Gold: The Definitive Hits Collection
The critical debate overAndrew Lloyd Webber's musical legacy will no doubt rage for decades. Is he the shrewd populist composer who almost single-handedly revived the moribund stage musical--or a crass, Barnum-esque showman (who almost single-handedly revived the moribund stage musical)? This 18-track anthology chronicles the high points of Sir Andrew's enduring songcraft and the irrefutable impact it's made  across a remarkably disparate swath of tastes and genres, from Broadway to Top 40 radio and even the classical repertoire.If some have accused Lloyd Webber's songs--like "The Music of the Night" (fromPhantom of the Opera) and the title tune fromWhistle Down the Wind, included here--of having all the melodic and lyrical sophistication of a children's lullaby, that's likely the very element that's made them so appealing to a mass audience. If nothing else, it's a compelling argument for that old notion about it being "the singer, not the song." Indeed, there are few contemporary composers whose music could entice divas from Streisand ("As If We'd Never Said Goodbye" fromSunset Blvd.) to Madonna (Evita's "You Must Love Me") and Charlotte Church ("Pie Jesu" fromRequiem) to cover it, let alone forge the very careers of artists like Sarah Brightman and Michael Crawford. And if there's any substance to that other criticism of Lloyd Webber lifting the melodic ideas of composers from Verdi to John Williams (weswearthat's the theme toJurassic Parkbubbling up in Tom Jones's camped-up take onWhistle's "The Vaults of Heaven"), at least, like virtually every major composer, he's stolen--er,borrowed--from the best.--Jerry McCulley