This Is the Life [Import, Original recording reissued, Original recording remastered]

Matt Monro | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (February 26, 1997)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import, Original recording reissued, Original recording remastered
• Label: EMI Europe Generic
• ASIN: B000005RRV
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Vinyl
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #137,798 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. I'm Glad There Is You

2. This Is The Life

3. You're Gonna Hear From Me

4. I'll Take Romance

5. Strangers In The Night

6. On A Clear Day (You Can See Forever)

7. Sweet Lorraine

8. My Best Girl

9. On A Wonderful Day Like Today

10. Merci Cherie

11. Honey On The Vine

12. When Joanna Loved Me

13. Real Live Girl

14. When Sunny Gets Blue

15. Laura

16. People

17. Here's To My Lady

18. The Good Life

19. You've Got Possibilities

20. Rain Sometimes

See all 22 tracks on this disc

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Monro CD is sublime, February 10, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: This Is the Life (Audio CD)

Matt Monro, Brit's answer to Frank Sinatra is often overlooked when it comes to male singers, such as Jack Jones, Al Martino, Buddy Greco, Vic Damone. But Monro, who's best know for crooning the Bond theme "From Russia With Love," has a supple, endearing and rich voice and in this double album he uses it with force and sparingly to swing with some wonderful numbers. Especially good is the oft-overlooked "You've Got Possibilities" from Broadway's Superman. Sid Feller offers some lush arrangements.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars No title, February 23, 2011

By 

Charles E. Melvin, Jr. - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: This Is the Life (Audio CD)

This was an older remastered recording but was still very listenable. I particularly like Matt Monroe--prefer him to any other male snger of his era.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Two great albums from 1966 and 1967, April 3, 2009

By 

Peter Durward Harris "Pete the music fan" (Leicester England) - See all my reviews
(TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: This Is the Life (Audio CD)

Matt Monro was Britain's best balladeer of his generation. Comparisons with other singers, particularly Frank Sinatra, are inevitable, but Matt carved out his own niche and his music remains popular more than twenty years after his death. The two albums presented here are the first two that he recorded after switching labels from Parlophone to Capitol, although both of those labels are part of EMI so the distinction is academic now, even if it wasn't at the time.

Following a string of hits in the UK charts, Matt re-located to America and he had only one further UK hit single thereafter, and that was a minor hit in 1973. So you won't find any of his own hits here, but I'm not sure if any of the tracks were released as singles. In the sixties, it was quite common for tracks to be released either on singles or on albums but not both. People didn't have so much money for music then and if they could afford an album, they certainly didn't want it to contain music they'd already bought as singles. These two albums therefore contain a selection of love songs, mainly slow ballads, but with the occasional up-tempo song to provide variety.

The first album, This is the life, features several songs that were oldies even in the sixties, while the second album, Here's to my lady, is generally more contemporary, but the two albums sit comfortably together and if you don't know when each song was written, you won't be able to tell from listening to them (though you might from reading the composer credits). One of the most famous songs here is Strangers in the night, a cover of one of Frank Sinatra's classic songs. In some ways, it was brave of Matt to record it, because there were those who accused him of being a Sinatra copyist. He wasn't, but if you buy this or one of Matt's compilations containing Strangers in the night, you can compare his version with Frank's. Yes, there are similarities, but Matt was not Frank's clone. Other great songs, which Matt sings in his own way, include People, You've got possibilities, I'll take romance, On a clear day and On a wonderful day like today, to name a few.

There are plenty of great songs here, some famous, some obscure, but if you like Matt's music and you've already got a hits compilation, you'll love this twofer.