Very Best of

Steve Lawrence | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (March 1, 1995)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Taragon
• ASIN: B000003H6I
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #50,691 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Prety Blue Eyes

2. I Hear a Rhapsody

3. There'll Be Some Changes Made

4. Loving Is a Way of Living

5. Somebody Else Is Taking My Place

6. Why, Why, Why

7. Footsteps

8. You're Everything Wonderful

9. (I Don't Care) Only Love Me

10. You're Nearer

11. You Don't Know

12. Come Back, Silly Girl

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Best of Steve Lawrence/ His ABC-Paramount Years, March 23, 2002

By A Customer

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

Steve Lawrence recorded for many labels throughout his career,
having hit singles on several of them.

This compilation from Taragon represents some of his best tracks
for the ABC-Paramount label, for which he recorded in 1959 and
1960.

Most of the selections utilize double tracking and echo,
popular techniques for singles back then.
Two of them, "Footsteps" and "Pretty Blue Eyes" were giant hits.
The remaining songs have that Top 40 sound in a similar vein.

"Loving is a Way of Living" writen by Burt Bacharach/Hal David
"Come Back Silly Girl" written by Barry Mann, and "Why, Why, Why"
written by Teddy Randazzo, are other favorites that might have been radio hits
if they had been given enough airplay.
But for reasons unknown to me, they fell through the cracks.

"You Don't Know" is a beautiful romantic ballad certain to
please those who like Steve's inimitable crooner style.

By far, not the best work of his career, but definitely an
enjoyable collection.

Recommended.

13 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Steve's Early Years 1959-1960, July 23, 1998

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

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

Songs on this CD were recorded from 1959 to 1960 (according to the CD insert). Steve seems to have been at a transition period here. About four of the songs are in the pop rock category, like "Pretty Blue Eyes" and "Footsteps". The other songs are more like your mom and dad would listen to. Steve eventually sang more for the adult crowd when he teamed up with Eydie Gorme. Sound quality is excellent. All songs are in true stereo. The following statement is contained in the CD insert: "This compilation was made from the best original stereo 2-track master tapes available at MCA Records. Documentation shows that the multi-track session tapes were destroyed in the 1970's". Final note: noticeably missing on this CD (in my opinion) is "Poor Little Rich Girl", a great pop rock song from this same time frame.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fabulous lost oldies!!!, July 2, 2008

By 

Oldies Freak "Ron" (Salt Lake City, UT) - See all my reviews

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

I have in my old 45's collection several of Steve Lawrence's ABC-Paramount singles including "Footsteps", "Loving Is A Way Of Living", and "Why, Why Why". They are in terrible shape and barely playable, so I have been looking for years for a CD release with Steve's ABC-Paramount singles. This CD is fantastic! The 2-track stereo mix is crystal clear and sounds great with Steve's voice right in the middle. Why these tracks are so hard to find on CD I don't know. I hope it isn't because Steve is embarrassed by these songs from his early career, because these are great tracks. I also don't understand why only a couple of these tracks ever made the top 40. Maybe the record company did a lousy job of marketing them! I am still looking for a CD release of Steve's early sixties singles that were released on Columbia, such as Go Away Little Girl, Poor Little Rich Girl, and Don't Be Afraid Little Darlin'. Please, somebody release them!