Customer Reviews

Downtown - The Greatest Hits of Petula Clark

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

To start, a couple of quibbles . . . there are already an extraordinary number of compilations featuring these tracks, so why this one, as well? Only die-hard Clark fans with a propensity to buy anything with her name splattered across the front will see a need to buy this if most of the music herein is on another CD you already have. And why not have expanded the collection to make it a complete history including all 15 of her U.S. Top 40 hits? Those thoughts aside, this is an ideal compilation for those who vaguely recall "that Girl who sang Downtown" and her string of bouncy, upbeat, sing-and-dance along single releases. The one that sent her to our shores in late 1964, the Grammy-winning "Downtown" is, to my mind, one of the most beautiful and enduring tunes to emerge from the "British Invasion" in its entirety. Originally intended for the Drifers, the song was actually little more than a title and opening chords when writer Tony Hatch first played it for Clark, who liked the sound and asked that he finish it for her to record. With no anticipation of its ultimate impact, she knocked it off in three takes, selected the second for release, and returned home to France to a life that was on the verge of major disruption. It's follow-up, "I Know a Place" won for Clark her second Grammy, and the remaining tracks here represent most of her output while with Warner Brothers, including the worldwide monster hits "My Love" and "This Is My Song". Although the 2-CD collection "Downtown to Sunset Boulevard" will give you all the single hits plus a lot more for your money, this is a good investment for those casual fans who have nothing at all by Clark on their shelves.

What a relief to finally find a bargain priced CD of Petula where the first thing you hear isn't hiss. Everything here is lovingly mastered, with the instruments (the drums! the drums!) clearer and sharper than I've ever heard. The liner notes provide a brief, but entertaining career overview and as they say, you can trace her decline through this CD. The last few songs get pretty lame, as the influence of Edith Piaf seems to creep in, making her voice sound melodramatic and her phrasing way too mannered. While I would've included Round Every Cornor and begged to get Don't Give Up from Warners, the selection is a genuine best of. Petula's optimistic vocals and these soaring arrangements are the epitome of pop-as-guilty-pleasure: totally calculated, but just so-60's you have to smile. When Sign of the Times came on, I heard things I have never heard on that old collection-- I almost had a goose bump. But you can bet I'll never admit that to anyone else in public!

Someone took great care in the transfer from analogue to digital on this collection. The abysmal "Greatest Hits of Petula Clark" has awful sound, having been directly recorded to ditigal. You cannot go wrong with this collection, even if there are four less songs. It all you need unless you are a completist.

The pairing of Tony Hatch with Petula Clark was perhaps the best composer / female vocalist match of the 1960's. Included on this album are twelve of Petula's fifteen effervescent American top forty hits. Her vocals in these tracks are characterized by impeccable timing, finesse, and deceptive power. The #1 hit My Love, The Other Man's Grass Is Always Greener and Colour My World are playful songs with silly lyrics that are elevated by lush musical arrangements and Pet's superb vocals. Don't Sleep In The Subway is a beautiful, buoyant, up-tempo song, and Downtown and I Know A Place are 60's classics. A weakness of this CD is the omission of three of Pet's top forty hits, The Cat In The Window, the beautiful, uplifting Don't Give Up, and Round Every Corner.

If you like one or two of Petula Clark's American hits, this is a good moderately priced CD to purchase. If you like several of her songs, you will get much more value and enjoyment from one of her multi-CD compilations which draws from her extensive, diversified catalogue of more than 1,000 recorded songs, such as Downtown To Sunset Blvd or Legendary which I believe are both slightly superior to the 2002 release, The Ultimate Collection.

Petula Clark's happy and winning style and her chart hits are an indispensible part of the fabric of British invasion music. Listening to them again after these many years one appreciates that the songs are actually well structured and orchestrated in addition to catchy. Very good recording too. Short measure perhaps at 12 songs, but I'm not sure how many more big hits are really out there.

Petula Clark's excellent material lends a timeless quality to her work., and this collection, although not complete, demonstrates just how good pop music was in the sixties and seventies. For many years she ruled the charts with superb songs like Downtown, A Sign Of The Times, This Is My Song and Kiss Me Goodbye. My favorites include the inspiring Colour My World, I Couldn't Live Without Your Love and I Know A Place. What's missing is another one of her anthemic ballads, Round Every Corner, but that's not a major fault. If you like melodic, literate pop delivered by one of the best female vocalists of the era, you cannot go wrong with this brilliant album.

The remastering is EXCELLENT(up there with Rhino or DCC quality). Anyone who believes otherwise is possibly not used to the high end sounds missing from CD's mastered from second or third generation tapes. It can be a bit of a shock hearing the triangles, cymbals and acoustic guitars etc which weren't previously apparent. There are a couple of good Trent/Hatch tracks missing, in particular "You're the One", possibly because the compilers limited themselves to the US hits only. That's a pity.

Petula Clark is, as evidenced by her recent remake CD still almost as good today as she was back in the 60's. Downtown is a great CD because every song on it is one that you'll want to sing along with. In fact, being a big Downtown fan, I find it interesting that I sing along with Sign of the Times, Who Am I and Kiss Me Goodbye as much, if not more, than Downtown. Just a super CD.

I'd have given it 5 stars, but the remastering seems a bit brittle. I don't recall these tracks being as NOISY, i.e. "wall of sound" production - everything but the kitchen sink playing? - but the nostalgia factor is overwhelming! The surprise cuts for me were YOU'D BETTER COME HOME, which is Burt Bacharach/Motown-ish and WHO AM I? - which brings back the age when pop music wasn't so polarized "for kids only" ! This CD is a Time Machine for anyone older than 40!

Petula Clark is pegged as the women's favorite. Her smash hit, "Downtown" captured all the exhuberance and independence of swinging London and swept it across the continent. Subjectively, she inspired the primitive video classic opening to 'The Mary Tyler Moore Show,' only with a different tune. The other songs are worth celebrating about, too, however. This male reviewer happens to be partial to her beautiful "I Couldn't Live Without Your Love" and "The Grass Is Always Greener". With her engaging vocals and an uplifting accompaniment on every song, her collection sounds like the best soundtrack to the best Broadway show. Still, it may be a generational draw, more than gender. For this reviewer can listen to "Sign of the Times" with its progessive jazz delivery and still feel hip. There isn't a bad song in the mix. The styles are also varied. "You'd Better Come Home" and "Kiss Me Goodbye" are fine pop standards. Then, "Colour My World" and "My Love" are big band punchy. Also, "This Song" is so Italian, she develops a slight accent. Dean Martin could have made this song his own. Then, there's the playful "Don't Sleep in the Subway," impressive for its statement of independence. The variety is hallmark indeed.

As stated in the liner notes, Rowan and Martin knew her as "Pet Clark," an affectionate shorthand for an able singer who still can bring so much joy in the world. Can she be considered relevant after four decades? "You bet your sweet bippy," one might say.