La Luna - Sarah Brightman

Sarah Brightman - La Luna (EastWest)

1. La Lune
2. Winter In July
3. Scarborough Fair
4. Figlio Perduto
5. A Whiter Shade Of Pale
6. He Doesn't See Me
7. Serenade
8. How Fair This Place
9. Hijo de la Luna
10. Here With Me
11. La Califfa
12. This Love
13. Solo Con Te
14. Gloomy Sunday
15. La Luna
(16. Moon River)

The ...
...tenuously be considered the "mainstream". La Luna has major label backing (the mighty Warner Brothers' European division EastWest), and a shrewdly selected collection of material that mixes the modern (emerging artist Dido's Here With Me), the vintage (Procul Harum's 1969 No.1 A Whiter Shade Of Pale, Simon & Garfunkel's delicately exquisite Scarborough Fair) with a clutch of familiar standards.

Just for good measure, and ... more

Sarah Brightman - La Luna (EastWest)

1. La Lune
2. Winter In July
3. Scarborough Fair
4. Figlio Perduto
5. A Whiter Shade Of Pale
6. He Doesn't See Me
7. Serenade
8. How Fair This Place
9. Hijo de la Luna
10. Here With Me
11. La Califfa
12. This Love
13. Solo Con Te
14. Gloomy Sunday
15. La Luna
(16. Moon River)

The intention of this album, quite clearly, is to bring the former Mrs Andrew Lloyd-Webber back into what could tenuously be considered the "mainstream". La Luna has major label backing (the mighty Warner Brothers' European division EastWest), and a shrewdly selected collection of material that mixes the modern (emerging artist Dido's Here With Me), the vintage (Procul Harum's 1969 No.1 A Whiter Shade Of Pale, Simon & Garfunkel's delicately exquisite Scarborough Fair) with a clutch of familiar standards.

Just for good measure, and to showcase Brightman's most recognisable talents as an accomplished chanteuse of Stage productions (including The Phantom Of the Opera, not to mention several albums) during her 20-year career, a smattering of classically-oriented pieces are included among the 15 tracks - the 16th is a *hidden* song, which begins only a few seconds after the 15th ends, and is not designated its own chapter on the disc. They are easily spotted by their titles....anything vaguely exotic-sounding will invariably consist of some frenzied warbling and richly textured orchestration. Some of them incorporate what can be described as Enya-isms, with their soothing synthetic sheen of keyboards and pattering drum-machines.

The likes of Moon River, Gloomy Sunday and He Doesn't See Me are similarly bathed in studio gloss, but an even tone is maintained throughout the album despite the diverging source of its contents. Easy-listening perhaps, but there's no denying how well-produced it all is.

The highlights of La Luna (the album), though, are the trio of 90s tunes. Winter In July, the seminal 1991 Top 10 hit by Bomb The Bass, is respectfully reproduced to a close approximation of the original. Pointless? Maybe, but as part of this project, it works. Likewise her rendition of Here With Me, a song now on the threshold of huge success for its writer and original performer Dido. While it couldn't possibly match that version, it does add a blissful escalating coda to the track. The gorgeous This Love - as voiced by former Cocteau Twin Liz Fraser - found an audience via belated inclusion in the 1999 movie Cruel Intentions, but dates back further than that to Craig Armstrong's solo album The Space Between Us. It's perfectly suited to Brightman's vocal style, and wisely the arrangement here keeps to that of the original almost completely. This Love was never a hit single for Armstrong/Fraser, despite being released in the summer of 1998. The exposure granted by featuring on La Luna is much deserved, and long overdue.

La Luna will probably be better received in America than in the UK, where the tolerance for genre-straddling by stereotyped acts such as the (unfairly) oft-ridiculed Sarah Brightman is not especially high. Those who enjoy Enya will find much to appreciate on this album, while curious listeners may be surprised at the seamless integration of so many genres and eras of popular music, all framed by a very contemporary setting.

Oh, and the cover is rather lovely.....all in all, an elegant package. 

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