16 Biggest Hits [Original recording remastered]

Liberace | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (July 18, 2000)
• Original Release Date: July 18, 2000
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Original recording remastered
• Label: Sony
• ASIN: B00004UASX
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #211,913 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

A perfect mixture of humor, diverse instrumentals and serious vocals from the flamboyant showman, including I'll Be Seeing You; Moonlight Sonata; Warsaw Concerto; September Song; Chopsticks and 11 more! --This text refers to an alternate Audio CD edition.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Many A Joke's Been Had..., March 8, 2006

By 

Shane (New Zealand) - See all my reviews

This review is from: 16 Biggest Hits (Audio CD)

Many times me and some friends have joked about Liberace. We joked many times about starting a Liberace fan club here in New Zealand where we live and verious other jokes (by the way, when we mentioned his name we would pronounce it Lib-er-ace).
The point is, having heard the mans music as I hadnt before I feel a little sheepish.

We could easily being forgiven for poking fun at this utterly tacky and flamboyant man, but what an artist.

El Cumbanchero is great dance song if you ask me, with a slight latin flavor it makes me itch to dance for some reason.
The Warsaw Concerto is such a haunting song, big and dramatic, the kind of chilling songs I love to hear.

Liebestraum is a wonderful piece that has amazing staying power. One of those classical pieces that you hear some time, thinking you dont know and ending up saying "OH! I love this one!".

Easter Parade is just wonderful. Starts off slow and moody and then swings to an end.

Alexander's Ragtime Band is one of those great songs by Irving Berlin that is almost always good by any performer. While the Liberace version is not half as good as that by Bessie Smith, its still a great track.

Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata is another great classic pience that I find chilling to the bone, in an addictive way. The version hear is a tiny bit faster in tempo than the version by Liberace played in the film Misery (where, I might add, his music was used to great effect as the soundtrack of Paul Sheldon's stay in the deranged Annie Wilkes' house, and where I first heard Liberace's music).

The Story of Three Loves is a delightful slow piano peice perfect for rainy days.

September Song and Sincerely Yours are two great tracks on which Liberace's vocals are stunning, like that of a great crooner.

Beer Barrel Polka and Twelfth Street Rag are great tracks, jumping and upbeat, the kind of thing you expect to see in a silent film from the 20s (perhaps they were in silent films? My knowlege of silent movies isnt as good as it should be, considering how much I love old films - im a bit of a film maker myself).

Liberace Boogie, another live track, and one in which the audience takes part. This is to Liberace what My Ding-A-Ling was to Chuck Berry I suppose.

Cement Mixer (Put-Ti, Put-Ti) is the most peculiar song. Listening to the lyrics, to be quite honest, I dont want to like it...its somehow absurd, but I find myself enjoying it.

Chopsticks....ugh! Every person stands at a piano and plays chopsticks (usually the only song they know), and says "Oh I bet you didnt know I played huh?", and you say to yourself two words... CHOP STICKS...who cant play it? However Liberace's brilliant arrangement adds to it something that is quite unique, and I think probably quite hard to play well.

Nocturne No. 2 in E Flat Major, Op. 9...a peice by the great Chopin is beautiful.

And last, but certainly not least, my personal favorite...I'll Be Seeing You, another song immortalized by Misery. Brilliance and its most stunning.

Over all, I love this CD. But then I love Liberace. His music is haunting, creepy at times (in a way I find thrilling, like watching those taught and tense film noir movies of the '40s), and also supremely joyous and...dare I say it gay (and that does happen to be a pun I believe). So my fellow gay man Liberace's 16 Biggest Hits is a great buy.

(the only disappointment for me is that his awesome version of Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1 isnt on here. another track that was used in Misery its absence is a shame)

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars 16 Biggest Hits, January 10, 2010

By 

Roger Cannon - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: 16 Biggest Hits (Audio CD)

This is the best Liberace Album that was made. They are other good ones also. But for all around album I feel this is the best. Well worth the money, and then some.You can hear the greatness in this mans piano playing. the best.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The great Liberace at his best!, June 11, 2008

By 

Robert Badgley (St Thomas,Ontario,Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: 16 Biggest Hits (Audio CD)

Wlasdziu Valentino Liberace was born in 1919.His father was a french horn player in various bands and introduced music not only to Liberace but his two brothers and sister.By four he was playing piano competently and strictly by ear.By eight he was playing very complicated pieces and was inspired by the meeting of his idol the great Polish pianist,legendary Paderewski.Paderewski would eventually become a good friend of the family and Liberace himself.
During the 30s he was honing his piano technique and playing at any venue he could like nightclubs,weddings and even strip clubs.
In 1941 he became a featured soloist with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.By this time he had dropped his first two names and shortened it just to Liberace.Throughout the 40s he continued to hone his stage presence and act,trying all the while to connect to his audience in a more intimate way than ever before.Long before he had realized a strictly classical repertoire was not going to sustain an act like his,so his mixing of some classical with popular tunes(which he preferred anyways) by now was going over tremendously.Came the 50s and he was jumping into the new medium of television like he belonged there because he felt it the best place for the type of visual act he had.And he was right.I recently reviewed a Spike Jones DVD which has Liberace as a guest on one of his early 50s shows.I invite all who can to see this wonderful spot as Liberaces' talent and showmanship is there in all its glory.His gaze is always straight ahead and into the camera,trying to connect to his TV audience.He also often adds little flairs like the exaggerated lifting of his arms when playing designed again to get and keep your attention.And as always Liberaces' almost painted-on smile is a constant throughout.
It is this period in Liberaces' career that is highlighted on this CD,as these Columbia's were his first major recordings.And what a wonderful CD this is as it contains 16 of the maestro's best on that label from 1952 to 1956.There is a great mixture here from the Classical gems like: Rachmaninoffs'"18th Variation:Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini",otherwise known as "The Story of Three Loves",Beethovens' "Moonlight Sonata" or Chopins'"Nocturne #2 in E-Flat Major,Op.9".On the popular side we have that wonderful Weill/Anderson tune "September Song","Easter Parade" and Liberaces' closing tune "I'll be Seeing You",all sung by the maestro himself!.There is even the "Beer Barrel Polka","Chopsticks" and a well known eccentric number first penned(in part)by Slim Gaillard of Slim and Slam fame,called "Cement Mixer".Liberace turns the original tunes' feel and beat on its' ear to produce something totally different that must be heard.All these tunes,but especially the popular ones,are done in the typical Liberace manner,and he never fails to dazzle.His brother George also directs the orchestra on all relevant recordings on this release.
I recall very well Liberaces' TV show during the 50s which was hugely popular.His beautiful piano with the candlabra(a staple of his act since years before) and his smile to the audience and camera that never quit.His big demographic then was with the ladies,especially the older ones.Liberace was a shrewd businessman and performer.He knew featuring his brother George and pointing out his mother who was almost at every show, was a smart move designed to appeal to the publics own sense of family and related values.And it worked like a charm.So much so that many,if not most,of his concerts(which were invariably sell outs) would be chock full of women of all ages and stripes.
The recordings on this CD exemplify and display Liberace as his popularity was on the verge of breaking into the big time.This was before his more glam days which would come a few years into the future.Here he was dressed impeccably displaying his distinct charm and flair and with a playing that was flawless.While his later recordings for Decca are good I still prefer these over those,by a long way.And I think you will too.
No matter what you may think of the man himself,Liberace was an extremely gifted and talented musician/entertainer and I think one of the most under-rated pianists of our time.Give this CD a listen and see why I consider him one of the greatest pianists ever.