Customer Reviews

Tribute (Dig)

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

 

 

The late Wally Harper created Barbara Cook's cabaret career when she was finished as a ingenue; this is a tribute to him in the best possible way. Flawed only by a too-cute arrangement of "Hurry It's Lovely Up Here" (partly redeemed with a rare verse - but it's always dangerous for anyone to sing anything Barbara Harris did, even this Barbara - not to mention Barbra). Incredibly the voice, in its mid-seventies now, is virtually the same as it has been for at least thirty years (sans a few high notes), with the experiences of a long life enhancing it. Cook has had the greatest singing actress career in total, and this or any of her other recordings belong on the same shelf with Billie Holiday, early Streisand, Mabel Mercer, Nina Simone, Judy Garland and Ella Fitzgerald. Cook embodies elements of all of them, which is unique. Young singers, get her Sondheim DVD for the master class bonus.

If you are looking at this page, you know Barbara Cook.

If you know Barbara Cook, you will know that there is no other singer alive who can sing like she can.

If you like Barbara Cook, you will LOVE this album.

Smiles and tears...a heartfelt tribute to the genius of Wally Harper...songs new, songs old, songs revisited...all graced with the perfection that I have come to expect from the greatest musical theatre singer of her or any other generation.

Buy this album!!!

I've been a long time fan--back to the Brothers and Sisters days, and think I have every recording. This new recording is beautiful with the expected exquisite phrasing. But when you think about the relationship between Ms. Cook and Mr. Harper, each selection and interpretation becomes especially moving.

I recommend this very highly even if you don't know Ms Cook's work. It's beautiful and haunting.

Each track is different. "Last Night" is haunting. Wonderful songs sung with elan and finesse. She knows how to tell a story lyrically and poignantly. This CD makes you want to see her in person!

At this point in her remarkable career, it seems almost pointless to offer an opinion about anything the great Barbara Cook does. Their aren't enough adjectives - they've all been overused long ago. Perhaps another language could better explain what it is she does. Unfortunately, I only speak English, and I find it wholly inadequate here.

Barbara Cook is obviously a person who was put upon this planet to counteract all the strife, ugliness and hate we experience on a daily basis. She projects an ultimate calm, an inescapable hope, a longed for sense of peace and beauty in a world gone mad. She can do more good with a lyric and a tune than all the politicians on earth. She makes you wish there was at least one more of her so that the world might be twice as good. She is, simply, Barbara Cook.

This present CD is, of course, stunning. As usual. When one understands its' reason for being, as a tribute to her long time friend and partner in music, Wally Harper, it becomes all the more touching.

One feels Ms. Cook has allowed us to share with her, through music, a very private moment, that while she grieves the loss, she can still celebrate his memory.

This, then, is not only a great CD, it is very unique. It allows us, in Barbara Cook's special language, to celebrate the life of her friend, the late Wally Harper.

How extraordinarily generous of her.