Customer Reviews

Stranger on the Shore: Anthology

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

 

 

I'm 70-years-old, and have survived a variety of musical fads and tastes, but this instrumental by Acker Bilk is my all-time favorite.

Many years ago--in the late 'fifties--on the way to Portland in my car, I heard this song on the radio. It hit me hard. I almost braked, I was so stunned by its beauty. The B-flat clarinet was absolutely soulful. It was as if the tune had been written and performed especially for me and had been written in my soul.

Since then, my daughter--now grown and with a couple of grandchildren--when she was in grade school, learned to play the clarinet so that she could play it for me. She knew how I loved it.

No other artist does it like Acker Bilk.

Probably everyone has heard it by now, but if you have not, may I recommend it to you?

Although the songs are done well, "Stranger on the Shore" is not the song that was the number one song of the year in 1963. It reminds me of Rick[y] Nelson's performance at Madison Square Garden; it was not the same! Stranger on the Shore has been made "new and improved [?]" and does not have the Leon Young Corale nor the distictive ending. Ending,what ending! This is not the song that was my closing theme song as a disc jockey.

I thought this was not his old style like on the original vinyl. The selections on "Some of the Best" are much more like it. Even "Stranger on the Shore" sounds different.

It gets kind of confusing with so many different CDs by Acker Bilk titled Stranger on the Shore, Best of AB, Very Best of, etc. What is even more confusing is that Amazon uses the same reviews for all of them even though they have different tracks and they all have different versions of Stranger on the Shore - the song most people buy the CD for.

My five star rating only pertains to the CD title Stranger on the Shore by Mr. Acker Bilk with the Leon Young String Chorale. Import 1988. Buy this CD if you want the very beautiful original recording of Stranger on the Shore. There are some other excellent tracks on here as well. I had bought another Stranger on the Shore;Best of Acker Bilk CD and was very disappointed in it. Maybe 2 stars at the most.

The last thing is that when I ordered this CD Amazon sent me the wrong one. It seems they are confused also, but they charged me the $21.49 price for this CD and sent me a different one that sells for a lower price. It was not the version that I wanted and not the one that I ordered. Then they were going to charge me to return it because they said it was my error when it was clearly theirs. It was finally resolved correctly after several emails.

I absolutely love this album.It is one of the greatest albums you can buy.The song Stranger on the Shore is beautiful.Especialy when it is played on the clarinet.It's a very relaxing album.I would recommend this to anybody.

Acker Bilk is great but this is a terrible CD and should not reflect upon him. These are reworked cuts that were probably never meant to see the light of day. The best thing about this CD was the case it came in which I can use again because the CD will go missing!

This is a masterpiece. Actually, Stranger on the Shore was always considered "our song" by my ex-husband and myself. Unfortunately, we are now divorced, but the song brings back so many wonderful memories and brings tears to my eyes every time I hear it played.

After hearing the song again on Mad Men, I came here and chose this CD because it has my 3 favorite Acker Bilk songs, Stranger on the Shore, Petite Fleur and La Mer. It seems like there is much more of the strings on this CD than on my original vinyl from the Roots of British Rock (mentioned by others here and buy it if it comes out on CD). I was used to it by the third time I listened but none of the 3 songs I like best seem as funky and pretty as the originals. Still it is a pretty good CD that I will listen too often.

This is one of the most deeply moving songs I have ever heard. The interesting thing is, I had a dream 2 nights ago that a young, brown haired man was playing this song to me on a trumpet. The trumpet was old and worn looking. I woke up humming the tune and asked a few people if they recognized it. The funny thing is, every time I hummed it, it made me cry. It's my birthday today (the 28th) so I just decided my dad played it for me for my birthday from the beyond. It is also interesting, however, that the song was released in Oct. 1961, which was 50 years ago. Elise Thank you Acker Bilk!

I love the way he plays that clarinet, the deepest bass to the highest treble, he knows how to do it.