Customer Reviews

The Performance

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It's hard to believe that Dame Shirley Bassey is 72. Her powerful pipes would put some of todays divas to shame. Still very much relevant, she performs at the Glastonbury Festival with acts less than half her age, and this CD just made the UK top 20 albums chart.

Her last album "Get the party started" was a covers project with edgy and experimental production dramatically transforming songs like Lionel Richie's cheesy smash hit "Hello" into a Trip Hop classic (rather cool), among others.

For her new CD "The Performance", she treads the same path Nancy Sinatra did on her 2004 eponymous disc. Contemporary British acts (some huge fans of the Dame) have written new songs for her and David Arnold handles production duties. The result? a sweeping, majestic statement that sounds like it was recorded in the 60s, much like Duffy and the like are emulating.

The Pet Shop Boys provide the sweeping theatrical sounding "The performance of my life" and she gives it that. A string swathed ballad with a nice horn break.

Tom Baxter provides the delicate almost lullaby-like "Almost there" which builds to a bombastic climax. "Im not quite so long, I'm not quite so foolish" she reminisces. Rufus Wainwright provides the Flamenco-tinged "Apartment". Gary Barlow provides the horn-sprinkled "This time". Nick Hodgson provides the sweeping "I love you now", John Barry (who wrote 3 James Bond theme songs for her) provides "Our time is now" (which starts off deceptively subtle but builds up to a sax-filled Bond-style ballad).

David Arnold and David McAlmont provide "As God is my witness", David Arnold and Don Black provide the cinematic "No good about goodbye", Manic Street Preachers and David Arnold provide the sunny "The girl from tiger bay" (already sounding like a theme song and remniscent of Propellerheads' History Repeating featuring the Dame herself), KT Tunstall provides the edgy horn-peppered Bluesy "Nice men", and Richard Hawley provides the melancholic spare piano cello cymbal-framed ballad.

This is a collection of sweeping dramatic and heartfelt songs. Beautiful!

This is a stunning album. But don't spend $50 buying it here--you can buy it at less than half that price (including international shipping to the US) on amazon.co.uk. Also, note that the Amazon.com descriptor is incorrect: this is not a live album.

At 72, the Grand Dame, sings better then most of the younger singers that are performing today. The album is breathtaking. 11 new tracks, by todays best writers. The Pet Shop Boys have written her a new Anthem "The Performance Of My Life"

This album is already a major hit in Europe, so let get it released in the USA. Every track is great, pure Bassey at her best. Best of all the voice is still strong and vibrant, with no signs of dimming.

I urge all Bassey fans to buy this CD. it is a must have. You will not be dissapointed!!

When I heard Shirley Bassey had made a new album I had to hear it. I always loved her James Bond theme songs but apart from that I haven't followed her carreer and don't know much about her other works.

The closing track is titled "The Performance of My Life" and what a performance it is, this album. She's 72 years old and sings as good as ever.

The album opens with a slow song, "Almost There, that builds up to a nice climax. Then there's the catchy "Apartment" which has a bit of a latin sound to it. "This Time" is a nice ballad that has grown on me. "I Love You Now" hasn't quite grown on me yet, but it's still quite good and has some very nice arrangements. "Our Time Is Now" is one of my favorite songs on the album, composed by John Barry. This one really deserves some airplay and a single release. "As Good is My Witness" is okay but one of the weaker song on the album. "No Good About Goodbye", composed by David Arnold sounds very much like a James Bond theme. I wish the Bond producers would have brought back Bassey with a song like this instead of the dreadful Madonna song they had a few years back. "The Girl from Tiger Bay" is another very good song. "Nice Men" is also one of the weaker songs on the album, followed by a soothing ballad, "After the Rain" and the last track, "The Performance of My Life" is perfectly suited to end the album.

"The Performance" is full of good songs and full of great performances, by Bassey and the producers. Recommended!

This CD showcases all of Shirley's moods.....but does so in surprising twists and turns....The first track 'Almost There' begins softly, contemplatively and slowly builds into a force that leaves you bruised and breathless. As I listen to this song again and again, I am drawn in by the power of the words, the way they are sung, the artistic interpretation, and overall artistry of this woman. And so it is for all the other songs...Shirley is close to full throttle for some of these cuts like 'I Love You Now' and 'This Time'. Then she tenderly reels you in with 'After The Rain'. She is playful with numbers like 'Nice Men' and 'Apartment'. The song 'No Good About Goodbye' proves that Dame Shirley should be invited to do another Bond song....This album provides material for a wide audience and that makes it tantalizingly different...delicious. She must have made those song writers proud as she did justice to their talents and did not disappoint. Listen to her piece de resistance which comes last with the song 'The Performance Of My Life' and you realize that this song was not just sung, it was lived.
Face it everyone, there are singers and then there is Shirley Bassey.

I haven't been as excited about a CD as this one in a very long time. The Performance has everything going for it. Top of the class is Dame Shirley herself. From Tiger Bay in the Welsh capital city of Cardiff she sings like no other. She continues to sing with that great powerful voice that has its unique heart and soul, expression and unlike so many of her juniors, you can actually hear all the words she sings.
This CD has 11 wonderful tracks all written for Shirley by top class writers themselves. Included in the illustrious line up are Gary Barlow, The Manic Street Preachers, The Pet Shop Boys, Rufus Wainwright and KT Tunstall. With heavy weights like this onboard you cannot fail. And my favourite track isn't written by one of the aforementioned. The orchestration on each track is like a masterclass for music students. I just wish every artist out there would use what I call real music instead of the electric synthesized, artificial kind. Don't get me wrong. guitars and drums have their place in music but it pales into the shade when you here something as wonderful as this offering. This is a modern classic and everyone should rush out and get it. I love all singers with expression and soul in their voices. Anastacia, Dion, Aguilera, Knight, Franklin, Houston, Streisand and the list goes on but no one can compare with Dame Shirley. Maybe for her next project, DSB will get more good song writers rushing to offer her some wonderful songs to sing. Come on Elton, Oasis I am sure you would be honoured to have Shirley, the Diva of Divas, sing a song for you. Everyone, get this CD you will not be disappointed.

And Dame Shirley Bassey is a diamond. This CD, "The Performance", is absolutely amazing. She states in the booklet with the CD that she never imagined she would be able to make this album. Well she did and did it beautifully. Dame Shirley still hits those notes like she was half her age. Every single song is a wonderful work of art. When I listen to it I cry, I laugh, and I just want to give her a big hug. I have loved Dame Shirley Bassey for years because of my mother who just adored her. My mother has passed away but if she were alive today she would go crazy over this CD. I think it is one of the most modern music that has ever been put together on one album for her, yet it does not lose the sound and feeling she puts into each and every song she sings. This is one CD I could not be without. If you are a fan, no question you will love this CD. If your not sure get the album, it will knock your socks off!

I liked every song (some more than others) on this CD. This is the type of music I wish Streisand would do. I heard it was not an easy album for Ms. Bassey to do but the hard work paid off. Thank you, Thank you!

This is the CD---Dame Shirley's first full studio album in more than two decades---that Geffen paid her a cool million to record. It's currently only available as an import from England or Korea, and is worth every pound and won and Euro. David Arnold, the Grammy Award-winning producer helmed the CD, which features songs written specifically for Bassey by such stellar contemporary fans as Rufus Wainwright, Gary Barlow, Manic Street Preachers, Pet Shop Boys, KT Tunstallt; John Barry and Don Black, who penned Shirley's "Diamonds Are Forever," are back with a new tune as well. This is not Bombastic Bassey, she with the thrill and chills, but a quieter, more mellow Dame, yet still boasting the finest voice in the business. The star here is "The Girl From Turtle Bay," an autobiographical ode to the child who grew up to become the star and who has never forgotten her coal-cluttered cloudy past. No one works a tune or embraces phrasing like Bassey, who, at 70something, can take four simple words ("No Good about Goodbye") and turn them into a heart-wrenching a hosanna. The final cut on the 11-track CD is "The Performance of My Life," sort of a sequel to the most famous "The Greatest Performance of My Life," and a tune that clearly reminds one and all there is nothing like this Dame.