Albums

The CDs that are currently on general release are linked to their pages at Dress Circle, where they can be bought. There are also links to the cast of the CD (usually different from the show cast at that time) and the songlist. Cover scans are generally of the CDs in my collection.

		Original London Cast Recording 1984 Buy Cast Songlist This is my favourite recording and probably the one I listen to the most. Because this is a double CD there is room for almost the entire show, and also of course there are many fine songs here that are no longer in the London production - He Whistled At Me, Only He, Belle, and CB, to mention just four. I must stress again that this is not a recording of the show you'll see in London today, but in my mind (and I know in many others') it's vastly superior. The songs sound slow compared to the new London recording, and the general feel is cheesy eighties pop (which is hardly surprising). He Whistled At Me sounds like a Kylie Minogue song. I love it.
		New York Concept Album 1987 Buy Songlist A concept album released after the show had been running for three years was bound to be strange, and it is. Apparently, the songs are meant to be taken as separate and outside of the context of the musical. This works for some (There's Me, Only You, Make up my Heart), but less well for others (Starlight Express, One Rock'n'Roll Too Many, Pumping Iron). Again, it's all eighties pop, generally well sung but in some places just downright weird. However, I like it - though it may be just one for the collector, and perhaps not the best CD to lend to your friends who say 'so, what's this Starlight Express thing about, then?', it has a certain something.
		Deutsche Originalaufnahme (Original German Cast) 1988 Buy Cast Songlist This, the first of the three German recordings, bears more than a passing similarity to the NY concept album in terms of style - it's late 80s disco, but, for some reason, I like it. The cast is reasonably strong (Steven Skeels also played Rusty in Las Vegas in 1993, Maria Hyde played Pearl in London in 1986 and Trevor M. Georges is still playing Poppa in London), it's just the arrangements of the songs that's strange. This is probably my least favourite German CD - which doesn't mean it's bad, it just means the others are better.
		Japanese/Australian Tour 1988 Cast Songlist This CD is out of print and hard to find. Copies occasionally come up on eBay, but I wouldn't count on it. This is a shame, because it's a nice recording - not spectacularly bad (except some of Bobby Collins's singing) and not spectacularly good, but nice. The 'Pearl Twirl' is the bit just after the Rap when Pearl agrees to race with Greaseball ('So what d'you say there, Pearl/D'you wanna try a whirl'). The 'Hymn to Victory' is similar to the German Hymne. The top cover is from the Japanese release, and the bottom from the Australian release. Besides the packaging, the CDs are identical.
		German Live Recording 1989 Cast Songlist This is quite definitely my favourite German recording. It's the complete show, which is very nice, and it's a good recording of it. If you only want one German recording, get this one, if you can. The 'if you can' is important, because this CD is only available from the theatre in Bochum or by mail order from the theatre. This means that even in Germany it's difficult to get hold of, and outside it is of course even more so. Which is of course a real shame. I got my copy using the make-friends-with-a-German technique, though obviously not everyone can do this....well, try and find it if you can, because it's a good one. If it wasn't in German it'd be the best StEx recording there is, I think.
		German Highlights Album 1991 Cast BuySonglist The second best German recording. Plain and simple, a highlights recording, well sung for the most part and well orchestrated. Not an awful lot to say about it, really. It's nice. =) You should be able to find this CD in most music shops in Germany, or through Dress Circle from the link above. It's the most recent German recording and hence the easiest to get hold of.
		New London Cast Recording 1993 Cast BuySonglist This highlights album is still the one being sold at the theatre as the current CD, despite it being 7 years old and increasingly out of date. That said it's an okay-ish album, not as good as the OLC, but more relevant to the current show - it's the only CD to contain 'Crazy' and 'Next Time...', for example. This CD is on general release throughout the UK and US (and probably beyond). The top cover is the London cover, the bottom one is the cover that was used when this CD was sold at the Las Vegas Hilton. The CDs were otherwise identical and in fact my copy came with both covers.

Singles

		Engine of Love Earl & The Steam Team 1977 B-side: Steamin' Thanks to Steve Haygreen
		I Am The Starlight Lon Satton & Ray Shell 1984 B-side: Starlight Express (Ray Shell)
		AC/DC Jeffrey Daniel 1984 B-side: The CB Side
		Only He Has The Power To Move Me Stephanie Lawrence 1984 B-side: Engine Race
		The Race Is On Harold Faltermeyer 1987 B-side: The Race Is On radio edit, instrumental and dub version
		Er Allein Angelika Milster B-side: Ich Bin Wie Ich Bin (from La Cage Aux Folles)
		The Train/Girls' Rolling Stock Nikki Belsher, Caron Cardelle, CJ Ranger, Debbie Wake 1990
		Only You Michael Crawford & Frances Ruffelle 1992 Thanks to Steve Haygreen
		Next Time You Fall In Love Reva Rice & Greg Ellis 1993 B-sides: Make Up My Heart, Starlight Megamix