The Performance [Import]

Shirley Bassey | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (November 20, 2009)
• Original Release Date: 2010
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Label: 101 DISTRIBUTION
• ASIN: B002OL29OI
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #65,917 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Her first studio album in 20 years!

Dame Shirley Bassey, Britain s most successful female artist ever, releases her brand new album The Performance on November 9th on Geffen Records.

The 11-track album is Dame Shirley Bassey s first full studio album in over 20 years. David Arnold, the Grammy Award-winning producer best known for scoring five James Bond films has produced the album.

The Performance features songs written specifically for Dame Shirley Bassey, by a stellar cast of contemporary artists, including Take That s Gary Barlow, Manic Street Preachers, Pet Shop Boys, KT Tunstall and Rufus Wainwright. The album also features a brand new composition from John Barry and Don Black; the first new song written by them for Dame Shirley since Diamonds Are Forever.

During a career that has included 135 million record sales, Dame Shirley Bassey has had many incredible highlights, including being the only artist to record three James Bond movie theme songs. Dame Shirley has received numerous awards including a DBE [Dame of the British Empire] in 1999.

Dame Shirley Bassey will perform at this year's BBC Electric Proms on 23rd October, her only UK show this year.

This performance follows the recent and hugely successful album playback at The Ritz Club, with all the major songwriters and key media partners in attendence.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Performance is just Brilliant!!, December 23, 2009

By 

G. Carter "gcmusiclover" (Temple Hills, maryland United States) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Performance (Audio CD)

The Performance, Shirley's first cd of new material in twenty years is brilliant and what a gift for her fans who waited for this! This cd contains great songs and the musicianship is outstanding! The sound of this cd is excellent great mastering, Shirley's incredible voice is out front, surprising her vocals are very restraint, (I guess there was no need for Shirley to prove she's a powerhouse) my favorites are 'Almost There', 'This Time', 'Our Time Is Now', 'No Good About Goodbye', 'The Girl From Tiger Bay', and the fantastic 'The Performance Of My Life', I think all Bassey fans will not be disappointed with this cd!!

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Love her or loathe her !, January 24, 2010

By 

pp777 (New York, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Performance (Audio CD)

This is Shirley Bassey's first full-scale studio album in two decades.
It's a contemporary collection, but instead of resorting to Mark Ronson (Version) or other remixers du-jour, she mines the talents of a collection of disparate, yet established songwriters.
It's produced by David Arnold, reigning music supremo of the James Bond franchise, and is crammed with new songs by a slightly odd assortment of writers including KT Tunstall (Drastic Fantastic), Richard Hawley, David McAlmont (of McAlmont and Butler), Rufus Wainwright(Release the Stars), Tom Baxter and more. There's even a comeback by John Barry and Don Black, who wrote "Diamonds Are Forever" for Bassey in 1971 and contribute the newly penned "Our Time Is Now".
It sounds exactly as you'd expect it to sound. She doesn't have to try anything new. She is what she is and if even if she did attempt a different direction with this album it probably wouldn't be remotely credible.
At 72, Britain's most successful female artist sounds as commanding as ever, but her songwriters threaten to steal her thunder.
She still packs plenty of vocal wallop, as she demonstrates on the opener, Tom Baxter's "Almost There". You can see right away where he is going with the line "I'm not quite so young, I'm not quite so foolish in my defence", but Bassey makes subtle work of its rather mournful tone before soaring on the big orchestral finish.
The turned-to-11 string arrangements could fuel space travel, so there is little room for restraint.
However, the image of Bassey as feather boa'd drama queen with orchestra has its limitations.
Things are saved by Manic Street Preachers' wistfully autobiographical "The Girl From Tiger Bay", which echoes Bassey's turn on Propellerheads' "History Repeating", while Pet Shop Boys (Yes) continue their healthy track record of writing for female icons, providing the quintessential grandstanding finish with "The Performance Of My Life".
Another highlight is the flamenco-esque "Apartment", where Bassey finds the skip of a woman half her age ( ("I'm running away from Cinderella, don't want to go to Rapunzel's hairdresser") : the veteran diva's wittiest lines come from the pen of Rufus Wainwright, who trades fairy tales for real estate.
KT Tunstall's "Nice Men" plays to Bassey's own sense of self-mockery. Another highlight is the beautifully controlled rendering of the tremulous, melancholic "After The Rain", written by Richard Hawley. Framed by piano, cello and the sparest cymbal scrape, Bassey sings "This girl just can't take it any more" from a part of herself we simply haven't heard before.
In all, there are no surprises from the album. It sounds exactly as you'd expect a Shirley Bassey album to sound. Respect where it's due, though - after fifty years in the music industry she still has a voice that could melt ice.
But this time it is to the writers' credit that their Bassey is a far more fascinating, multilayered creation than the vampish, diamond-encrusted persona of folk memory and that these performances and the album "are more about soul-baring integrity than retro camp". - Fiona Shepherd
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Indeed, February 6, 2010

By 

grooverider "artie" (Toluca Lake LA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Performance (Audio CD)

For a woman who has nothing to prove to anyone, Dame Shirley Bassey proves that at 72 years of age she has made the album of her life. She probably could not have recorded this album earlier in her career. Listen to the sheer force coming out of your speakers, the gale force that forces you to listen to "This Time". I was almost literally blown away by the power and majesty of her unique gift, the gift that transcends what comes over you when you realize that she is giving us something quite magical. Thank you Gary Barlow (Take That) for writing such a powerful song for Dame Bassey.
Produced by David Arnold ("James Bond" film composer) and accompanied by a 40+ piece orchestra, the songwriters include KT Tunstall, John Barry, Don Black, The Pet Shop Boys and Rufus Wainwright.
Loved the flamenco guitars on Wainwright's "Apartment" and how on "Almost There", Dame Bassey's vocals go from oh so soft to an emotional crescendo at the end. The tailor made "Girl From Tiger Bay" (which she performed on "The Graham Norton" show), written by the Manic Street Preachers and David Arnold is another highlight.
My favorite Shirley Bassey album. If Susan Boyle can have a hit album, my wish would be that this album could reach such a large audience, too. The Performance of My Life, indeed!