VH-1 Divas Live/99
Rating: Three Stars

How can simple sound do justice to the diva experience? What is this VH1 extravaganza without the visuals - the strutting, the hair spray, the bulging gowns? Who's to say it's not just a big drag-queen parade?

For one thing, no impersonator could afford Tina Turner's orchestra. Her "Proud Mary" starts out slow and steamy, then explodes into a Vegas-style crescendo that's so grandiose you wonder whether Elvis secretly sneaked into the building. Elton John is here in spirit and body, pulling out the stops of dynamics and good taste on "The Bitch Is Back."

It's a measure of this franchise's exuberant over-the-topness that the country girls tend to come off as paragons of restraint. Faith Hill (in the Shania spot) does her best to undersell Bryan Adams' bombastic "(Everything I Do) I Do It for You." It's hard not to look low-key next to her duet partner, Brandy, who amends the final verse into a kiss-assy "Everything I do, I do it for all my fans/You made me what I am today."

Everyone looks low-key next to Mary J. Blige and Whitney Houston, who turn Aretha Franklin's "Ain't No Way" into a vocal whoopfest of gargantuan proportions. Divadom has become an international language: These women are the equivalent of action heroes, the Arnold Schwarzeneggers and Sylvester Stallones of pop. Hasta la diva, baby.