Following hot on the heels of their enormously successful collaboration for The Lion King, Elton John and Tim Rice have once again culled their talents to create another Disney contemporary musical, based this time on Verdi's opera Aida. The album, recorded by some of the biggest talents of pop, country, and R&B, features songs from the stage show, which recounts the well-known tale of a love triangle further complicated by slavery, royalty, and the armed forces. John duets to great effect with country crooner LeAnn Rimes, the enchanting Janet Jackson, and the lovely Lulu of To Sir with Love fame. Lush and lively, the soundtrack hits a hoot of a (decidedly not highbrow) high point with the infectious pop of the Spice Girls warbling the merits of undergarments on "My Strongest Suit" ("Always wear underwear/Anytime, anywhere"). Lenny Kravitz funks things up with "Like Father Like Son. " Shania Twain's husky emoting makes a fine pop ballad of the brief "Amneris' Letter. " "Not Me" chronicles the goodness of love as Boyz II Men coo dreamily, their harmonies nestling into John's sumptuous score. -Paige La Grone.

A 1975 live album that found Clapton at-if you'll pardon the expression-a crossroads, E. C. Was Here marks the line of demarcation between the guitar hero of the past and more song-oriented player he'd become for the second half of the 1970s. Clapton breaks out on a couple of old Blind Faith numbers-"Presence of the Lord" and "Can't Find My Way Home"-that reflect his soulful, spiritual side, while "Further On Up the Road" rocks out and Charles Brown's "Drifting Blues", restored to its full eleven-and-a-half-minute length on the newly remastered version, presents another instrumental showcase. There are only six tunes here, but EC leaves his indelible mark on each of them. -Daniel Durchholz.

It's hard to bring any fanfare to a Paul Weller release these days, but Illumination speaks for itself, bringing together the past and future Weller like none of his solo work before. Producing the album himself (and playing most of the instruments), he's made Illumination sound like a celebration rather than an introspective vanity project. Songs such as the skyscraping "Leafy Trees" and "Standing Out in the Universe" are hard to imagine coming from his pen. Where the album fails is in the host of celebrity "friends" he's roped in on most of the tracks, which serve to dilute rather than enhance the songs; turning the album into a Jools Holland-esque novelty record rather than a collaboration. It works with garage and hip-hop, it fails with rock. Noel Gallagher, Kelly Jones, guitarist Aziz Ibrahim-the personalities are too big for the songs and their presence too overwhelming (particularly Jones, a man who used to write good records himself, who wrote the lyrics to and actually sings the pedestrian "Call Me No. 5"). The remarkable "It's Written in the Stars" is a revelation, however, sounding like it was actually written after a few glasses of good wine under the Mediterranean stars-and most of the rest of the album follows its lead. "Who brings joy?" he sings on the song of the same name, and for once, Weller is the answer to his own question. -Ben Johncock.