Customer Reviews

Blame It on the Bossa Nova

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Sob! Am I really the only one who wants Eydie Gorme on CD? NO! There's lots of us out there - all over the globe. Blame It On The Bossa Nova? It's class pop music from one of America's classiest popular vocalists. And is this little bit of heaven made readily available to a wide range of music fans? NO! You rotters...
P.S. If any record company exec's get the message - please could you get together Eydie's other great pop hits from 1963, the lovely Everybody Go Home, the super Don't Fight It and the smoochy I Wanna Stay Here.
Other record companies do it for other stars of that era (Bobby Vee, Nat 'King' Cole et al) why can't you?

During this period of pop music, Eydie Gorme was the most versatile of pop singers. Her Columbia period & that just before were all genre-themed albums. Her 1st on Columbia, BLAME IT ON THE BOSSA NOVA, was her only jazz venture. The title tune which was her biggest comemrcial hit, 11 other jazz styled tracks , & 2 bonus Bossa Nova tracks compose this cd.. That title tune was fun, arty & as nuanced & off keyed as any Peggy Lee. Whatever the instrument is in the song's middle, it works just fine! The cd sound, which makes E.G.'s voice sound richer, is better than the lp sound. I can't think of any other singer who did more to make her voice so different to fit the respective material. I stated that Jo Stafford was the most verstatile of singers. Well, then, Eydie Gorme took ovet the honor followed by Linda Ronstadt. With today's music, who knows & who cares! Still, Linda did not change her voice as much as she did genres; Eydie & Jo could make their voices sound different. During Eydie's period, her big selling Blame It On Bossa Nova & Grammy winning If He Walked Into My Life were the farthest vocal stretch in pop music. In the BLAME IT ON BOSSA NOVA opener, One Not Samba, Gorme strays very far from that note. Paradoxically, she sings every note on key. Eydie starts & ends with that glorious high note & scats so well Ella must have cringed! In Dansero, Eydie sings the same line off & on key to give stylistic & artistic effects to the same feeling of love. The cross overs to jazz (Melodie D' Amour, The Sweetest Sounds, Almost Like In Being In love, The Coffee Song, Moon River, & I Remember You ) artfully equal the stritly jazz ones, (Desfinado, The Message, The Gift, Dansero, & One Nore Samba) while the big hit nicely supports those "better songs". Eydie was quite the revealation. She was jovial, dramatic, wide-ranging & vibrant. Most jazz singers have to stretch their voices to do this materail; but on those other 11 & the 2 bouus songs, she was straight on key, never flinching. She was & is what other singsers could never be: EYDIE GORME! PS. Only Eydie could make Moon River really swing. It's that's song definitive version because everyone else did it as a ballad.

I have loved Eydie Gorme's singing ever since i first heard her on the radio back in the sixties on a song called, "Blame It On The Bossa Nova"! I still love the song . . . i still find myself singing that song . . . and i still listen to the recording of that song by "the voice": Ms Eydie Gorme! (As you listen to her rfecording of this song you can "hear" her smiling . . .and she makes you smile along too!)

THe original LP was recorded at the beginning of the "Bossa Nova" craze . . and while the 'fad" may have ebbed, the style and the music has not faded by any means. . . and Eydie's recordings hold up as "classics" . . and sound as vibrant and relevant to today's musical ear as they did when she first laid these tracks down. (She has included two additional bonus tracks on this "remastered cd" - songs she recorded with 'Louis Bonfa' the brazilian composer/musician.)

One of my own personal favorites on the album is Eydie's take on "Melodie D'Amour! I love the song . . . and I love Eydie's presentation of it.

Another 'classic favorite' of mine found its way into her "bossa nova" styling: "Moon River" from the "Breakfast At Tiffany's" motion picture.

Every track is a most pleasant experience to listen to again and again . . . I'll never be 15 years old again hearing "Blame It On The Bossa Nova" for the first time on the radio . . . but I can relive that time again and again just by putting this cd into the player.

Thank you Ms Eydie Gorme for all of the great music you have gifted us with through the years . . . and particularly thank you for the "smile" that is "Blame It on The Bossa Nova"! (yeah yeah . . . the bossa nova . . no no . . . the bossa nova . . . the dance of love . . . )

Eydie Gorme is a very under-rated singer. As a vocalist she is just stunning (what a set of lungs! and she has a range to die for!). Her voice is also one of the most delightful I've heard. I'm 19, and by no means an avid fan of Eydie's entire career as some reviewers of her CD's seem to be, however, I LOVE this album. The Bossa Nova was an amazingly fun and exciting style and these songs are just swinging, to coin the phrase - so its no wonder this album was one of her most succesful. This newly remastered copy brings the good times swinging into the new millenium with wonderful sound quality.

However the highlight for me is still Blame It On The Bossa Nova - my all time favorite song!!!

That song in itself sold the album to me, but to my joy...and amazment - the rest is superb too!

Way to go, Eydie!

Blame it on the Bossa Nova is an incredibly fine Eydie Gorme album that showcases her vocal talent as she breezes through some stunning bossa nova tunes and other songs rearranged for a bossa nova effect. Eydie is in excellent form here on this album; and that's terrific. The artwork is fine and the quality of the sound is excellent, too.

"One Note Samba" starts the CD with Eydie really opening up her vocal range with the first few notes that she sings; and she handles the tempo changes gracefully--I'm impressed! Eydie simply doesn't miss a note and there's some great percussion and brass--not to mention that flute! "One Note Samba" really starts things off well. "Melody D'Amour" is pretty and very easy on the ear; Eydie's voice is as clear as a bell and again the percussion is used to great advantage on this tune. Eydie handles complex tempo and key changes like the pro she is and always will be! I love it. There's a great horn solo, too. "The Gift" has a fantastic arrangement for the guitar; this is a moving tune that Eydie delivers as effortlessly as if it were mere breathing; but of course we know that it really wasn't so easy--Eydie's talent always carried her through. The horn and flute don't sound too shabby, either! There's also "The Sweetest Sounds" from the show "No Strings;" Eydie sings this with panache. "Dansero" has Eydie never sounding better; she does this so well and the flute enhances the natural beauty of this number. Of course, the title track "Blame It on the Bossa Nova" shines bright when Eydie Gorme sings it; it's catchy, playful and upbeat. This tune really celebrates the joys of falling in love and staying in a loving relationship.

"Desafinado (Slightly out of Tune)" is classic bossa nova; Eydie delves deep into this number to make it shine and it all works very well. The percussion, flute, and guitar help to make this a big number and it's excellent, to say the least. The musical interlude is also very pretty. "The Message" is a very sweet tune about two lovers who want to be alone. This is joyful and charming--and I love that horn solo! "Almost Like Being in Love" gets the royal treatment from Eydie and the musicians. Wisely, however, the musicians never even try to steal the spotlight away from Eydie; they stay in the background so that Eydie remains squarely front and center--which is quite all right by me! "Moon River" gets an interesting bossa nova twist; the brass and the electric guitar enhance this ballad, too. "The Coffee Song (They've Got an Awful Lot of Coffee in Brazil)" is playful and all in good fun; and the album ends very nicely with Eydie Gorme performing "I Remember You." "I Remember You" gets a beautiful boss nova treatment and Eydie does this flawlessly.

Overall, Eydie Gorme ranks high in my book with albums like this; and I highly recommend this CD for her fans. This is also very good for bossa nova fans.

I am Brazilian and I have been a big fan of Ms. Gorme for her extraordinary voice and feeling when singing in her native language and in Spanish. So I should be specially proud about this album but ... there's something wrong here!

This is one her albums with Bossa Nova ensemble but arrangements do not hip as they should. Unfortunately, Brazilian Music is not to be approached as a Latin sound with 'maraccas' and all that percussion typical from Cuba.

Despite this big discomfort, you'll find great renditions of 'Dansero', 'The Sweetest Sounds', 'Almost Like Being in Love' and the Brazilian samba 'The Message'.

What a shame that "Blame It On the Bossa Nova" is not a greatest hits album! And, yes, what a shame that her other CD which appears to be a greatest hits package - Golden Hits - is not a definitive retrospective of her hits either! What's going on? Almost everyone of her CDs contains only a few tracks. When will we get a chance to hear "Don't try to Fight It Baby" or "I Want You To meet My Baby"? Please give us a CD or double CD packed with this wonderful woman's hits!