THE WONDERFUL
WITH GEOFF LOVE & HIS ORCHESTRA
TRACK LISTING
SIDE ONE
1. A FOGGY DAY IN LONDON TOWN
2. I'VE GOT YOU UNDER MY SKIN
3. CRY ME A RIVER
4. APRIL IN PARIS
5. I'VE NEVER BEEN IN LOVE BEFORE
6. THE MAN THAT GOT AWAY
SIDE TWO
1. S'WONDERFUL
2. I'LL REMEMBER APRIL
3. EASY TO LOVE
4. NO ONE EVER TELLS YOU
5. THEY CAN'T TAKE THAT AWAY FROM ME
6. THE PARTY'S OVER
Produced by Norman Newell
P1959 EMI Records Limited
What can one
write about an impeccable album such as this? All manner of superlatives have
been used by critics and record reviewers to describe the work of Shirley Bassey,
and they can be summed up in a single word - talent. When you back Shirley
Bassey, in the performance of twelve great songs, with the skill of Geoff Love,
who scored all the arrangements, and the perfection of his musicians, to say
nothing of the production genius of Norman Newell, you have a rapport that can
hardly fail to produce a performance that is superb. It is rather like feeding
all the correct information into a computer which, in turn, produces the correct
solution to the problem. There, of course, the similarity ends-the computer
lacking the vital ingredient of the warmth of human emotion.
Miss Bassey
is undoubtedly one of the most outstanding artists to have arrived upon the
British popular music scene in the past two decades. When the titles on this
album were recorded, she had already achieved worldwide success; yet, in her
early twenties as she then was, she had developed a maturity and command of
performance that usually arrive much later in the lives of most successful
artists.
Watch her at
work on the theatre stage, and you quickly realise that here is the one hundred
per cent professional. Every action is carefully rehearsed and is fitted to
something in the orchestration, and in putting over her songs she makes full use
of her dynamic personality and physical attraction. It is, however, a challenge
for any artist to project his or her personality on a gramophone record where
there are no visual aids, and in this Shirley Bassey is always completely
successful. Listen to the album, close your eyes, and you can imagine every
stage movement.