The Very Best Of Beverley Craven [IMPORT]

Beverley Craven

Product Details

• Audio CD (July 12, 2004)
• Original Release Date: August 24, 2004
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Label: Sbme Import
• ASIN: B0002848X0
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #215,039 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars Not as well known as it deserves to be, April 11, 2007

By	A. Griffiths "Adrian" (London) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Beverley Craven has an enchanting understated voice and a skillful style of songwriting. Her first big hit "Promise Me" touched many people with it's intimate and personal style, and was a great success. Sadly the praise was shortlived, and even though the album sold remarkabley well for some time, being a great singer and songwriter as well as a beautiful woman to boot did not ensure lasting success for Beverley, which is a real pity. This may have been due to her being pigeonholed as a "woman's" artist and perceived as anodyne and unadventurous. This was probably because the follow up singles to "Promise Me" did not have the same surprising depth, and they were too quickly dismissed as restaurant background music. It's true that Beverley's music is somewhat un-challenging, but it's still very good and should be appreciated for the strengths that it does have.

You can see from the tracklisting on this CD where Beverley Craven's success lies...6 of the tracks are from her first (and best) album, followed by only four from the other two. There's a clue here as to what you should do...buy the first album! Then if you like it buy the other two. So why not have just this hits package? Because ALL the remaining tracks from the first album are too good to do without. Without "You're Not The First", "I Listen To The Rain" and "Missing You", Beverley's initial output really does sound rather bland. Those three tracks contribute to her other moods, and should be heard to round out the impression...particularly the very sad "I Listen To The Rain" and "Missing You", which are superbly written and performed tracks.

The second album has fairly good representation, with the strong "Love Scenes" worth hearing in particular, but missing out one of it's other highlights, which was "Look No Further" - again, another chance to hear Beverley's personal take on relationships rather than the usual romantic lyrics. It would have been interesting to include her cover of Abba's "The Winner Takes it All" as well, as this track polarised opinions: some listeners hated it with a passion, while others applauded it's unusual style. As for the third album, I have not got it so I can't comment on its missing tracks. But as it stands, you won't know how good some of Beverley Craven's other songs are if you just buy this compilation.

1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars i like all , December 30, 2005

By	mtt "Tom" (VietNam) - See all my reviews

i love this album .