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Number of Divas Las Vegas (2002) Reviews: 1
Reviewer: John Fitzgerald, Human resources staff database assistant January 09, 2003 The biggest problem with this CD is that, like it's DVD counterpart, it doesn't use the
variation of artists and time allowance the formats in question it has access to as there are
only 37+ minutes of music on this CD with 9 tracks (counting the Elvis medley as one) 4
of which are Celine Dion tunes, 3 Anastacia cuts and 3 Cher pieces (counting their Elvis
entries as 1 for each artist separately). Naturally, the largest beef with this is the omitting
of Stevie's Elvis cover for the medley "Wear my ring around your neck" which has
unfortunately disappeared from the Elvis medley. However, Nicks joins in and can be
heard well on The Dixie Chicks' cover of Stevie's self penned famous "Landslide" tune
(which she of course had originally recorded with Fleetwood Mac). The Chicks' version has
a bluegrass feel with it's banjos and bouncing bass, it's a pleasant cover and it's also the
most homespun effort on this disc though Shakira's "Underneath your clothes" comes
closer than I thought anything would on this platter with it's acoustic guitar & harmonica
flavorings. Celine Dion & Anastacia's cover of AC/DC's "You shook me all night long" is
straightforward enough and probably (surprisingly) works next best on here only for it
being different to what I have heard these artists do before therefore making it less
predictable. By contrast, "Believe" is as predictable as it comes as it's hard to tell the
difference between the studio version and this "version" except the fact that they know
they can't "fade" live! Yes, it even has those "electronic" vocal note things in there too.
Even worse, "(This is) A song for the lonely" has the same tempo as "Believe" so if there
had to be two Cher songs included on this CD (on her own that is), then they should've at
least split them up so it's not as noticeable. Anastacia's "One day in your life" is fair
pulsating soul/funk, Celine's "I'm alive" is a breathy strummer. As for what exists of the
Elvis medley after the massacre, Anastacia's "Jailhouse rock" is much slower and
therefore fails for it's loss of swagger, Shakira's "Always on my mind" would have been
the best of the bunch but it's too loud for it's own good, Cher's "Heartbreak hotel" is the
most faithful of the bunch (as she's probably the only artist of these four that is old enough
to know what Elvis sounded like) but I think I'd still prefer to hear the King's original,
same could be said for Dion's "Can't help falling in love" as it's pretty faithful (though not
as much as Cher's HH). So in the end, this is essential for "Landslide" and I admit that I
was more impressed with Shakira then I thought I would be but this release is HEAVILY
diminished by the edits that have taken place for which there is no excuse. One could see if
the CD (& DVD) was full to the brim already before edits, but it was not to be. I guess
Epic Records thinks this CD was released in 1972 (when 37 minute albums were order of
the day) and not 2002 (when you can fit more than double the length of the time that is
used on this disc). I would've had no problem shelling out for a complete 2 CD set of the
full 95 minute show (and the full 95 minute show would have fit on the DVD version with
no problem as DVD's can hold much more time than a CD can) but to no avail.
