Customer Reviews

Ultimate Collection

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is my first Bertie Higgins album, so I can't compare it to his others. Until this album I only knew him from his mega-hit Key Largo. It's a great song, but played so much on the radio that I almost got sick of it. Unfortunately not many of his other songs got as much radio play and that's a shame. Bertie has a rich clear voice and lot of great songs that transport you away to the islands or to south Florida. Comparisons to Jimmy Buffet are probably inevitable, since they both seem to sing about layed-back liesure or island living. Jimmy's fans are known as parrotheads and Bertie's are boneheads. You might think he copied Buffet and just changed a few things. Perhaps he did to some extent (Buffet was one of his inspirations), but I think that Higgins is a much better singer than Buffet, as much as I like Jimmy Buffet. Sure, the pirate theme seems something contrived and gimmicky and perhaps gets a little silly at times, but it doesn't detract from the fine quality of the songs. There are a lot of songs here; it's a good collection of Bertie's best, I think. One of the traps that a themed based singer can fall into is having all his songs sound alike. Each of Bertie's songs sound different. He also doesn't have one those voices where every song sounds the same, which you find more so with Buffet and various other singers. There is enough variety in his delivery and the sound of his voice to make this interesting and enjoyable; not the same song over and over again. The themes of most of the songs may be the same, but the variety is still there and that's quite a difficult thing to achieve.

I, first heard the opening track to this cd, casablanca being sung by a wonderful singer called nancy wilson, if you havn,t heard her you must a fantastic voice, at the time i had no idea the song had in part had been written by bertie higgins i then heard his version on radio 2 having heard it i went on to his website to check out what else he had done as i must confess i,d not heard of him before on the site their are two videos to accompany the casablanca track the one i would recommend is the 4m 58s version this starts with a scene from the film in which humphrey bogat is talking to ingrid bergman then into the song Wow, that was it i had to find out what else he had done and theirs so many albums and tracks that i decided to go for the ultimate collection , and i,ve not been dissopointed a great double album of middle of the road songs easy listening upbeat music in fact i would call it a sunshine happy album, a great duet with roy orbison on LEAH, a wonderful cover of the beach boys kokomo and Elvis presleys it,s now or never , just a great album most of the tracks he has in part written himself ,I would love to see him in concert.

Terry Stapley

Bertie Higgins is one of those underrated, low-key artists that never received the limelight they deserved. Which is probably good for us, the fans, as most of my friends who love Higgins share the same characteristics - low-key. All tracks in this collection are superb although only 3 of them (Key Largo, Casablanca and Just Another Day in Paradise) received much attention previously. Which sort of makes this album sounds brand new. If you are looking for something fancy and noisy you won't find it here. This album offers soothing and calm and is great for people who are looking for that little "paradise" - I could almost feel that I was on a remote tropical island when I played this album and closed my eyes....Do not miss it!

Bertie Higgins' music should be playing all over the air waves. There isn't a bad song in the whole collection. If there was a higher rating than five stars, I would give it. Real feel good music.

Many of these cuts are at least a decade old but still sound fresh. The CD has reportedly gone double platinum in the Pacific Rim nations which is unheard of anywhere for a collection CD. If you like tropical rock and realize there is more to it then the Cheeseburger in Paradise guy you should dig The Ultimate Collection. Higgins is still performing,mostly on the west coast, where he and his sons own a movie production company in Burbank, CA.Their latest action flick staring Tom Sizemore should be on a screen near you fairly soon.

I had purchased his first 2 LPS and enjoyed them immensly years ago. The CD is a superb collection of almost all original songs. They are excellent and for the most part are all in the tropical mode. His covers of "Kokomo" and "If you want to be happy" are great. He has a unique and peaceful voice and he should have had more pop hits and should be a fixture on the concert stage. I hope some day he will come back to Atlanta for a concert. His songs "Christiansted" and "Florda" stand out beyond his hits and his duet with Roy Orbison on "Leah" is great, although it was not one of my favorite Orbison songs. This is great relaxing CD to listen too and is well engineered.

Bertie Higgins CD was a great one that few people know of. If you want some great listening music, purchase this CD, you won't regret it.

Wow, you can see Lauren Bacall and Humphrey Bogart in Key West just close your eyes and listen. What a great collection of songs. Mr. Higgins is mostly know for his hit "Key West" but the other songs are excellent, they really are. You gotta try this. Just listen to the samples at the Amazon site. What a great collection of songs. I really would like to see this guy in concert.

Bertie Higgins is a wonderful singer and his music has some classic lines that won't soon be forgotten. My only problem with this album is that an "ultimate" collection should really have his best work on it. This would mean including virtually every song from "Just Another Day in Paradise" and "Pirates & Poets." This collection omits classics like Leah and Marianna that should have found a place within. Nevertheless, it is a great collection and includes my all time favorites like "Candledancer" and "Pirates & Poets"... and of course, "Casablanca."

Bertie Higgins is just a very average singer with a limited vocal range. He only ever had two hits in his career, namely "Key Largo" (no.8 Hot 100)and "Just Another Day In paradise (no.46). For me, the song that really stands out on this album is "Casablanca" which I think would have been a hit had it been released as a single. The other tracks are unfortunately quite forgetable. It's remarkable how the record label managed to come out with a two disc "ultimate" collection for an artiste with so little success!