This is an updated version of an article that appeared in my previous blog Doctor Theatre in 2018.
One of the bonuses of musical
theatre is that we are often treated to more than one recording of a particular
show, indeed often several international
versions in a variety of languages around the world. Andrew Lloyd Webber’s global popularity means
that his shows have more than their fair share of availability with cast
recordings worldwide. None
more so than Starlight Express, the ground breaking musical
where the cast perform entirely on roller skates.
Richard Stilgoe's infernally clever and witty lyrics are just one of
the reasons this show has cast its spell over audiences for some 40 years. In this article I am going to take a look at the
recordings that have been issued over the years, their merits and how they
differ. I have discounted the cheap cash-in recordings that can be found online, this article concentrates on official cast recordings affiliated to productions running around the world. Clicking on the covers takes you to the DISCOGS music website where the albums are available to buy from sellers internationally. So lets literally get our skates
on and start with...
ORIGINAL
LONDON CAST RECORDING 1984
Running
time: 100 minutes Language: English
This double album (in
the days of vinyl of course) is something of a mash up. The show was recorded over three performances
in April 1984 at the Apollo Victoria Theatre where Starlight Express had opened the month before. It was then taken and given studio polish,
adding overdubs and additional instrumentation. The 26 tracks make up the
majority of the show, and cross referencing the track listing with the original
programme show that the omitted tracks are ‘Hitching And Switching’ (later
replaced with ‘Coda Of Freight’), Heats
Two and Three of the races and the Race Uphill Final. Additionally the versions of ‘AC/DC’ and
‘Only He (Has The Power To Move Me)’ are the single versions and not the show
versions whilst ‘He Whistled At Me’ has had extra studio polish (perhaps being
primed for a single?) The recording is
also the first and last to feature ‘Belle The Sleeping Car’ performed
marvellously by P.P. Arnold, subsequently omitted from future productions,
similarly Michael Staniforth’s ‘C.B.’ would also be a unique feature of this
first recording. The album features a
glittering array of West End talent with Jeff Shankley giving his rich baritone
to the Elvis inspired diesel engine Greaseball and Stephanie Lawrence lending
her light vocal touch to Pearl. Ray Shell gives perhaps the best vocal of all the recordings of young
steam engine Rusty, whilst Lon Satton as Poppa has the blues
running through his bones, and sets a template for the role which performers
try to emulate to this day. He is simply divine. Add in the aforementioned 1960s pop diva P.P.
Arnold, Les Miserables sensation Frances
Ruffelle, a pre-Red Dwarf Danny-John Jules and Rentaghost’s mesmeric Michael Staniforth
and you have yourself the core of a cast that is going to be hard to beat on
any subsequent recording. This recording was re-mastered and re-released in 2005. 10/10
U.S. CONCEPT ALBUM 1987
Running time: 49 minutes Language: English
The arrival of Starlight Express on Broadway didn’t
bring the expected American cast album, instead Andrew Lloyd Webber favoured a
re-working of songs by producer Phil Ramone in order to produce a stand alone pop
album. Ramone drafted in a number of successful artists in order to give a
make-over to highlights of the score.
Just thirteen songs make up this collection led by Detroit soul singer
El Debarge with the main theme from the show “Starlight Express”, a new version
which incorporates a verse melody from the original version of “Only He”. The album features
two versions of the song “Engine Of Love”, one by Peter Hewlett and the CD
debut of the original 1977 single by Earl Jordan which was Lloyd Webber’s first
attempt at a song based on the railroad theme and featuring lyrics by Peter
Reeves. It became the main melody of "He Whistled At Me" in the show. For the most part, through no
fault of the artists, the album lacks
the sparkle of its predecessor. Taken
out of their musical setting the album struggles to find any emotional
resonance although Josie Aiello and Peter Hewlett perform a reasonable “Only
You” duet whilst another duet between Hewlett and Richie Havens of “I Am The
Starlight” is the nearest to a show version we get. Havens also draws out the gospel in “Light At
The End Of The Tunnel”. But by and large
this album fails to sell the delights of the show, Harold Faltermeyer’s “The Race Is On” a prime
example of a watered down offering.
5/10
JAPANESE AND AUSTRALIAN TOUR 1987
Running
Time: 51 minutes Language:
English
Back on sturdier ground
the massive arena tour that played Australia and Japan in 1987 is very much a record
of that particular production. With some
lyrical changes from the original, it was recorded initially at a live performance in Tokyo and then
studio polished in London. It features the only English cast recording of the original
pop single “Engine Of Love” as part of the show. It is a highlights album featuring fifteen
tracks (although track 13 combines "I Am The Starlight" and Race Music for some
reason). Nikki Beisher’s “Make Up My
Heart” is a stand out whilst Troy A. Burgess gives a spirited “Pumping
Iron”. Bobby Collins and Richie Pitts,
whilst not quite hitting the heights of Satton and Shell, manage to connect with the
emotional aspects of “I Am The
Starlight” (or the Starlight Sequence as it is later referred to). Overall a
strong showing of cast and musical arrangements serving as a taster for
Antipodean and Japanese audiences. The album was released in Japan by Pony Canyon and Australia by EMI, hence the differing covers above. 7/10
BOCHUM
CAST CONCEPT ALBUM 1988
Running
time: 55 minutes Language: German
The legendary Bochum
production in Germany was initally represented by an album that is a hybrid of cast
album and pop album. The original Bochum cast are let loose on the songs and
had the Broadway production gone for this approach the U.S. album might have
had the panache that this album still has in spades. Produced and arranged by Jürgen Fritz, the arrangements don’t veer too far from the source material
but just enough to keep your toes a-tappin’ throughout. For the first time we
hear the mother and son bedtime dialogue at the start of the show then Paul
Kribbe’s opening “Rolling Stock” sets the tone nicely. “Liebesexpress” mixes things up even more by
being in German but with a backing of “Nobody can do it like a steam train”
English refrain. We get the equivalent
of the “C.B.” track from the English recording here called “Ganz Allein” (All
Alone) nicely performed by Hans Johanson. Natalie Howard’s
“G.E.K.U.P.P.E.L.T.” is just one of many stand out tracks, channelling
her inner Tammy Wynette to bring
a touch of C & W class to proceedings. The one nod towards a fully
fledged
concept album is “Du Allein” (All Alone / Only He) which sees Irish
Eurovision
king Johnny Logan pair up with German chanteuse and actress Ute Lemper,
replacing the German cast members for this one track. All told it is a
strong
presentation of fourteen of the shows best known numbers. 8/10
BOCHUM
LIVE CAST ALBUM 1989
Running
time: 114 minutes Language: German
As if to rectify the
demand for an album which accurately reflected the show version, just twelve
months after the pop album from the original cast, the first replacement cast
were given a chance to shine on a live album featuring the entire show. Recorded
live then mixed and tweaked (with some possible overdubbing) in Holland, this is as close to the live experience on
audio as it is possible to get. The
second act opens with an Entr’acte followed by "Hymn To Victory" thus losing "The
Rap" opening that had been present on the only other full show recording, the
1984 original. By this stage in
the
shows development, there have been a few tweaks to the original songs
(including ‘Make Up My Heart’ written for the Broadway debut) but it
follows
fairly faithfully the original song order. David Michael Johnson
delivers his Electra for the second time on record, the first being in
the Australia / Japan recording. The energy of the show literally leaps
out of the speakers and is pretty much a text book example of how to do a
live show album. The German people certainly liked it because to date
it has sold well in excess of 400,000 copies. 10/10
GIRLS' ROLLING STOCK 1990
Duration: 3m17s Language: English
Something of a curiosity and released in conjunction with the remounting of the Australian / Japan arena tour in Tokyo, four cast members of Starlight Express perform a song called "The Train" (nothing to do with the show) but also offer up "Girls' Rolling Stock", the Act 2 reprise which I think has disappeared from both London and Bochum versions of the show. Cast members performing the song are C. Jay Ranger, Caran Cardelle, Debbie Wake and Nikki Belsher. 5/10
BOCHUM
HIGHLIGHTS ALBUM 1991
Running
Time: 56 minutes Language: German
Within the space of
four years, we have a third album from the Bochum production. Offering eighteen
newly recorded tracks. None seem to veer
from the show versions and in itself, this is another excellent release
showcasing the talent gathered in Bochum.
For the second time Stevie Woods gives his Papa, this time paired
with
Colin Munro as Rusty. Steve Casey also has a second outing as
Greaseball.
Original London cast member Kofi Missah returns to the show on record,
this
time playing the major role of Electra, a great job he makes of it too.
Claudia Bradley is Pearl and she and Munro nail their love duet. 9/10
THE NEW STARLIGHT EXPRESS 1992
Running time: 69 minutes Language: English
Perhaps fearing the
show was starting to show its age and lose its appeal to younger
audiences, Lloyd Webber and Richard
Stilgoe set about revamping the score some eight years after it opened, adding and subtracting numbers and
re-vamping the arrangements. “Entry Of
The National Trains” precedes “Rolling Stock” whilst Rusty has a new song
“Crazy”. The biggest change is that Rusty and Pearl's
ballad “Only You / Only He” has gone and in comes a replacement song with
lyrics by Lloyd Webber’s collaborator on Tell
Me On A Sunday and Sunset Boulevard,
Don Black. The song “Next Time We Fall
In Love” is a pretty generic song, its one you either love or you don’t and I
personally fall into the latter category.
I think the original is a better fit for the show. Parts of the
melody later get an airing as "Somewhere, Someplace, Sometime" - a song
added to Tell Me On A Sunday. Then there is the
Megamix, having introduced the concept into the 1991 Joseph revival at the Palladium, its a chance to reprise all the
best numbers and get audiences on their feet and dancing along. Although
technically a highlights album, this
does feature a large portion of the show.
The talent on display is as always with Starlight exemplary. Having been denied a cast album at the time,
the original Broadway Pearl, Reva Rice, is given a chance to shine on this
latest recording and her duet with Greg Ellis of the new song is very
pleasurable listening. John Partridge
makes a charismatic Electra and Maynard Williams provides one of the best
Greaseball’s to be heard on disc. Caron Cardelle having previously recorded a version of
“Girls’ Rolling Stock” for the 1990 Japanese tour is here promoted to Dinah,
and her “U.N.C.O.U.P.L.E.D.” is a fine rendition. Lon Satton still holds court as Papa and as
on the original recording, his contributions are always wonderful to listen to. 9/10
MEXICO
HIGHLIGHTS ALBUM 1997 (unreleased)
Running
Time: 61 minutes Language: Spanish
Something of a curiosity,
this is a studio recording featuring songs from the Mexico City run. There was
apparently some problem with the rights to the show and the production closed
prematurely and thus this cast album in waiting was permanently shelved. Although it does not have the production
values of some of the earlier recordings (maybe because it is an unfinished album), it is however an interesting look at a
Spanish translation which underwent some changes. “Rolling Stock” becomes “The Power Of The
Rails” in Spanish for example. 7/10
BOCHUM
NEW SONGS EP 2003
Running
Time: 19 minutes Language: German
Perhaps feeling a little left
out by not releasing a recording for twelve years, the Bochum production
suddenly entered the fray again with a five track EP entitled New Songs showcasing the changes to the
production since the last offering. We
get Jamie Golding showcasing “Crazy” and “Starlight Express”, then dueting with
Danni Kearsley-Wooller on “Allein Im Licht Sterne” (a version of “Next Time You
Fall In Love”). A Megamix is followed by
“Starlight Express Boy Band Version”.
Basically Jamie Golding and all his Rusty covers in the show are united
in a Westlife style version of the song, it’s rather nice actually. 7/10
BOCHUM
LIVE CAST ALBUM 2015
Running
Time: 125 minutes Language: German
Recorded in June
2013, but released in 2015 (amid rumours of Lloyd Webber not being happy with
some of the recordings) this is again a hybrid.
Taken from an initial live recording, this has been heavily overdubbed and
remixed so that truthfully it cannot be considered a true live album. That is not to say that it isn’t a great
listen, because it is. The arrangements
have been worked with a techno vibe in places in an effort to give some of the
songs a more contemporary soundscape. This is most evident in the race sequences but can be heard
elsewhere. Among the changes to show are
the inclusion of material re-worked for the 2013 UK Tour. “A Whole Lotta Locomotion” with lyrics by
composer David Yazbek has been translated as “Nie Genug” (Never Enough) and is
a much more strident dance floor song,
not the light poppy vibe of “A Lotta Locomotion” which it replaced. Der Rap is a curious mixture of the original
and re-vamped versions, perhaps the most surprising change though is the inclusion of
a song by Lloyd Webber’s son Alistair originally with English lyrics by Nick
Coler called “I Do”. Here it is “Fur
Immer” (Forever), and is a nice slice of Europop, and a better fit for the show
than “Next Time We Fall In Love” for this fan boy’s tastes. Georgina
Hagen and Marcel Brauneis make the
most of the new song, delivering a great track (and later encore
reprise). It may not be a truly live album but it is the complete show
as it stood that year and as such provides another major slice of
Starlight action. Its boppy, its poppy and you'll want to listen to it
more than once. It also has the distinction of being the recording with
the longest running time of all those thus far released. 9/10
ICH BIN ICH 2023
Running time: 11 minutes Language: German / English
To celebrate the 35th anniversary of the Bochum production, a three track promotional CD was issued (available as a download too) of a new song written for the show "Ich Bin Ich". Its English version "I Got Me" was also included, along with a dance mix of "I Got Me". The English lyrics are penned by Lauren Aquelina with the German translation by Wolfgang Adelberg. The song replaces "A Lotta Locomotion" / "A Whole Lot Of Locomotion" in previous iterations of the show. Bochum cast members Emilie du Leslay, Rose Ouellette, Sydnie Christmas and Dieuwke Tonissen perform on the recording. 8/10
REVIVAL LONDON CAST ALBUM 2024
Running time: 65 minutes Language: English
Finally on the 40th anniversary of the original production, and 30 years since the previous London cast album, the 2024 revival production is given its own recording and in keeping with tradition, the track listing is unique. No cast recording of Starlight Express has thus far replicated any previous version. Such is the nature of the ever evolving score and characters. The production running at the Troubadour, Wembley Park has wowed audiences since June 2024, but how do the cast fare on record? The 21 tracks mirror the New Starlight Express recording of 1992, it is a 'Highlights' album with the major musical passages included. For the first time on record we have a female Greaseball (Al Knott) and Momma (Jade Marvin). The production on the album whilst generally sound does occasionally give the vocals too much prominence, a better balance might have been preferable. A case in point "Rolling Stock" makes Al Knott appear very shouty and you wonder why the vocals haven't been mixed into the soundscape to a better effect. Perhaps in the world of computer game music, for whose attention this has to compete among the younger audience, that is how things are done. "I Got Me" has now had a lyric makeover as "I Am Me", and we get the extended single version of the futuristic engine "Hydrogen" with its brain washing refrain "Its not a matter of if, its a matter of when..." (music by Andrew, lyrics by Richard Stilgoe's son, Joe) which as far as I know isn't the version used in the show. If there is one criticism of this album, its that it lacks a bit of subtlety. Its very in your face, the characters are not quite so endearing as in previous versions, the nuance diluted. We finally get an English recording of "I Do" sung by Jeevan Braich and Kanya Montecillo, and a good job they make of it. And of course a revised Megamix closes the album. All in all fans of the 2024 show will love it, but longer term admirers will perhaps yearn for a few touches from the past. Starlight Express is still an evolving piece, enticing in a new generation of theatre fans. For them certainly this album will be a streaming hit. 7/10
So there you have it, Starlight Express on record... until now. With Bochum nearing its 40th anniversary and the London version about to be launched worldwide, I am sure its not the last we will be hearing of the engines and carriages and their desire to win the Railroad Championship. Race time minus one minute....
Rob Cope