Customer Reviews

Something

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

 

 

For almost his entire career, Tony Bennett has performed in the shadow of Old Blue Eyes. But even the Master himself once proclaimed that Tony was the best of the rest. Personally, I feel that Bennett, for a breif tenure in the late 1960's, knocked the Chairman of the Board off of his perch with his album entitled "Something". Although most of the numbers on the album are covers, he somehow managed to leave his own heartfelt trademark on these songs. His voice was at it's peak and the arrangments of these songs are timeless. This album is , without a doubt, a must have for the serious Bennett fan. And, incidentally, don't just take my word for it. It's one of his all time favorites as well.

There's no question that this is one of Tony Bennett's all-time great albums, hence its inclusion in his hand-picked Tony Bennett Masters series. Masterful it is, thanks especially to Peter Matz's great arrangements. Matz was actually Noel Coward's pianist when the great entertainer came to Las Vegas in the '50s. He went on to become a fine arranger, working famously with Barbra Streisand on hits like "The Way We Were". It's well-known that Bennett didn't like most of the mainstream popular music of the late 1960s. It's therefore surprising to find some material from that era on this album. Yet, Matz's excellent arrangements, featuring sumptuous writing for string and brass, allow Bennett to personalize these songs and to sink his teeth in them. The performances of the two Beatles songs, "Something" and "The Long And Winding Road" are outstanding. The Jobim song "Wave" is excellent. It's played at a wonderfully romantic, lilting pace. Many consider Sinatra's much faster-paced version from a year earlier to be the definitive version of this song. It's a good vocal performance from the Chairman, but this Bennett-Matz version is superior. Matz turns the hit "Everybody's Talkin'" into a swingin' big band number and Tony clearly has a ball singing it. His high note at the end of "On A Clear Day" is truly astounding. He was, at 44, in extremely good voice for this session. "Come Saturday Morning" is an excellent Broadway number, played nice and slow. Matz allows Bennett to display his fine breath control with some very long notes. "Make It Easy On Yourself" is a great Bacharach/David number from the film "Alfie". Bennett sings it with incomparable feeling and commitment and Matz's arrangement squeezes as much pathos out of it as possible. It's difficult to imagine a better performance of this song. Finally, Tony turns "What A Wonderful World" into a loving tribute to Louis Armstrong (who died the following year). It's a wonderful recording and almost as good as Louis' original. I could go on further, but, at this point, you really should buy the album. It may not be the best place to start with Tony Bennett, but if you have a few of his albums already and like them, then this album is an essential purchase.

Although he includes pop songs like "Something" and "Everybody's Talkin'", Bennett sings them in his darkly jazz-influenced style which wrings new meaning out of the lyrics; and the orchestrations, in tune with Tony's wry penchant for offbeat, jazzy inflections, keeps things in perspective. This isn't the light, airy outing you may expect: songs like "Coco" and "Wave" are imbued with a melancholia that isn't exactly reassuring, but is still strangely blissful(in a low-key fashion). It's quite a remarkable mood piece, actually, and the 4 1/2 minute "Make It Easy On Yourself" is heartbreakingly sung. I was only disappointed in this early version of "What a Wonderful World", which seems an after-thought. B+

Tony Bennett is a middle of the road pop vocalist, and the best there ever was, however this re-issue of Tony Bennett's Something is right smack dab in the middle of the road, and there are so many other great CD re-issues of Bennett material, that make this less essential. The highlights of this CD are "On A Clear Day" & "Wave." However if you want Tony Bennett the jazz singer try "The Tony Bennett-Bill Evens Album," "Tony Bennett/Bill Evans-Together Again," "I Wanna Be Around," "Who Can I Turn To?," "If I Ruled The World: Songs For The Jet Set," "Sings Rogers & Hart," "Steppin' Out," and don't forget his latest and greatest "Bennett Sings Ellington: Hot & Cool." Try those titles first, then get this one. Bennett is truly a versitile artist, and "Something" was his most commercial LP aside from his greatest hits packeges which I highly reccomend you stay away from.