonight

3. The Boy From Nowhere

4. Lift The Wings

5. Not While I'm Around

6. The Phantom Of The Opera

7. Music Of The Night

8. The Winner Takes It All

9. Seasons Of Love

10. Bring Him Home

11. Tell Me On A Sunday

12. Immortality

13. Send In The Clowns

14. Tell Me It's Not True

Performer Notes

Personnel includes: Michael Ball (vocals, piano).
Recorded at Skratch Studios, Surrey, England, Olympic Studios and Angel Studios, London, England.
Thanks to Andrew Lloyd Webber, Michael Ball has been a star in his native U.K. since 1989, when he created the role of Alex Dillingham in Lloyd Webber's musical Aspects of Love and got to sing "Love Changes Everything," which became a number one hit. Since then, while continuing to appear in West End shows, he's charted ten solo albums in Britain. This one, the tenth, makes a good introduction to listeners in the U.S. (where Hip-O issued four of his previous discs in 2000). The song list consists entirely of show music, with qualifications, since "The Winner Takes It All" was a hit for ABBA before it was included with a collection of the group's other songs in the musical Mamma Mia, and the Bee Gees' "Immortality" was written for and introduced by Celine Dion before being interpolated into the score of the stage version of Saturday Night Fever. Ball harks back to early triumphs with "Bring Him Home" from Les Miserables, the show in which he made his West End debut in 1985, as well as "The Music of the Night" and the title song from The Phantom of the Opera (the latter a duet with Lesley Garrett), which he appeared in in 1987. His other choices tend to reflect his immersion in sub-operatic pop-style theater music, though he also throws in a couple of Stephen Sondheim songs. He possesses a supple tenor that he frequently uses in melodramatic and stagy ways, an artificial approach that may be unconvincing to American listeners used to more down-to-earth interpretations. This isn't a collection that takes any chances, and it pales in comparison to Donny Osmond's 2001 album This Is the Moment, which employs several of the same songs, much less the catalog of Michael Crawford. ~ William Ruhlmann