Madonna - Evita: The Complete Motion Picture Music Soundtrack [3LP Clear Red]

Evita gave Madonna the screen role she had chased for years, and this limited 3LP set on clear red vinyl is due to present the full 1996 soundtrack.

Alan Parker's adaptation of the Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice musical cast Madonna as Eva Perón, with Antonio Banderas as the narrator Che and Jonathan Pryce as Juan Perón. Almost every line in the film is sung, so the soundtrack plays as the whole story, from Eva's rise out of poverty to her death at just 33.

"Don't Cry for Me Argentina" is the obvious showstopper, delivered from the balcony with restraint and real ache, while "Buenos Aires" lets Madonna loose on a brassy, Latin-flavoured dance number. Banderas brings swagger and bite to "Oh What a Circus", turning the narrator into the sharpest voice in the room.

"You Must Love Me", written especially for the film, gives Madonna a quiet, devastating moment near the end and went on to win the Academy Award for Best Original Song. Her vocal work throughout shows how seriously she took the part, with a richer, more controlled tone than on her pop records of the era.

Thirty years on, this remains one of the defining movie musicals of the 1990s, and a striking showcase for Madonna as an interpreter rather than a hitmaker.