Evita is the soundtrack album to the 1996 musical film of the same name, performed mostly by American singer Madonna. It was released by Warner Bros. Records on October 28, 1996, in the United Kingdom and on November 12, 1996, in the United States. Directed by Alan Parker, the film was based on Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber's 1978 musical Evita about First Lady of Argentina Eva Perón, portrayed by Madonna. The soundtrack consists of reworked songs from its original 1976 concept album as well as a new song, "You Must Love Me". Additional performers on the soundtrack include Antonio Banderas, Jonathan Pryce and Jimmy Nail.
After securing the title role in Evita, Madonna underwent vocal training in order to enhance her singing abilities. The actors were tense during the recording sessions for Evita, since they were from a non-musical background. The musical style for Evita differed from Madonna's previous works and she was not comfortable in recording her vocals inside the studio alongside the orchestra. After an emergency meeting with the principal personnel, it was decided she would record in a separate location. It took almost four months for the soundtrack to be finished. Rice and Lloyd Webber had employed the classical technique while creating the music, taking the central theme, "Don't Cry for Me Argentina", and tweaking it to cater to a variety of settings. Through the songs, the soundtrack tells the story of Eva Perón's beginnings, her rise to fame, political career and gradually her death.
The soundtrack was released in two different versions. Evita: The Complete Motion Picture Music Soundtrack, a two-disc edition that included all the tracks from the film, and Evita: Music from the Motion Picture, a single-disc edition with a selection of song highlights. Evita was promoted by the release of three singles—"You Must Love Me", "Don't Cry for Me Argentina" and "Another Suitcase in Another Hall"; the first won the Golden Globe and the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1997. Critical reception towards the soundtrack was mixed, with AllMusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine calling it "unengaging" Madonna had already enlisted the help of composers Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber, who had originally created the musical Evita. Rice believed that the singer would suit in the title role since she could "act beautifully through music". She taught Madonna how to sing using her diaphragm rather than just her throat, enabling her to project her voice in a more cohesive manner. Madonna was thrilled to find the newly discovered nuances in her voice and would go home every night, practicing by telephoning her friends and singing to them. Engineer David Reitzas performed the mixing of the track at Larrabee North Studios, utilizing their Solid State Logic 9000 J series consoles for the mix. For the first day's sessions, music supervisor David Caddick suggested to record "Don't Cry for Me Argentina" with the 84 piece orchestra backing Madonna's vocals. However, Lloyd Webber was critical of the recording arrangements done in the studio. Conductor John Mauceri remembered another challenge the production faced was adapting the stage numbers into a feature film; "On film, it's different than being on stage because the person on the screen in front of you is never farther than someone on the pillow in bed next to you". However, more trouble arose as Madonna was not comfortable with laying down a "guide vocal" simultaneously with an 84 piece orchestra inside the studio. Also, unlike her previous soundtrack releases, she had little to no control over the project; "I'm used to writing my own songs and I go into a studio, choose the musicians and say what sounds good or doesn't ... To work on 46 songs with everyone involved and not have a big say was a big adjustment", she recalled.
An emergency meeting was held between Parker, Lloyd Webber and Madonna where it was decided that the singer would record her part at Whitfield Street, a contemporary studio, while the orchestration would take place somewhere else. She also had alternate days off from the recording to save and strengthen her voice. Recording the soundtrack was a slow process and took almost four months before it was completed. The central backbone and theme of the soundtrack is "Don't Cry for Me Argentina", and through the songs it tells the story of Eva's beginnings, her rise to fame, political career and gradually her death. Here the lyrics talk about warning Eva from strangers in the big city. The sound of train horns, Latin percussion, drums, and light guitars introduce "Buenos Aires", talking about Eva finally arriving in the city. The melody finds Madonna singing in a higher range, and the song has a heavy composition in the middle with guitar, trumpets and discordant music. "Another Suitcase in Another Hall" begins with soft strummed guitar in broken chords, and consists of strings and acoustic guitar played in a subdued manner. Madonna sings about Eva moving from one home to another, portraying an image—the suitcase in the hall—"to express the nomadic nature of modern civilization". Military drum beats and a brass section start off "Peron's Latest Flame", where Banderas sings loudly about the general population disapproving of Eva. In the middle of a male backing chorus, Madonna sings her lines, accompanied by stereo tom-tom drum and synth sounds. "High Flying, Adored" has an Elton John style according to Rooksby, who described the lyrics as narcissistic and a parallel with Madonna's life. "RainBow High" features instrumentation from drums, guitars, horns and strings, with the lyrics being about Eva's materialistic needs.
With "Waltz for Eva and Che", the soundtrack's atmosphere becomes tense, as Banderas and Madonna sing on top of bass and timpani. The bittersweet song "You Must Love Me" starts with orchestra and piano. Lyrically it talks about Eva's discovery that her husband Juan had actually loved her all along, not merely seeing her as a political prop. The final track, "Lament", finds Madonna singing in a whispered tone, about Eva looking back at her life on her deathbed. Accompanied by classical guitar and harp, Banderas also sings over Eva's grave, and the track gradually fades out as an anti-climax. It was already in huge demand prior to its release, according to Tim Devin, manager of Tower Records. "People are seriously clamouring for it. We are getting more inquiries about this record than anything else right now," Devin explained to Billboards Larry Flick. An Evita EP, containing remixed versions of "Buenos Aires", "Don't Cry for Me Argentina" and "Another Suitcase in Another Hall", was supposed to be released but was cancelled.
Singles
thumb|Madonna performing lead single "[[You Must Love Me" on the Sticky & Sweet Tour (2008–09). It went on to win the Academy Award for Best Original Song.]]
"You Must Love Me" was released as the soundtrack's lead single on October 21, 1996. It was written specifically for the film with the hopes of obtaining an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song. According to Lloyd Webber, the song's main inspiration was to showcase Eva's emotional state at the time as well as her relationship with Juan. The song garnered positive responses from music critics, many of them highlighting Madonna's enhanced singing ability. It went on to win the Golden Globe and the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1997. It was also a moderate commercial success, becoming a top-ten hit in some countries including Finland and the United Kingdom, while reaching the top-twenty in the United States, where it achieved a gold certification from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).
"Don't Cry for Me Argentina" was released as the second single from the album on December 16, 1996. A separate version called the "Miami Mix", which included re-recorded vocals in English and Spanish and an Argentinean bandoneon in the song's intro, was promoted to radio. and the song reached the top-ten of the charts a number of nations, including the US Billboard Hot 100 chart, and received gold certifications from five of them.
"Another Suitcase in Another Hall" was the third and final single released on March 18, 1997. Upon its release, the song reached the top ten of the charts in the United Kingdom.
The track "Buenos Aires" received remix treatment from DJ duo Pablo Flores-Javier Garza. Warner Bros. was initially reluctant to release the remixes, but decided to finally release it to coincide with the home video release of Evita the film. Flores and Garza kept the Latin composition of the track, while "flattening" the groove to make it suitable for playing in dance floors. They also added live percussion and keyboard lines to the remix. Larry Flick from Billboard commented that "Buenos Aires" displayed Madonna's "increased comfort and dexterity as a stylist". Following its promotional release in October 1997, "Buenos Aires" peaked at number three on the Billboard Dance Club Songs chart.
Critical reception
Evita has received generally mixed reviews from music critics. The staff of Music Week called the soundtrack a "well-arranged album". Jim Farber from Entertainment Weekly praised Madonna's performance on the album, writing: "Aided by impeccable orchestrations (and some coaching), her vocals are years ahead of anything she'd sung before."
Authors Allen Metz and Carol Benson wrote in their book The Madonna Companion that the soundtrack gave Madonna "some of the post-disco queen/sex machine credibility she so desperately crave[d]". Spins Annie Zaleski noted that the soundtrack demonstrated Madonna's "astronomical growth as a vocalist ...Evita marked the start of Madonna's Serious Phase, one where she balanced youthful coquettish-ness with a more mature, introspective outlook". In her review of the film, Janet Maslin from The New York Times complimented Madonna's ability to emote the songs, calling them "legitimately stellar and full of fire". Writing for the Hartford Courant, Greg Morago complimented Madonna's "remarkable understanding of the material ... While some of the numbers have lost their sharp edge ('A New Argentina' lacks requisite anger), the recording benefits from its concentration on the characters' voices. There is a vibrant, contemporary energy and fearless cinematic sweep to this welcome new stamp on the mythic life of Eva Duarte de Perón". Stefan A. Meyer, from The Herald Journal, felt that "there's a little something for everyone in Evita. It's a pop-culture clash that is sometimes quite annoying (especially in Rice's left-field rhymes) but still works like a charm".
AllMusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine called the soundtrack "exquisitely produced and expertly rendered", but "curiously unengaging." Although he commended Madonna's singing as a "startlingly accomplished and nuanced performance", Erlewine felt that she was "trying really hard to be credible, which makes it difficult to connect with her". Barbara Shulgasser, from the same newspaper, was more negative, writing that "all of Evitas songs are slightly above Madonna's limited range. With her thin voice, she peeps out a series of mournful sounds that are painful to endure". The Baltimore Suns J. D. Considine felt the soundtrack would disappoint the singer's fans "because Evita just isn't pop music—or, at least, not the kind of pop music Madonna usually makes on her own ... As a result, slogging through Evita is like listening to an opera written by someone who never got beyond learning how to write recitativo". Considine was also disappointed with the vocal abilities of Madonna and co-star Antonio Banderas; "they lack the power and tone to lend this intoned dialog a patina of musicality". With opening sales of 97,000 units, it also represented the largest debut for a dual soundtrack until the release of Dreamgirls in 2006. The soundtrack fell to number 28 the next week, before beginning to rise again when the film was released into theaters. Within five weeks it crept back into the top ten of the Billboard 200 and for the issue dated February 8, 1997, reached a peak of number two on the chart. It remained there for two weeks, being kept from topping the chart by No Doubt's album Tragic Kingdom, which only had an 8% sales decline to 143,000 copies.
Evita spent a total of 30 weeks on the Billboard 200, and ranked at number 26 on the year-end chart. The single-disc edition of the soundtrack charted separately on the Billboard 200, reaching a peak of number 167. It reached a peak of number five on the chart, and stayed for a total of 27 weeks. The single-disc edition also charted separately, reaching a peak of number 91. Across Europe, Evita reached the top of the charts in Austria, Belgium (both Flanders and Wallonia), Czech Republic, Greece, Ireland, Scotland and Switzerland, as well as the top ten in Denmark, France, Germany, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal and Sweden.
| extra_column = Performer(s)
| all_lyrics = Tim Rice
| all_music = Andrew Lloyd Webber
| title1 = A Cinema in Buenos Aires, July 26, 1952
| length1 = 1:20
| extra1 = —
| title2 = Requiem for Evita
| length2 = 4:16
| extra2 = —
| title3 = Oh What a Circus
| extra3 =
| length3 = 5:44
| title4 = On This Night of a Thousand Stars
| extra4 = Jimmy Nail
| length4 = 2:24
| title5 = Eva and Magaldi / Eva Beware of the City
| extra5 =
| length5 = 5:20
| title6 = Buenos Aires
| extra6 = Madonna
| length6 = 4:09
| title7 = Another Suitcase in Another Hall
| extra7 = Madonna
| length7 = 3:33
| title8 = Goodnight and Thank You
| extra8 =
| length8 = 4:18
| title9 = The Lady's Got Potential
| extra9 = Antonio Banderas
| length9 = 4:24
| title10 = Charity Concert / The Art of the Possible
| extra10 =
| length10 = 2:33
| title11 = I'd Be Surprisingly Good for You
| extra11 =
| length11 = 4:18
| title12 = Hello and Goodbye
| extra12 =
| length12 = 1:46
| title13 = Peron's Latest Flame
| extra13 =
| length13 = 5:17
| title14 = A New Argentina
| extra14 =
| length14 = 8:13
Personnel
Credits and personnel adapted from the 2-CD edition of the soundtrack's liner notes.
|6
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|-
|-
|-
!scope="row"|Czech Albums (IFPI CR)
|1
|-
!scope="row"|Danish Albums (Tracklisten)
|align="center"| 1
|-
!scope="row"|Europe (European Top 100 Albums)
|1
|-
|-
|-
|-
!scope="row"|Greek Albums (IFPI Greece)
|1
|-
!scope="row"|Hungarian Albums (MAHASZ)
|2
|-
!scope="row"|Italian Albums (FIMI)
|2
|-
!scope="row"|Irish Albums (IFPI Ireland)
|21
|-
!scope="row"|Malaysian Albums (RIM)
|4
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|-
|-
!scope="row"|Portuguese Albums (AFP)
|4
|-
|-
!scope="row"|Singapore Albums (SPVA)
|align="center"| 2
|-
!scope="row"|Spanish Albums (PROMUSICAE)
|16
|-
|-
|-
!scope="row"|Taiwan International Albums (IFPI)
|2
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|-
|-
|-
|-
!scope="row"|Uruguayan Albums (CUD)
|5
|-
|}
{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center;"
|+2003 Weekly chart performance for Evita
!Chart (2003)
!Peak<br />position
|-
|-
|}
Year-end charts
{|class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center;"
|+1996 year-end chart performance for Evita
!Chart (1996)
!Position
|-
!scope="row"|Australian Albums (ARIA)
| 86
|-
!scope="row"|UK Albums (OCC)
|45
|}
{|class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center;"
|+1997 year-end chart performance for Evita
!scope="column"|Chart (1997)
!scope="column"|Position
|-
!scope="row"|Australian Albums (ARIA)
|49
|-
!scope="row"|Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)
|4
|-
!scope="row"|Canadian Albums (SoundScan)
| 65
|-
! scope="row"| Danish Albums (Hitlisten)
| 15
|-
!scope="row"|Dutch Albums (MegaCharts)
|27
|-
!scope="row"|European Top 100 Albums (Music & Media)
|6
|-
!scope="row"|German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)
|13
|-
!scope="row"|New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)
|40
|-
!scope="row"|Norwegian Winter Albums (VG-lista)
| 4
|-
!scope="row"|Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)
|89
|-
!scope="row"|Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)
|12
|-
!scope="row"|UK Albums (OCC)
|23
|-
!scope="row"|US Billboard 200
|26
|-
!scope="row"|US Soundtrack Albums (Billboard)
See also
- List of European number-one hits of 1997
- List of number-one hits of the 1990s (Switzerland)
- List of Scottish number ones of 1997
- List of UK Albums Chart number ones of the 1990s
- List of best-selling albums in Austria