Customer Reviews

Something

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Defining works from great singers are complete treasures that a true vocal artist connoisseur will enjoy endlessly for a lifetime and Shirley Bassey's "Something" is at the head of the list of these rare classics. Back around the mid-sixties while in High School, "Goldfinger" became a huge international blockbuster hit and I fell in love with the incredible voice of Shirley Bassey. Shirley then came out with the great album "Shirley Belt's The Best" and this was a wonderful collection of classics and showtunes that made it clear this was a seriously great voice that was going to be around for a long time. Classics continued such as "This Is My Life" and other gems but in 1970 when "Shirley Bassey Is Really Something" was released, it was certain that Shirley had really arrived and created a major milestone in her already brilliant recording career!! Opening with the definitive version of George Harrison's "Something", Shirley has no competition and creates a stunning classic that became a major chart hit internationally and a knock-out stunner in her incredible live concert that were always total love-in's all throughout the seventies! (I experienced this legendary concert as late as 1997 and Miss Bassey is just as powerful and stunning as ever with no change in that magnificant voice!) Over the years whenever I introduce anyone to Bassey I use this work as an introduction and this hooks them every time and creates another hard-core fan for life! Group classics such as "Spinning Wheel", "Light My Fire", and "Easy To Be Hard" are totally amazing covers that rival in greatness the originals. For a glorious and totally hypnotic experience "Yesterday I Heard The Rain" is a hard one to beat and "My Way" is a real athem that soars to dazzling heights! Haunting and passionate is the spectacular "Sea And Sand" and "What About Today" is equal to Streisand's brilliant original version...Shirley's magnificant "You And I" is a richly romantic beautiful version and "Life Goes On" is brilliantly haunting. Michel LeGrand's "What Are You Doing The Rest Of Your Life" is the definitive version of this great classic and "Yesterday When I Was Young" is moving and well sung but nobody comes close to the extraordinary version by underground singing legend Ann Dee who does a naked and chilling version of this classic and makes it into a complete masterpiece! Bonus track "Fool On The Hill" is fine but the definitive version that is impossible to top is Petula Clark's stunning version...in concert Bassey does a wonderful Beatles Medley that is mind-blowing and always draws a wild standing ovation from her adoring crowds!!! This lady is a true singing legend and do not miss this engrossing classic set!! Enjoy as great singing doesn't get any better than this...BRAVO SHIRLEY

Recorded on the United Artists label in 1970 this is Shirley Bassey at her very best. Featuring her No.4 uk hit single "Something" and 11 other outstanding tracks, this is a "must have" for any Bassey fan, old or new. The CD is digitally remastered and contains the original UK release artwork. All tracks 5 star+, but outstanding tracks include "Yesterday When I Was Young" and "What are you doing the rest of your life" as well as "My Way" and the bonus track "The Fool On The Hill" (a UK chart entry in 1971)

I've been waiting years until they finally released this EXCEPTIONNAL ALBUM last October. The VERY BEST,VOCALS , LYRICS & ARRANGEMENTS are simply outstanding. Shirley gives all the feelings she's got towards LIFE! I'm now waiting for the "LOVE LIFE AND FEELINGS"(1976 album) to be released! BRAVO!BRAVO!

...This predecessor to Shirley's Something Else has the definitive versions for very soft rock (Light My Fire, Spinning Wheel, & Easy To Be Hard) & middle of the road (Yesterday I Heard the Rain, & My Way). Our Shirl really knew our to steal a song & do it much better. With Light... Jim Morrisson had to m.... on stage (Ugh!) to convey the s-e-x-ual connotations, Shirley justs purrs & bellts alternatingly with a very aggressive orchestral arrangement by Johnny Harris. Mr Harris was either her Don Costa, Eydie Gorme's best arranger; or her Nelson Riddle, Sinatra's & Ella's best. Johnny really knew how to showcase Shirley's considerable voice without the overpowering background orchestra. Shirley out Peggys Lee & out Ethels Merman when come to taking on their most famous respective vocal trait. Only Eydie rivals her in versstility but Ms. Gorme can't put across SEX like Ms. Bassey. Why don't Madonna, Mariah, & Whitney line up to take lessons from the master. They make the moola; now develop the talent! Back to the songs! Movie songs, You & I, & Life Goes On, are given such artitic life that one forgets the birth places. The former came from a forgettable musical, Goodbye Mr. Chips, & the latter's lyric's were not in one of the all time great films: Z. She completely make both songs her own. Yesterday When I Was Young is such a revealation. Again taking a song, this time from poor Roy Clark who blandly went through a magnifiient song. While I prefer Eydie's drmatization of it, singer & orchestra complement themselves quite admirably with Bassey's version. While Shirley did very well preHarris, she joined the big leagues with him. Fianlly, the title cut; SOMETHING is right! This completely oginaial version with oragan accompaniment makes one wonder if that British group would have had the nerve to do it if Shirley's version came out first. Buy this & Something Else for your artistic nourishment.

I love Shirley Bassey and I have to say that "Something" is one of her best. There is one particular track "Sea and Sand" that is my favorite song of hers, along with Goldfinger and several others. What a voice! I highly recommend this CD and any of her other CDs.

How could you give this cd anything but the best. I hope they keep releasing all of Shirley's albums on cd and we certainly have a lot of them to go. Where is the "Yesterdays" and "Love,Life & Feelings" cd. As much as I love her new cds I would love to hear more of this style from Shirley in the future.

There were songs EVERYONE had to cover in 1969, and many are on Shirley Bassey's Something.

"Something" is in fact The George Harrison song, which Frank Sinatra called "The greatest love song of all time." Bassey does it here as torch song, as she treats most of the work here. The brass and string arrangements are bold and full--think a funkier, jazzier approach to the way Barbara Streisand's her music.

"Light My Fire," "Easy To Be Hard," all the tracks in Something's extremely diverse pool of material are completely owned by Bassey. If you took the top forty hits of any week in 1969 and got the best singer to sing them in the world's classiest lounge as standards, you would wind up with this album. Listen to how the echoing horns on "Light My Fire" make it as if not more seductive than the Doors version.

Its hard to think about this today because music is not made like this anymore. Most "adult contemporary" is a backed by digital wash, and the world of Ed Sullivan and Merv Griffin--who would have provided a home for this type of sound-is long, long gone. There is no modern reference point to compare it too.

You have to put Something in "adult" 1969 context to really understand it, but once you do, you are in for amazing layers of dynamic sound, and a hell of a voice to go on top.

Every song on this CD is A-one and Shirley belts them out like nobody else can. This is the best CD ever released by one of the most talented singers to come out of the United Kingdom. The emotion that Shirley puts into these songs makes every song "Something" special. Her vocal range and the orchestral arrangements are exceptional. I would recommend this CD to anyone who loves great music. It's rare that you get a CD where all the songs are fantastic, but this is one such CD. Yet I have my favorites: "Something", "What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life?", "You and I" and "Light My Fire". I play them over and over again and they touch something deep inside of me every time. This is a very special CD by a very special singer.