post-disco queen/sex machine credibility she so desperately crave[d]". Spins Annie Zaleski noted that the soundtrack demonstrated Madonna's "astronomical growth as a vocalist ...Evita marked the start of Madonna's Serious Phase, one where she balanced youthful coquettish-ness with a more mature, introspective outlook". In her review of the film, Janet Maslin from The New York Times complimented Madonna's ability to emote the songs, calling them "legitimately stellar and full of fire". Writing for the Hartford Courant, Greg Morago complimented Madonna's "remarkable understanding of the material ... While some of the numbers have lost their sharp edge ('A New Argentina' lacks requisite anger), the recording benefits from its concentration on the characters' voices. There is a vibrant, contemporary energy and fearless cinematic sweep to this welcome new stamp on the mythic life of Eva Duarte de Perón". Stefan A. Meyer, from The Herald Journal, felt that "there's a little something for everyone in Evita. It's a pop-culture clash that is sometimes quite annoying (especially in Rice's left-field rhymes) but still works like a charm". AllMusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine called the soundtrack "exquisitely produced and expertly rendered", but "curiously unengaging." Although he commended Madonna's singing as "startlingly accomplished and nuanced performance", Erlewine felt that she was "trying really hard to be credible, which makes it difficult to connect with her". While reviewing the film, the San Francisco Chronicles Octavio Roca said that the "delicious irony of Rice's lyrics remains intact, as does the freshness of Lloyd Webber's music". But Roca believed that the Latin influences present in the original songs were missing, due to John Mauceri's "languid conducting of the soundtrack, and most of all by Vincent Paterson's choreography". Barbara Shulgasser, from the same newspaper, was more negative, writing that "all of Evitas songs are slightly above Madonna's limited range. With her thin voice, she peeps out a series of mournful sounds that are painful to endure". The Baltimore Suns J. D. Considine felt the soundtrack would disappoint the singer's fans "because Evita just isn't pop music—or, at least, not the kind of pop music Madonna usually makes on her own ... As a result, slogging through Evita is like listening to an opera written by someone who never got beyond learning how to write recitativo". Considine was also disappointed with the vocal abilities of Madonna and co-star Antonio Banderas; "they lack the power and tone to lend this intoned dialog a patina