FOR THE RECORD: STARLIGHT EXPRESS

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 globally. 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 35 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.  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. 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.  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

AUSTRALIAN AND JAPANESE 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 in Tokyo and then 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 Starlight Sequence 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. 7/10

BOCHUM CAST ALBUM 1988

Running time:  55 minutes   Language: German

The legendary Bochum production in Germany was 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

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 1993

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, 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 the 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




To celebrate 35 years of travelling the Starlight Express,  an album sampler of worldwide cast albums and rarities is free to download HERE