[ Post a Response | The Dame Shirley Bassey Message Board ]
Posted by Sandy on November 8, 2009, 10:46 pm
64.12.116.208
SUNDAY TIMES
From The Sunday Times
November 8, 2009
Shirley Bassey: The Performance
Dan Cairns
Following her imperious domination of the Electric Proms, the dame delivers her first full studio album in 20 years, singing songs written specially for her by artists such as Rufus Wainwright, Pet Shop Boys and, a blast from Bassey’s Bond-theme past, John Barry. She has recently complained about being labelled as merely a belter and, while there are moments here that justify that description, The Performance also serves as a reminder of Bassey’s genius for both phrasing — the key missing ingredient in today’s note-perfect but passionless manufactured emoting — and restraint. Tom Baxter (Almost There) and Gary Barlow (This Time) bring out the doubt beneath the bombast; the former finds Shirl imbuing a word as everyday as “foolish” with multisyllabic grandeur and bittersweet nostalgia, while Barlow’s mastery of Sondheimesque escalation is a marriage made in show-stopping heaven. The mid-album trio from Barry, Don Black, David McAlmont and David Arnold lean heavily back to the Bond days, and are the least interesting offerings here. Wainwright (Apartment) and KT Tunstall (Nice Men) home in on Bassey the skittish but regal vamp, while the Manic Street Preachers’ The Girl from Tiger Bay is a memory-lane pop beauty. Richard Hawley and PSB, with, respectively, the standouts, After the Rain and The Performance of My Life, bring the curtain down with the remorseful sigh that characterises this superb album’s finest moments.
Geffen 2720780
METROLIFE
Dame Shirley's in a class of her own
Dame Shirley Bassey: The Performance (Polydor)
By ARWA HAIDER - Monday, November 9, 2009
The Performance by Shirley Bassey
The starting point for this new collection, according to producer David Arnold, is that Dame Shirley Bassey's classic vocals shouldn't be consigned to greatest hits and Bond theme collections.
So The Performance features swish contemporary material tailor-made for that rich, sassy voice.
The high drama and crescendos come from the outset (a lavish adaptation of Tom Baxter's heart-rending Almost There; Rufus Wainwright's spicily camp Apartment), and never lose momentum thanks to her grand yet disarmingly warm delivery.
Highlights include the Pet Shop Boys' climactic The Performance Of My Life and the Manic Street Preachers' Welsh romance The Girl From Tiger Bay, but it's an exceptional album overall.
DSB hasn't merely reclaimed her star status; she's in a stratosphere all her own.
SUNDAY MERCURY
SHIRLEY BASSEY: The Performance
Nov 8 2009 by Jack Daniels, Sunday Mercury
(Polydor))
FOR Dame Shirley’s first studio album in more than 20 years each song has been written by a big name artist specifically for her.
It opens with the beautiful Almost There, by Tom Baxter, then comes Rufus Wainwright’s up-tempo Apartment, which mixes her trademark style with a world music backing. This Time by Take That’s Gary Barlow should be in a West End musical, while Nice Men by KT Tunstall shows off Bassey’s vocal range.
After The Rain by Richard Hawley and The Performance Of My Life by The Pet Shop Boys close the album on a high. JD
INDIELONDON
Dame Shirley Bassey - The Performance
Review by Jack Foley
product
IndieLondon Rating: 4 out of 5
IT’S A momentous release no matter how you view it… The Performance marks Dame Shirley Bassey’s first full studio album in over 20 years – and the wait was worth it.
Produced by David Arnold, the Grammy Award-winning producer best known for scoring five James Bond films, the 11-track album features songs written specifically for Dame Shirley by the likes of Take That’s Gary Barlow, The Manic Street Preachers, Pet Shop Boys, KT Tunstall and Rufus Wainwright.
It also features a new composition from John Barry and Don Black – the first new song written by them for Dame Shirley since Diamonds Are Forever.
For the most part, the album takes on a classic cinematic feel, with Dame Shirley’s oh-so distinct vocals effortlessly centre-stage. But some of the compositions lend the tracks a grandeur befitting her voice… flitting from 007-style bombast to South American verve.
I, personally, preferred the more upbeat, cinematically focused material. So, it was with trepidation that I embarked upon the rest of the album after hearing Tom Baxter’s slow-build opener Almost There… arguably one of the weaker entries.
But the album came to life immediately afterwards, with the lavish, Flamenco-backed Apartment, as penned by Rufus Wainwright. The mix of Spanish guitars, South American rhythm and Dame Shirley vocals is utterly intoxicating.
There’s a grand romanticism surrounding the piano-heavy This Time, as written by Gary Barlow, and nicely delivered by Dame Shirley… but I Love You Now just edges it for swoonsome quality and vivacious delivery.
John Barry and Don Black’s Our Time Is Now has a 007 quality that’s vaguely reminiscent of We Have All The Time In The World, and is beautifully composed and delivered.
While the David Arnold/Don Black collaboration No Good About Goodbye could also easily grace the soundtrack of an upcoming Bond soundtrack.
While two further highlights come from the upbeat The Girl From Tiger Bay, as co-written by Arnold with The Manic Street Preachers, and a wonderfully tender After The Rain (penned by Richard Hawley), which demonstrates a vulnerability that’s now always associated with Dame Shirley vocally.
In short, this is a collection that should delight every fan, while broadening this singer’s appeal still further.
Download picks: Apartment, I Love You Now, After The Rain, Our Time Is Now, The Girl From Tiger Bay, No Good About Goodbye
Track listing:
Almost There
Apartment
This Time
I Love You Now
Our Time Is Now
As God Is My Witness
No Good About Goodbye
The Girl From Tiger Bay
Nice Men
After The Rain
The Performance Of My Life
Message Thread:
« Back to thread