The London Cast Recording:

The London cast recording, though rated as one of the finest cast albums of CATS
to American listeners, is truly not a good performance. Of course, there is no
denying the charisma that Elaine Paige injects into her portrayal of Grizabella
 - this alone is the reason why you should buy the London cast recording. Of
course, Brian Blessed is 
good as Old Deuteronomy and Bustopher Jones. However, the supporting cast is not
so good. Wayne Sleep's Mr. Mistoffelees and Paul Nicholas's Rum Tum Tugger are
not very characterful. And so is Stephen Tate's Gus: The Theatre Cat, which
includes a very stifled Growltiger. I 
must also warn that the orchestrations are not too good, as they give the show
less body that it should have. Even so, Harry Rabinowitz is a splendid music
director. However, standing head and shoulders above all aspects of this
recording is tbe text used. This London cast recording is the world-premiere
recording of the score, and the text 
used here is the very first thoughts of Andrew Lloyd-Webber. This alone brings
its plusses and minusses. This is especially true in having a vivid picture of
how Lloyd-Webber wanted CATS to sound in the beginning. With two numbers that
were to be rewritten for the revised version - Mungojerrie and Rumpelteazer,
with a stifled setting, and the love duet for Growltiger and Griddlebone,
portrayed as a funny drinking song called "The Ballad of Billy M'Caw" - and four 
numbers that were to have verse cuts, notably "The Old Gumbie Cat," "Old 
Deuteronomy" and "The Ad-Dressing of Cats," to some people this is a refreshing change from
the playful and tinkling setting of "Mungojerrie and Rumpelteazer" and the
parody of Italian opera for Growltiger and Griddlebone to sing as their "last
duet, in danger of their lives." However, the minus is 
that the first version does not give enough power to CATS, as shown in the
original orchestrations. Overall, I would only care about recommending the
London soundtrack of CATS to afficionados, and to those who are frisky and
frollical. Lastly, I would like to say that you can also buy the abridged
version, which contains just the right numbers, despite the fact the packages in
both the complete and abridged versions have a poorly printed libretto.

The Original London Cast Recording is available in both complete and abridged
versions:
Polydor 8178102 - Complete 2-CD set
Geffen 22017 - Complete 2-CD set
Polydor CATXC001 - Complete 2-Cassette Set
Geffen M5G2017 - Complete 2-Cassette Set
Polydor 8394152 - Abridged Single CD
Polydor 8394154 - Abridged Single Cassette

by Yi-Peng