Customer Reviews

Rainbow Round My Shoulder

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I am paraphrasing a song included on this CD, written by Ray Charles and sung by Barbara Cook. Also on this disc are many songs that I heard her sing at her Chicago Ravinia Concert, July 2008.

At 80, Cook is an ageless, national treasure who brings emotions and inner meanings to each song that she sings. Her phrasing, tempo and selections are SO incredible ... that old songs become NEW experiences with Barbara's insightful vision.

This is a great addition to her recorded discography ..so don't wait until next Christmas to bring joy to your world!

Still sounding wonderful, after all these years. The booklet also contains some of the most beautiful photos of this beautiful lady. A great selection of songs

What's all this about Barbara Cook? Why is it that when you mention her name to seemingly well adjusted adult men and women they become all dewy-eyed and mushy-brained. Just exactly what is going on here?

Damned if I know, but count me in as one of those dewy-eyed and mushy-brained adults.

What is it? Is her voice really all that exceptional? Is her ability to convey a lyric really all that special? Is her physical presence, even on a recording, all that galvanizing? Well, frankly, yes.

But that doesn't even begin to tell the story. It seems to me that Barbara Cook is the distillation of everything good music has to offer. She is a unique talent among unique talents. While her performance of a song, whether it be one we have heard a thousand times, or one we are hearing for the first time, may not be the only way it can be performed, we can always rest assured that Miss Cook will offer it to us in as perfected a state as she is capable of. I doubt she has ever wrapped that silver instrument she possesses around some song merely because she needs another three minutes on an album or in a concert. She obviously has way too much love and respect for music to waste her time, and ours, like that.

And something else perhaps even more important, for those of us who have followed her throughout the years and decades: She never got bad. Oh sure, her voice has changed with the years. No surprise there. The surprise, if there is one, is that it has not changed in any way but for the better. As the voice has become ever so slightly less strong, as those famous top notes have become perhaps just the slightest bit more careful, it is all still a beautiful package, respectfully offered, lovingly accepted.

And the words. Those beautiful words. Those words Miss Cook obviously finds as beautiful and important as those beautiful notes.

Barbara Cook has embraced the passage of time with love rather than fear. It is as though she is telling us she has waited all her life to get to today. She has defined the art of popular singing in a way that gives us at least the glimmer of hope that in these crazy times of distrust, disillusionment and disdain, there are still those imponderables that allow us mere mortal humans to rise up.

Thank you Miss Cook. Job well done!

Ms. Cook simply gets better with age. While I'm sure she still misses her beloved Wally Harper, her long-time music director, her new collaboration with Mr. Musiker (perfect name!) is every bit as wonderful to listen to.

At an age where most women's voices simply lose it, Ms. Cook, in her 70s, has developed a warmth and silkiness to her sound. There are places when one can still here the young coloratura soprano in her 20s behind the more sultry and inviting tones of the current Barbara Cook.

I have been privileged to attend two of her concerts in the last several years, each one a true delight. On this CD, she holds nothing back. She puts it on the line and lets her light shine.

If you've never experienced Barbara Cook, then you must buy this CD. If Ms. Cook is one of your favorites, then you will not need my urging to buy this.

Sit back, relax, and be prepared for some fine listening.

PS: This amazing lady moves with the times, exploring the music of new composers and doing their work justice. Her work spans generations and closes the gap.

A wonderful collection of classic American songs by the best female singer in the business! Nobody does it better.

It's Barbara Cook, probably the best female singer of this generation. Forget her age. If she's lost a step, you'd hardly notice. Her delivery, especially accenting the lyrics, in unmatchable. A total joy.

This is the best CD Barbara Cook has made since Close As Pages in a Book. There is great variety in the types of songs she sings and there are interesting arrangements. Her wonderful voice is out there front and center with smaller instrumentation behind her than on her recent big orchestra CDs. She sings a few numbers with just piano accompaniment. I especially enjoyed title number, Where or When, Having Breakfast with you(?), Sooner or Later. In fact the only song I didn't like was her rendition of Old Devil Moon. I love the song, but the arrangement took all the essential swing out of the song and tried to turn it into a song of "atmosphere" which I found did not work with this number. Enough quibbling, this is an excellent CD.

I've been enthralled with Barbara Cook since Flahooley, blown away with Candide, and fortunate enough to have seen her performances in New York, Washington, D.C. and Sarasota. The heart is still there.

Barbara Cook is an amazing lady - the voice is still there and at her age, she still sounds terrific. I hope Barbara will record further CD's, I for one will be waiting.....

I hate to begin a review of her latest work by noting that Barbara Cook is well into her 82nd year; however, since she is still very active in her life-long profession it cannot be ignored. What's more remarkable is that time has been so kind to Miss Cook's still glorious voice and interpretive abilities. While I'm not so fond of many of the songs on this CD, Barbara Cook's vocal abilities make them very listenable indeed. This is cabaret singing at its best.