Holding Back the Years

Jimmy Scott | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (May 15, 2007)
• Original Release Date: 1988
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Rhythm Club Records
• ASIN: B000OYC7G2
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #87,129 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. What I Wouldn't Give

2. The Crying Game

3. Jealous Guy

4. Holding Back the Years

5. How Can I Go on Without You?

6. Almost Blue

7. Slave to Love

8. Nothing Compares 2 U

9. Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word

10. Don't Cry Baby

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Holding Back The Tears, April 13, 2000

By 

Ralph Quirino (Keswick, Ontario Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Holding Back the Years (Audio CD)

I first stumbled across "Little" Jimmy Scott thanks to a friend who sent me a copy of All The Way, one of the most beautiful albums I own. I was immediately taken in by Scott's voice, a high, lonesome, silky instrument that can wring tears out of the most cold-hearted cad. I then bought the equally superb Lost & Found, a great album filled with stuff Jimmy had recorded in the early seventies which saw very limited release. Again, that album blew me away thanks to a sumptuous reading of "Unchained Melody" that made me completely forget The Righteous Borthers' version. Dream was another winner with broody production and gritty edges that suited Jimmy's voice to a tee. Heaven was a little more problematic, the songs a trifle unsure, the production a shade clinical. Holding Back The Years is a fine album of great modern-day (for the most part) covers. It's astounding to hear Jimmy emote his way through Bryan Ferry's "Slave To Love" and Prince's "Nothing Compares 2 U" And, after the shock of hearing him sing "Jealous Guy" wears off, you listen to the album again. And again. And again. You think: "How effortless, how passionate. How sad, how beautiful." That's the power of Jimmy Scott. Aren't a fan? Never heard of him? Think of what you're missing! Gorgeous.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Superb!, June 23, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Holding Back the Years (Audio CD)

This album of Jimmy Scott's is filled with one great song after another, and except for Billie Holidays's, "Lady in Satin," I can't think of another album where a vocalist has managed such a collection of perfect interpretations. In some cases, Mick Hucknall's "Holding Back the Years" for example, the listener is given a version that complements the original. But, as with Brian Ferry's "Slave to Love", there are times when Jimmy Scott gives us an almost new song. This is the ultra dry champagne of Jimmy's recording career.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Holding Back the Years, August 9, 2001

By 

chandler school (Pasadena, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Holding Back the Years (Audio CD)

Oh man!!! It's like Jimmy Scott stepped out of the wings, tapped Bryan Ferry on the shoulder and politely wrenched the microphone from his hand. I can imagine him saying something like "Take five my man, let a true veteran show you how this song is supposed to sound..."

If anyone has heard Scott's rendition of "Slave to Love", it's easy to forget that it's a cover.