THE HAREM WORLD TOUR: LIVE FROM LAS VEGAS
( Angel Records - 2004 )
My CD Review and Track Listing
If you close your eyes while listening to this live CD, you can easily imagine yourself seated once again at Sarah's Harem World Tour concert. From the concert's opening Kama Sutra, with its gentle acoustic guitar and Sarah's exquisite and ethereal vocalise, it's obvious we are in for a treat! Angel Records has managed to capture the very essence and magic of this concert in a superb live recording! And if you didn't experience the concert live, then you will soon realize what an amazing concert you missed.
The CD does not contain the entire concert, as obviously one disc would not fit the entire show. So what was chosen for inclusion is a good cross-section not only of the concert itself, but indeed of Sarah's musical career to date - much like a greatest hits package. It's all here. Sarah's musical theater career is represented by the dramatic and enchanting Phantom of the Opera Suite and Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again. This is music tailor made for Sarah's voice, and a musical with which her name is synonymous. There are selections drawn from all of her smash albums, from the breakthrough album Time To Say Goodbye up until the showcased latest release Harem. Of particular note is the gripping song The War is Over, a beautiful and touching rendition of La Luna, and an absolutely stunning performance of Puccini's Nessun dorma. Each time I hear this aria I can vividly picture Sarah perched high above the stage in front of us belting out this great opera aria with incredible passion and emotion! Tears of joy will most certainly fill your eyes as they do mine on what I consider the greatest live performance of this aria of all time.
Also included is the ever popular crowd pleaser A Question of Honour, the concert encore which brings this fabulous night of entertainment to a conclusion. But we do get one last treat in a previously unreleased studio track, the gentle Snow on the Sahara.
All in all this is a great album! For a live recording the sound is absolutely fabulous. The only fault I could find was that the backing vocals were a bit low and hard to discern at times. And for what it's worth, it's too bad that they couldn't have arranged to have Nigel Kennedy and Kadim Al Sahir there in Las Vegas to perform for the recorded concert. Nonetheless all of Sarah's fans will want this album without question. New listeners to Sarah's music will quickly realize what we already know - Sarah is the greatest singer and entertainer in the world without question! This recording only serves to solidify that position!
And if you really enjoyed this album, you will most certainly want the concert DVD as well, where you can experience the next best thing to being there live at the Harem concert!
Bravo Sarah!
NOTE: Recorded live in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in March of 2004 during Sarah Brightman's Harem World Tour.
