[ Post a Response | The Dame Shirley Bassey Message Board ]

Critical Reception of 'The Performance'

Posted by Vanya on November 3, 2009, 2:28 am
217.42.102.72

The Times review of the CD completes a quartet of very positive reviews of this CD from the broadsheet newspapers. They may well be some of the most thoughtful, incisive and well observed reviews of Bassey's career. Uniquely, there is at last a generous acknowledgment of the Olympian levels of talent possessed by this lady. Too often in the past there was a squirming, haughty and derisive attitude towards the high camp public profile of Bassey as diamond encrusted diva. Those of us who have followed her career, though, we always knew that Shirley was in on the joke. In fact she had a knowing, ironic self-reflexive attitude towards aspects of her stage persona long before it had become fashionable to be 'postmodern.' Behind the irony, the feather boas and the high octane drama of some of the songs, however, was a singular and indisputable fact: Shirley Bassey is a hugely gifted vocalist and entertainer. The reviews all now make this point ungrudgingly. Here is the Times take on the new album: http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/music/cd_reviews/article6895666.ece -Vanya

---

Message Thread: Critical Reception of 'The Performance' - Vanya November 3, 2009, 2:28 am Re: Critical Reception of 'The Performance' - Jeff November 3, 2009, 6:41 am Re: Critical Reception of 'The Performance' - Marc November 3, 2009, 6:31 am Re: Critical Reception of 'The Performance' - simon November 3, 2009, 8:02 am Re: Critical Reception of 'The Performance' - Paul November 3, 2009, 9:45 am Re: Critical Reception of 'The Performance' - Brian November 3, 2009, 10:03 am Re: Critical Reception of 'The Performance' - Vanya November 3, 2009, 2:05 pm Re: Critical Reception of 'The Performance' - Philip November 3, 2009, 2:15 pm « Back to thread

---

Post a Response