Sarah Brightman: Eden

In Paradisum

Eden

So Many Things

Anytime Anywhere

Bailero

Dust in the Wind

Il Mio Cuore Va

Deliver Me

Un Jour Il Viendra

Nella Fantasia

Lascia Ch'io Pianga

Only an Ocean Away

Scene D'amour

Nessun Dorma

The Last Words You Said

These discs are the normal 44.1 kHz 16 bit PCM variety, and do not contain any multimedia tracks. The sound quality is excellent, and this CD was very well engineered.

I don't think it's any secret that Sarah Brightman is on my top 5 of most desirable women to get with (interpret that however you like). With her enchanting siren song voice, she could easily have a satisfying and comfortable life as a stage performer. But then you add her considerable talents as a performer, and her ability to convey emotion, and you have simply one of the finest musicians of our time, and a true artist. I'm not just kissing ass here. Plus she's DAMN CUTE!

With "Eden", there is a departure from her more modern dance rhythm enhanced tracks and rock&roll stylings of before. But that influence isn't gone totally, and the title track is simply laced with electronica style synth and drums that meld beautifully with Enigma style Gregorian chants at the intro, and during the refrain.

But skip ahead to track 6, the Kansas classic "Dust in the Wind". Many have tried, but all have failed, to reproduce this song and do at least as good as the original. I think this is simply the best rendition I've heard yet. From the skillfully plucked guitar to the well timed symphony of strings, this song demands to be repeated ad nauseum just to appreciate every little detail.

Next, is a song we will all recognize instantly: "Il Mio Cuore Va". Don't speak Italian? It doesn't matter, this memorable tune is more beautiful than Celine Dion could have ever done it. "My Heart Will Go On", from the mediocre semi-chick movie starring Leonardo DiCrapio (even though we all know that Kate Winslett was the star of that movie) was a huge hit, thanks to market media hype, and Celine Dion's performance. I think that if Andrew Lloyd Weber had not written the song (an excellent song writer, by the way), Sarah would never have seriously considered it. By singing it in Italian, she restores the beauty of the song by removing the informational content to us anglos not inclined to take up a second language.

An excellent finish is always how you end a show; The last memory is the one they take with them. Too many performers tuck their dud songs at the end of the album, which makes the rest not worth listening to. In this case, however, one of the best songs of the album is also the last. "The Last Words You Said" is a beautiful song, and Sarah by herself would make this song. But, it's a duet. The art of duets has been utterly murdered by celebrity mixing top names whose voices, while good in their own right, tend too often to fight each other in tone and timber for dominance. However, whoever she is performing this duet with (and believe it or not, I believe it is Richard Marx) melds perfectly with her voice, no one overpowering the other, both retaining the individual traits while adding to the emotion with which these tracks are performed. The lyrics themselves are by Richard Marx, and are a perfect example of the kind of poetry that lasts beyond the next Grammy Awards ceremony. Lines like "My heart still surrenders like the sun to the moon" are definitely lines you should rip off to seduce a woman.