Customer Reviews

Mack The Knife - The Best Of Bobby Darin Volume Two

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

What a tragedy that Bobby Darin died so young at 37. He is under-appreciated today and dwarfed by the huge shadow cast by Frank Sinatra. Though Darin didn't have the poignant and unmatched ability of Sinatra to phrase a lyric, his uptempo songs are nearly as good as the Chairman of the Board. He is cool, hip, has fine range and has an innate jazzy feel that infuses all of his swingier songs. The musical arrangements and musicianship displayed here is also exemplary. The orchestra that backs up Darrin is fantastic.

My personal favorite is "Beyond the Sea," one of the great swing pseudo-ballads of the 50's, recently resurrected as the backdrop of a TV commercial. Darrin proves he was the natural successor to Sinatra with his masterful vocal here. "Guys and Dolls" and "Down with Love" are nearly as good and showcases Darrin's talent. The best ballad is probably "Was There a Call for Me?" which reproduces the boozy hangover feeling of being dumped about as well as any song.

Darrin's later work was never as hip and contemporary-sounding as the music on this disc. This is an exceptional collection with many catchy, memorable tunes, and proves beyond a doubt that Darrin was an amazing talent.

Bobby Darin was such a multi-talented performer, that he is the ONLY one that Sammy Davis,Jr.(also multi-talented) didn't want to be on the same bill with-for fear of Bobby upstaging him. This was all in respect, not anger or jealousy. The man was THAT good, no GREAT. This collection is especially a must-have to go with Splish Splash: Best of Bobby Darin Vol.1, another terrific collection. Bobby Darin was the epitome of cool and it shows, especially in this collection. I own it on both cassette and cd and have no problems with the audio whatsoever. What a thrill it must have been to see him perform LIVE or even just to be at the studio whenever he was recording. The man knew his stuff, knew how every instrument & musical note was supposed to sound, & on many occasions was known to conduct the orchestra himself. Anyone working on an album with him gave him the utmost respect for his musical knowledge. It was a shame he died so young, otherwise I'm sure Bobby would still be making some contributions to music. At one time I read somewhere that Hollywood keeps talking about making a movie of Bobby's life, possibly based on the bio Dream Lovers written by Bobby's & Sandra Dee's son, Dodd Darin. I only hope they are careful in the search to cast the actors to portray both Bobby & Sandra. Anyway, this particular Best Of cd is very highly recommended.

The song selection is great, the sonic quality is horrible. On several songs the horns are cut off and sound distorted. I love Bobby Darin, but this CD was extremely disappointing. The BD selections on Ultra Lounge V15 sound so much better.

I've listened to Bobby Darin from when I was a little kid in the late 50's to now.
I wanted something that had several of his hits in it and it had to have "Mack The Knife". This CD has it and much more. A very good sample of Darin's range and style. Some of the tracks I have never heard before and I gained a few "new"
favorites. This has it all from Big Band, Pop, to Jazz. Can't go wrong with this CD.

This must be the best CD I've ever bought. The music is simply captivating, and it makes a perfect listen anytime. It goes from very relaxed songs (though not lazy as the Lazy River song might suggest) to charming lyrics like "Don't dream of anybody but me" and quite amusing ouvres like Mack the Knife or Artificial Flowers. Maybe I exaggerate with the Sinatra comment above, but if you ever want to get romantic about a girl, this is the music for it. I just can't get tired of listening this CD once and again; its music suits every possible mood (Try "Black Coffee" or "What a difference a day makes...")

OK. I finally found the PERFECT Darin collection! The range of genres, the hits, the misses--this has it all! A great companion to this all-studio collection is the 3-CD box set "Rock & Roll Legends," in which Darin has his own disc, featuring LIVE versions of "Splish Splash," "Plain Jane," "Dream Lover," and "Mack The Knife" (the ONLY song to overlap with "Best Of Bobby Darin Vol. 2"). Though "Best Of Bobby" gives you ALL the goodies, "Rock & Roll Legends" lets you hear how Darin laid on the spangle in his stage show; it's a heart-stealing, mood-changing ten-tracker that sits nicely beside the "Best."

This is a great compilation of Bobby Darin's songs and it makes for really good listening. I do have to agree with another listener though, that the mixing is sloppy on a couple of tracks, especially Mack the Knife. The crescendo tops out at the end and distorts. But I'm picky, and someone else might not notice this, so I recommend this cd as being one of the better ones out there.

Bobby Darrin was one of the best, Sinatra was the King, Darrin was the Prince , first in line to the throne , I was in the English Pub in NYC the day it came over the air that Darrin had died on the operating table, We knew he was sick, but not that sick, Sadly missed by all fan's of quality music throughout the world, This album is a Five Star recording, A must for the Darrin fan. Bobby's sitting on a cloud looking down, snapping his finger's in time and smiling.

This cd is one of the greatest cds I have ever bought. Being a huge Bobby Darin fan, I enjoyed all of the songs a great deal. Mack The Knife, Bobby's greatest hit, and Beyond The Sea, another big hit, are both fantastic songs that Bobby added his special treatment to. You will also enjoy such songs as Just Friends, Guys And Dolls, Down With Love, Don't Dream Of Anybody But Me, I Didn't Know What Time It Was, Clementine, Artificial Flowers, Bill Baily Won't You Please Come Home, I Guess I'll Have To Change My Plan, and Christmas Auld Lang Syne. This cd is a must have for any Darin fan.

This has become one of my alltime favorite albums, and the best of the five Darin albums I've got.

"Mack the Knife" is one of the greatest songs ever. Lots of people have done this, including Sinatra and Louis Armstrong, but no one touches Bobby Darin's version here. This song will live as long as bars have jukeboxes. "Lazy River" is strangely evocative; it somehow combines the hazy, lazy sense with his ferocious delivery. "Beyond the Sea" is right up there with "Mack the Knife." I believe it has undertones of being with the one you love, after death. It's one of the most romantic songs ever.

His "Guys and Dolls" just assassinates this song. It swings like crazy. All the blues numbers in here - "Was There A Call for Me" "I Guess I'm Good For Nothing But the Blues" "Black Coffee" and "Pete Kelly's Blues" - are fine. They draw vivid pictures in the imagination; Darin sells them completely.

"Clementine" is politically incorrect but true to the original and still wonderful; you wouldn't think a corny traditional song like that could be delivered with 10 tons of dynamite like he does. Ditto "Bill Bailey." (This was something he apparently excelled at, resuscitating traditional songs most vocalists wouldn't bother with and making them work.)

Darin wrote "Artificial Flowers" and shows that social consciousness wasn't the sole property of folk-singing pukes with acoustic guitars. At least two people I know cried when I first played this song for them.

"I Didn't Know What Time It Was" and "Just Friends" make a pair on this album that has private meaning for me: My first foray into jazz in college involved Charlie Parker; the first Bird album I ever had also had versions of these two songs on it. This is the only other album I know that does both - I'd never heard the words before - and this says something about the versatility of both the standards songbook and Bobby Darin. Bebopper on the one hand, rock `n roller cum Vegas singer on the other hand.

"Skylark" - you can just see the bluest of skies when he sings this. "Christmas Auld Lang Syne" almost makes me want to celebrate Christmas. (I'm Jewish.) I think it speaks to Christmas as people imagine they'd like to have it.