Evita (Premiere American Recording) (1979):  Among the many Andrew Lloyd Webber shows – Jesus Christ Superstar, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Cats, Phantom of the Opera, etc. – Evita is my personal favorite.  One of the many innovations by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice when they began writing their sung-through musicals is that an album would often arrive in stores before a production had actually been staged.  Further albums would follow, with the Broadway cast, or the London cast, or the movie soundtrack, etc.  Years later, it can be difficult to sort the albums out.  The original Evita album – denoted Original London Studio Cast – came out in 1976 in the UK; and the Original Broadway Cast album for Evita (with practically an identical cover to this one) was released in 1978.  I suppose that this Evita album is a deluxe package of the Broadway Cast album?  Not sure.  In any case, the players include Mandy Patinkin as Ché and Patti LuPone as Evita – both launched their careers in this musical – along with Bob Gunton as Evita’s husband, Argentine dictator Juan Perón.  Charlie and I saw a stage production a half dozen times I imagine, and the film version of Evita as well, with Madonna in the title role.  I believe that I own the original Evita album as well as this one.