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Les Miserables soundtrack tops UK album chart | Les Miserables soundtrack tops UK album chart |
(about 17 hours later) | |
The soundtrack to Tom Hooper's Oscar-nominated Les Miserables has become the first cast recording to top the UK and Ireland album chart in 16 years. | The soundtrack to Tom Hooper's Oscar-nominated Les Miserables has become the first cast recording to top the UK and Ireland album chart in 16 years. |
It has knocked Brit-nominated Emeli Sande's best-selling Our Version of Events into second-place with newcomer Jake Bugg's self-titled debut in third. | It has knocked Brit-nominated Emeli Sande's best-selling Our Version of Events into second-place with newcomer Jake Bugg's self-titled debut in third. |
The last musical to achieve a similar feat was the soundtrack to the film Evita, starring Madonna, in 1997. | The last musical to achieve a similar feat was the soundtrack to the film Evita, starring Madonna, in 1997. |
Will.i.am and Britney Spears had the number one single for a second week. | |
Their track, Scream & Shout, held off competition from rapper 50 Cent, whose new release, My Life, featuring Eminem and Maroon 5's Adam Levine, entered the chart at number two. | |
Also failing to claim the top spot was singer-turned-actor Justin Timberlake, who released his first single in six years - Suit and Tie, featuring Jay-Z - earlier this week. | |
The last time Timberlake, who has recently starred in films including The Social Network and Friends with Benefits, had a UK chart hit was as a guest on rap producer Timbaland's Carry Out in April 2010. | The last time Timberlake, who has recently starred in films including The Social Network and Friends with Benefits, had a UK chart hit was as a guest on rap producer Timbaland's Carry Out in April 2010. |
The 31-year-old had to settle for number three with his latest release. Taylor Swift and Rihanna rounded off the top five. | |
'Songs missing' | |
Les Miserables's success was not limited to the album chart as actress Anne Hathaway scored her first ever UK Top 40 hit with I Dreamed A Dream, which climbed 58 places to number 22. | Les Miserables's success was not limited to the album chart as actress Anne Hathaway scored her first ever UK Top 40 hit with I Dreamed A Dream, which climbed 58 places to number 22. |
The soundtrack album contains highlights from the two-and-a-half hour film, including On My Own, Empty Chairs At Empty Tables and Suddenly, a new song written specifically for the film adaptation. | |
However, it is missing more than an hour of music, with the likes of Lovely Ladies, Who Am I and Do You Hear The People Sing omitted from the compilation. | |
Several fans have petitioned film company Universal Studios and record label Republic Records to release the full score. | |
Russell Crowe, who plays police inspector Javert, has joined the calls, writing on Twitter: "I know there has been talk of releasing the complete score and 48 tune soundtrack of #LesMis tell @UniversalPics you want it." | |
But not everyone is a fan of the album, which features live vocals recorded on the set of the film. | |
"I think it would have been better if they tweaked the sound a little bit on the voices," said stage veteran Elaine Paige on her Radio 2 show. | |
"It's all too naturalistic, overblown, over-acted for my taste". | |
The Telegraph's Emma Gosnell agreed, saying: "For me, at key moments in the score, the vocals just weren't raw and real enough." | |
Even Helena Bonham Carter, who plays the scheming bar owner Madame Thenardier, said she was underwhelmed by her own performance. | |
"I had lots of vocal training for Les Mis but I didn't improve as much as I thought I would," she said. | |
"I watched it and I thought I was going to be so much better, I thought my voice was going to be so much bigger. | |
"I practised and practised and practised but the thing with Les Mis is that it was real, so that's what we sounded like." | |
Elsewhere in the album charts, Manchester-based indie rockers Everything Everything - whose debut record Man Alive was nominated for the Mercury prize - enjoyed their highest-charting album to date, as Arc entered at number five. | |
Rapper and BBC Sound of 2012 finalist, A$AP Rocky, scored his first top ten album with Long Live A$AP, which debuted at number seven. | |
Other new entries were Irish folkster Villagers whose Awayland charted at sixteen and pop veterans New Order, whose Lost Sirens - made up of tracks recorded during sessions for their 2005 album Waiting For The Sirens' Call - landed at 23. |
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