Very Best of Harry Belafonte [Original recording remastered]

Harry Belafonte | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (November 6, 2001)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Original recording remastered
• Label: RCA
• ASIN: B00005RDCD
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,840 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #1 in Music > World Music > Caribbean & Cuba > Calypso
  • #2 in Music > World Music > Caribbean & Cuba > General
  • #2 in Music > World Music > Caribbean & Cuba > General AAS

Editorial Reviews

Harry Belafonte, Very Best of Harry Belafonte

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good enough, but easily could have been GREAT..., August 2, 2003

By 

William E. Adams (Midland, Texas USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Very Best of Harry Belafonte (Audio CD)

Your assignment: Review the singles and album tracks Harry laid down for RCA between 1952 and 1970. Pick 22 selections which represent his Calypso energy, his ballad sensitivity, his race, his beliefs, his pop market hits during the height of his career (1956-62, in my opinion.) Throw in an early side or two, a novelty song or two. The people with that assignment ended up with this CD. I would have created one with at least six different songs. So would anybody. As some other reviewers have noted, it is inexplicable that "Matilda" and "Turn Around" and "Kingston Market" and maybe "Abraham, Martin and John" are not here. They would have been wiser choices, for my tastes, than "Done Laid Around" and "I'm Just a Country Boy" and "Hold 'em Joe" and "Two Brothers" and perhaps even "Bam Bam Bamba" which is Harry's version of "La Bamba", made famous in 1958 (two years later) by the late Ritchie Valens. However, there are many fine performances here: "Day-O" and "Angelina" and "Jump Down Spin Around" and "Jump in the Line" and "Jamaica Farewell" and "Island in the Sun" and "Man Smart" make the CD worth owning if you lack them on other Harry discs. "Scarlet Ribbons" from 1952 and "Mary's Boy Child" from '56 close the album on a solemn note. Was it a good choice to have the slow songs outnumber the catchy ones? Personal taste rules. Was it wise to lay out the songs in this order, which is not strictly chronological, and in fact, to me, has no obvious sense to it? Personal taste again. I found my CD at a bargain price, about half the current retail amount, so I am content. But this isn't the complete and total one-disc best of Belafonte it should have been. And since he didn't end his RCA contract until 1970, but the disc has no song younger than 1961 on it, it appears the compilers are telling us that HB produced not a single song in nine years worthy of inclusion. I find that hard to believe. Still, this looks like the best overall Harry CD on the market right now.

25 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent BUT..., March 16, 2002

By 

R. Riis "rriis" (NY) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Very Best of Harry Belafonte (Audio CD)

A well-packed CD with sound much improved from the old RCA Greatest Hits volumes, but two glaring omissions cost this compilation a five-star rating : where is "Matilda" and "Turn Around"? The search for the definitive one-disk Belafonte anthology goes on...

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not what I expected but..., February 25, 2002

By 

Queen Merla (NJ, USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Very Best of Harry Belafonte (Audio CD)

I heard the songs Day-O and Jump in the Line on Beetlejuice and found myself singing them at work--so i decided to buy the CD. When I looked it up I decided to buy this CD rather than the Beetlejuice soundtrack so I could hear more of his work. The other songs are VERY VERY different from the two I had heard before, but I enjoyed them all. It is an excellent CD. I especially like the way Belafonte sings Gomen Nasai (Forgive Me), it is an interesting interpretation for a Japanese song.