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VH1 Divas Live - Various

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Why you can trust SCMP
Stephen McCarty

'Sis-terrrrs, are doin' it for themselves...' or in this case, a charity called Save the Music promoting musical education in US schools.

Recorded live in April at the VHS 1 TV channel annual Honors concert, held this year in New York, the sisters in question are big guns Aretha Franklin, Gloria Estefan, Celine Dion, Mariah Carey . . . and Shania Twain, who, Franklin aside, proves the most relaxed performer in the cosmic line-up.

Twain, less familiar globally than the rest, is already a big-name country-rock star in the US. She brings a blast of fresh country air to a tried-and-tested charity formula, which has produced here a disc otherwise of mawkish ballads, smothered in self-congratulatory treacle.

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Given the egos involved, that the record was made at all is as remarkable as most things on it, but Estefan does her best to alleviate the predictability; Franklin, with unnecessary assistance from Carey, delivers a decent Chain of Fools; and Carole King makes a guest appearance.

The 'team' (three tenors, five divas - whatever next?) perform together on only two of the 14 numbers, which again carries the whiff of politics.

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Girl power? Maybe.

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