MUSIC REVIEWS: Vanessa Hudgens, Steve Lawler; ‘Mamma Mia!' soundtrack

VARIOUS ARTISTS "Mamma Mia! - The Movie Soundtrack" (Decca) 3 stars ABBA's music is so infectious that it can make a musical plot in which beautiful people live on an even more beautiful Greek isle and just break out into ABBA songs instead of normal conversation like "Pass the tanning oil, please" seem perfectly natural. For the soundtrack of the movie "Mamma Mia!" which opens July 18, actors Meryl Streep, Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth, Amanda Seyfried, Christine Baranski and others do the singing and, in most cases, pass muster. Streep's best, but even this Oscar-winning master can't pull off ABBA's most challenging song, "The Winner Takes It All." Fans might also gripe that this single disc omits several ABBA staples (like "Knowing Me, Knowing You") that are featured in the musical. However, "When All Is Said and Done" (sung... [read full story]