''Evita'' is a

concept album A concept album is an album whose tracks hold a larger purpose or meaning collectively than they do individually. This is typically achieved through a single central narrative or theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, or lyrical. Som ...

released in 1976 and produced by

Andrew Lloyd Webber Andrew Lloyd Webber, Baron Lloyd-Webber (born 22 March 1948), is an English composer and impresario of musical theatre. Several of his musicals have run for more than a decade both in the West End and on Broadway. He has composed 21 musicals, ...

and

Tim Rice Sir Timothy Miles Bindon Rice (born 10 November 1944) is an English lyricist and author. He is best known for his collaborations with Andrew Lloyd Webber, with whom he wrote, among other shows, ''Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat'', ' ...

. Having successfully launched their previous show, ''

Jesus Christ Superstar ''Jesus Christ Superstar'' is a sung-through rock opera with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyrics by Tim Rice. Loosely based on the Gospels' accounts of the Passion, the work interprets the psychology of Jesus and other characters, with ...

'', on record in 1970, Lloyd Webber and Rice returned to the format for ''Evita''. The album was recorded at

Olympic Studios Olympic Studios was a renowned British independent commercial recording studio based in Barnes, London. It is best known for its recordings of many artists throughout the late 1960s to the first decade of the 21st century, including Jimi Hendr ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

from April to September 1976 and released in the United Kingdom on 19 November 1976.

Background

Elements of the original plotline on this album were removed before the show was staged in London in 1978. "Che" here was much more explicitly based on

Che Guevara Ernesto Che Guevara (; 14 June 1928The date of birth recorded on /upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/78/Ernesto_Guevara_Acta_de_Nacimiento.jpg his birth certificatewas 14 June 1928, although one tertiary source, (Julia Constenla, quoted ...

, including a subplot about Guevara's failed efforts to market the insecticide Vendaval, most significantly highlighted in the song "The Lady's Got Potential". The track was cut from the score and a new song written to include the key plotline of

Juan Perón Juan Domingo Perón (, , ; 8 October 1895 – 1 July 1974) was an Argentine Army general and politician. After serving in several government positions, including Minister of Labour and Vice President of a military dictatorship, he was elected P ...

's rise to power: "The Art of the Possible". The

libretto A libretto (Italian for "booklet") is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or Musical theatre, musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to the t ...

and synopsis record "Part One" ending after the balcony scene following "Don't Cry for Me, Argentina" and "Part Two" beginning with "High Flying, Adored". On both the original LP and subsequent

compact disc The compact disc (CD) is a Digital media, digital optical disc data storage format that was co-developed by Philips and Sony to store and play digital audio recordings. In August 1982, the first compact disc was manufactured. It was then rele ...

releases, though, the recording is split such that the balcony scene begins the second half. This split point was retained for the London stage production. As well as producing the album, Lloyd Webber and Rice also performed on the recording. Rice's principal role was as one of the army officers on the track "Rainbow Tour" and Lloyd Webber played keyboards. In his autobiography, Rice quotes the production cost of the album at £74,827.83; around five times that of the ''Superstar'' concept album.

Packaging

The

gatefold A gatefold cover or gatefold LP is a form of packaging for LP records that became popular in the mid-1960s. A gatefold cover, when folded, is the same size as a standard LP cover (i.e., a 12½ inch, or 32.7 centimetre square). The larger gatefo ...

album was released with a monochromatic sleeve, simply black text and photographs on a white background. The cover had the name "Evita" written in a cursive font across a line drawn heart and the subtitle "An opera based on the life story of Eva Peron 1919-1952" below. A glossy brochure was included that contained the credits, libretto and a synopsis, with photographs of the cast and producers by

Lord Snowdon Antony Charles Robert Armstrong-Jones, 1st Earl of Snowdon, (7 March 1930 – 13 January 2017), was a British photographer and filmmaker. He is best known for his portraits of world notables, many of them published in ''Vogue'', ''Vanity Fai ...

and others, collected by the film director Carlos Pasini, of Eva Perón. The album was relaunched on compact disc in 1996 as the "20th Anniversary Edition" with the cover printed on a silver, blue metalised paper rather than the original white.

Song list

Side breaks are from the original LP. The CD edition combines sides 1 and 2 on its first disc, and 3 and 4 on its second. ;Side One #"A Cinema in Buenos Aires, 1952" #"Requiem for Evita" / "

Oh What a Circus "Oh What a Circus" is a song from the 1976 musical '' Evita'', which had lyrics by Tim Rice and music by Andrew Lloyd Webber. It was recorded by English singer David Essex and released as a single on August 19, 1978, by Mercury Records. Essex pl ...

" #"On This Night of a Thousand Stars" / "Eva and Magaldi" / "Eva, Beware of the City" #"Buenos Aires" #"Goodnight and Thank You" ;Side Two #"The Lady's Got Potential" #"Charity Concert" / "I'd Be Surprisingly Good for You" #"

Another Suitcase in Another Hall "Another Suitcase in Another Hall" is a song recorded by Scottish singer Barbara Dickson, for the 1976 concept album '' Evita'', the basis of the musical of the same name. The musical was based on the life of Argentinian leader Eva Perón. Writ ...

" #"Dangerous Jade" #"A New Argentina" ;Side Three #"On the Balcony of the Casa Rosada" / "

Don't Cry for Me Argentina "Don't Cry for Me Argentina" is a song recorded by Julie Covington for the 1976 concept album ''Evita'', later included in the 1978 musical of the same name. The song was written and composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice while they were ...

" #"High Flying, Adored" #"Rainbow High" #"Rainbow Tour" #"The Actress Hasn't Learned the Lines (You'd Like to Hear)" #"And the Money Kept Rolling In (And Out)" ;Side Four #"Santa Evita" #"Waltz for Eva and Che" #"She is a Diamond" #"Dice Are Rolling" / "Eva's Sonnet" #"Eva's Final Broadcast" #"Montage" #"Lament"

Cast

Julie Covington Julie Covington (born 11 September 1946) is an English singer and actress, best known for recording the original version of "Don't Cry for Me Argentina", which she sang on the 1976 concept album Evita. Early life Julie Covington was born in Lon ...

Eva Perón María Eva Duarte de Perón (; ; 7 May 1919 – 26 July 1952), better known as just Eva Perón or by the nickname Evita (), was an Argentine politician, activist, actress, and philanthropist who served as First Lady of Argentina from June 194 ...

* Paul Jones -

* C.T. Wilkinson (Colm Wilkinson) - Che (

in the later stage productions but not credited as such on this recording) *

Tony Christie Anthony Fitzgerald (born 25 April 1943), known professionally as Tony Christie, is an English musician, singer and actor. He is best known for his recording of "(Is This the Way To) Amarillo "(Is This the Way to) Amarillo" is a song writt ...

- Agustin Magaldi *

Barbara Dickson Barbara Ruth Dickson (born 27 September 1947) is a Scottish singer and actress whose hits include 'I Know Him So Well', 'Answer Me' and 'January February'. Dickson has placed fifteen albums on the UK Albums Chart from 1977 to date, and had a n ...

- Mistress * Mike Smith - Dolan Getta (a

trade union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ( ...

leader) *

Mike d'Abo Michael David d'Abo (born 1 March 1944) is an English singer and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist of Manfred Mann from 1966 to their dissolution in 1969, and as the composer of the songs "Handbags and Gladrags" and " Build Me Up But ...

- Getta's sidekick *

Christopher Neil Christopher Neil (born 1948) is an Irish-born British record producer, songwriter, singer, and actor. He has produced records for A-ha, Amazulu, Bonnie Tyler, Celine Dion, Cher, Dollar, Edyta Górniak, Gerry Rafferty, Jennifer Rush, José C ...

- Eva Perón Fund Manager (and backing vocals on "Another Suitcase in Another Hall")

Musicians

Peter van Hooke Peter Van Hooke (born 6 April 1950) is an English rock drummer and producer with over 350 credits to his name. He was the drummer for the English band Mike + The Mechanics (from 1984 to 1995) and also drummed for Van Morrison's band, Headstone, ...

- drums, percussion *

Neil Hubbard Neil Terrence Hubbard (born 24 February 1948) is a British guitarist who has performed with Juicy Lucy, The Grease Band, Bluesology, Joe Cocker, Roxy Music, Kokomo, Alvin Lee, B.B. King, Kevin Rowland and Tony O'Malley, and played on the ...

- guitar *Andrew Lloyd Webber - keyboards * Hank B. Marvin - guitar *

Henry McCullough Henry Campbell Liken McCullough (21 July 1943 – 14 June 2016) was a Northern Irish guitarist, singer and songwriter. He was best known for his work as a member of Spooky Tooth, The Grease Band and Paul McCartney and Wings. He also perf ...

- guitar *Chris Mercer - saxophone * Mike Moran - keyboards *Joe Moretti - guitar * Barry Morgan - drums, percussion * Anne Odell - keyboards *Brian Odgers - bass guitar * Simon Phillips - drums, percussion *

Ray Russell Ray Russell (September 4, 1924 – March 15, 1999) was an American editor and writer of short stories, novels, and screenplays. Russell is best known for his horror fiction, although he also wrote mystery and science fiction stories. His most ...

- guitar * David Snell - harp *Richard Windmann - bass guitar The recording also featured The

London Philharmonic Orchestra The London Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO) is one of five permanent symphony orchestras based in London. It was founded by the conductors Sir Thomas Beecham and Malcolm Sargent in 1932 as a rival to the existing London Symphony and BBC Symphony ...

, conducted by Anthony Bowles.

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certification

Production credits

*Producers - Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice *Engineer - David Hamilton Smith *Assistant engineers - Jeremy Gee and Anton Matthews *Executive producer -

David Land David Land (22 May 1918 – 22 December 1995) was an impresario and theatre producer, best known for having developed the early careers of Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber. Early life Land was born 22 May 1918 in London to Polish Jewish immig ...

*Orchestrations - Andrew Lloyd Webber *Musical co-ordinator - Alan Doggett *Mastering Engineer -

Denis Blackham Denis Blackham (born in 1952) is an English music mastering engineer. He began his audio mastering work in 1969 at IBC Studios in London, and later worked for Polygram, RCA, The Master Room, Nimbus Records, Tape One and Porky's. In 1996 he se ...

Credits per AllMusic. Evita > Review by William Ruhlmannon

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Evita (1976 Album) 1976 albums Concept albums Rock operas Albums produced by Andrew Lloyd Webber Albums produced by Tim Rice Albums recorded at Morgan Sound Studios