Customer Reviews

His Greatest Love Songs

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This CD will bring back so many memories. Funny too, how you really recall all the words to most of the songs. I had a few of the albums by Engelbert, but Katrina swept them away. What a joy to find all of them on one CD!

I would highly recommend this collection to anyone who loves a voice as smooth as Jack Daniels, who loves candle light and who loves being in love.

Despite the title, this is actually a greatest hits collection in all but name - not really surprising as Engelbert was a balladeer. It contains all but two of his UK hits together with Quando quando quando and a fine selection of covers. The two missing UK hits (My Marie, Love is all) didn't make the top thirty and their omission is not important to UK fans.

At this point, I should add that Engelbert was less successful in the American singles charts although Release me made the top five and After the lovin' (which didn't chart in the UK and is not included here) made the top ten in America. A different compilation, Ultimate collection, released in America by Hip-O, may suit American listeners better as it includes After the lovin' and other American hits that didn't chart in the UK.

Engelbert began his career in spectacular style with a cover of Release me, originally a country song, which stayed at number one in the UK for six weeks, breaking the long run of number ones enjoyed by the Beatles, whose double-sided single Penny Lane / Strawberry fields forever peaked at number two. After such a huge success with an old country song, Engelbert recorded more covers of country songs during his career, two others (There goes my everything, Am I that easy to forget) also becoming UK top three hits for him. Misty blue, another song here, is also of country origin although most people remember it via Dorothy Moore's disco hit version in the seventies.

The last waltz (my favorite Engelbert song) replaced another classic (Scott McKenzie's San Francisco) at the top of the UK charts and stayed there for four weeks. Engelbert had four other UK top ten hits (A man without love, Les bicyclettes de Belsize, The way it used to be, Winter world of love) , three other UK top twenty hits (I'm a better man, Another time another place, Too beautiful to last) and another hit that just missed the UK top twenty (Sweetheart).

Apart from the UK hits, this collection includes excellent covers of There's a kind of hush, Spanish eyes, I want to wake up with you, She, This guy's in love with you, If, Can't take my eyes off you, What a wonderful world and Stardust.

There have been many compilations of his music, but this is the best single CD available (at least from a British perspective) as I write this review although, as I indicated earlier, American chart followers may prefer Ultimate collection.

I bought this CD for the song "Too Beautiful to Last". I also enjoyed the song "She".