Customer Reviews

Legendary

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

 

 

Actually, one of my all-time favorite songs is "The Windmills Of My Mind," and my favorite version is by Ferrante & Teicher. I wasn't able to find that version for a while, and, besides, was interested in a version of the song that included lyrics. This was the best I could find. The bonus was quite a few other popular songs of many years ago (most notably "Downtown," "Fool on the Hill" [quite different from the Beatle's version], "Tears of a Clown," "Games People Play," "Reach Out, I'll Be There", "If," "Monday, Monday," and "People Get Ready"). Petula's overall music style is not exactly to my preference, and I still like the F & T version of "Windmills..." better. As for the other 49 songs, many are quite good (not just the most-popular ones), many are quite mediocre. It all depends on your own preference (listen to the samples!). My main complaint with this collection is that it is available ONLY as a collection. For my own purposes, at least, it would have been better to be able to get just disc #1... I probably would have rated it 4 stars.

Petula Clark burst onto the American Music Scene during the British Musical Explosion in 1964 with the #1 mega-hit "Downtown" which was a larger than life enchanting song that commanded attention and made Petula Clark a household name in a quick musical minute!!! Next came more great hits such as the exciting "I Know A Place" and the romantic "My Love" and Petula Clark captured a generation and stayed at the top of the charts a number of years and would have continued but in came the tired singer/songwriter period where only those who wrote a song received airplay! Petula expanded after her hit period with great versions of songs such as a stunning take on "Fool On The Hill" and a soulful "Games People Play" which is better than the original which was often the case but radio became narrow and would only play the original versions thus ending the Top 40 careers of many great singers!!! For anyone wanting a single collection which has the incredible range of this great Legendary Singer, this is the collection to have!!! Petula does a great "I Don't Know How To Love Him" which is the definitive version of this classic and rocks out on a great take on the Box Tops "Cry Like A Baby". Hits and stand-outs abound in this great set and Petula does a masterful "What I Did For Love" from "A Chorus Line" that is one of the best versions recorded of this standard plus her version of "Happy Heart" is the definitive one from the overlooked Petula Clark masterpiece "Portrait Of Petula" that is an extraordinary female vocal album that is on par with "Dusty In Memphis" which was also overlooked upon its release the same year as "Portrait". Larger collections are available on this great singer but for a 3 Disc Set this gives a great overview on one of the really great voices of our lifetime!!! Petula Clark to this day is still performing and a few years ago stunned Los Angeles audiences with an extraordinary production of "Sunset Blvd" at the classic Pantages Theatre in Hollywood and looked and sounded like the classic DIVA that she has always been!!!! Thank You Petula Clark for all the great years and may they continue...

Petula Clark's 1964 hit Downtown brought her popularity beyond the United Kingdom, but this legendary singer who has performed in stage and screen for six decades, has failed to achieve the recording success she garnered with Downtown. This collections bills Clark as legendary, (she turns 70 this year) and while that may be, these selections are not. Just listen to Sailor, Neon Rainbow and her over-the-top Fool on the Hill. This three-plus minute selection has everything from blaring horns to shakey tamborines and Clark even does some vocal pyrotechnics that simply make you want to skip over this one. The charm of her vocal talent as heard in Downtown is missing from most of these songs. She embraces a trembling vibrato on many of these tracks and sounds as if she's from Nashville not the UK. You can get a better priced CD of her true hits, one need not get 50 tracks of Pet.

Petula Clark was a mid '60's fave. She had hits early '60's in France (Le Le Twist), but it wasn't until produced by Tony Hatch that she conquered UK US and the rest of the world. She was the premier female vocalist, charting hit after hit between '64 and '69. She had bobbed blond hair, an English accent, and great songs. She was perfectly cute innocent and Doris Day for the new generation. She got TV specials and magazine covers and Gosh! see! the kids aren't all bad after all.

Except!, Petula Clark had much more than a pretty face,good production, good promotion, although all that added to her success. She had perfect pitch, a sense of song and meaning, and an upbeat determination that allowed listeners to AM radio feel optimistic. In the turbulent '60s, she bridged a gap, grandparents, parents, teens, and kids all liked her. A rare thing then assured.

This 3 CD set has all Pet's hit's, "Downtown" "I Know a Place" "My Love" " A Sign of the Times" etc.. Be surprized! Pet had bunches of sing-along-songs that you will recall once you hear them again. This box set is sonically fine, true stereo on all the songs. It is worth the trouble to figure out how to get it.

A bit of trivia: "Don't Sleep in the Subway" was banned on a few AM radio stations because of the lyric, "Take off your coat my darling" was heard as "Take off your clothes my Darling". Can you imagine Petula Clark BANNED?!?! She survived the controversy.

Well, it was like the old days!! They promised prompt shipping and I received extremely supersonic fast shipping!! Like it was back in the 60's and 70's -- you always got more than you paid for!! Thanks and I will definitly buy from again!!

The strength of this is that it is NOT her 12 hits you've heard on golden oldie stations. It's a mix, and some of it is very good, some of it is odd but endearing, some of it just odd. But that was her career as an adult. There might have been some of her French material, where she was a bigger star if anything for a longer period. She is definitely a pop star - with emotional limits. If you want a great artist who was a chart rival, turn to Dusty Springfield. Same with Tony Hatch's arrangements, very good but if you want art get Burt Bacharach's. But for an inexpensive wide overview of this durable pop star, this is great.