Customer Reviews

Sings the Standards: Best of

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When a great set of songs like these are put together by a GREAT singer like Shirley Bassey, you know your in store for a special treat and that is what this great collection is!! Beginning with early to mid-sixties standards such as a jazz tinged exciting rendition of "I Believe In You", it is clear that this is a classic singer with an incredibly great voice in peak form!! "Fool On The Hill" is soulfully sung and "The Look Of Love" is sultry while "And I Love You So" is haunting and mesmerizing. The exhuberant "Day By Day" is winning and "Send In The Clowns" is one of the most beautifully sung versions ever!! Beginning with the seventies material, one can notice that Shirley's voice became fuller and more powerful and Miss Bassey uses her full bloom voice to stunning effect on classics such as "Killing Me Softly With His Song" and "Feelings" in this engrossing collection. Too bad Shirley Bassey didn't star in "Evita" as her "Don't Cry For Me Argentina" is the definitive version which has never sounded as passionate and beautiful as it does here!!! BRAVO SHIRLEY...a true classic Diva with an extraordinary voice...enjoy!!!!!!!!

To me, Shirley Bassey and Nancy Wilson both lend an air of elegance and sophistication to any song. This is an excellent CD, spanning a large timeframe in Shirley's career. The arrangements compliment her exquisitely. I recommend this CD to anyone who enjoys vocal music and standards in particular.

This compilation CD is all over the lot with some of Bassey's early outings, Fly Me To the Moon (1964), packaged with her later hits Don't Cry for Me Argentina (1978). The intent may have been to give the listener an example of Bassey's breadth, but what such a historical perspective does is allow one to hear how thin and uneven Bassey's pyrotechnic voice has become over the years. "Argentina" and Whitney Houston melodramatic "Greatest Love of All" are troublesome to hear. Missing from this retrospective are Bassey's Bond blockbusters. While her vocal prowess is suitable for such cinematic songs, it completely over dramatizes Cry Me A River, And I Love You So. Even the arranging on Look of Love and Can't Take My Eyes Off of You are over the top and unwieldy.