{"id":3324,"date":"2020-11-18T07:39:46","date_gmt":"2020-11-18T07:39:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/?p=3324"},"modified":"2020-11-18T08:24:32","modified_gmt":"2020-11-18T08:24:32","slug":"shirley-bassey-keeps-her-promise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/2020\/11\/18\/shirley-bassey-keeps-her-promise\/","title":{"rendered":"SHIRLEY BASSEY KEEPS HER PROMISE"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

SHIRLEY BASSEY KEEPS HER PROMISE<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

with new album, I Owe It All To You<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

by Norman Warwick<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The title of the new collection from Dame Shirley Bassey quotes her as saying I Owe It All To You (left).<\/strong> Sadly it is described in Decca\u00b4s press releases as a grande finale from a lady who first went into a recording studio in 1957. She has, of course a hard-earned right to call it a day, but Tim De Lisle in his review in The Mail On Sunday of November 1st<\/sup> 2020 mischievously reminds us that in show business, \u00b4finale\u00b4 is just another word for encore. To pour a little fuel on that fire, it also has to be said that the album shows Bassey to be still in fine vocal form, even at the age of 83.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her strong voice even now rebukes the primary school teacher who once told her to \u00b4back off\u00b4 during choir practice. Even now, if a track of this album were to be played on the radio with no introduction you would still recognise that voice as soon as you heard it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

From Broadway standards, (and she has performed and recorded so many of those) she has moved on to Bond themes, (and how poignant, somehow, that the release of this album coincides with the death of Sean Connery). This is an accomplished, stylish recording.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

De Lisle pens a sentence to describe the singer and this album  that will surely make its way, (if it hasn\u00b4t already) way on to some imminent p.r. output. Of the album he says, \u00b4\u00edt\u00b4s classy, it\u00b4s brassy, it\u00b4s sassy,\u2026it\u00b4s Bassey !\u00b4<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After a 30-second overture the first track proper is Who Wants To Live Forever by Queen. It takes guts to cover Freddie Mercury \u2013 and lungs. First purring, then roaring, Bassey makes the song her own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The tracks that follows are quite unlike Queen but all are very like this Dame. She roams from music associated with Barry Manilow to the modernity of Beyonc\u00e9, from John Miles to Albinoni, from Lady Gaga to Charlie Chaplin (a superb remake of Smile, putting on more than a brave face). This particular song is, surely, one of the most uplifting aphorisms ever recorded; right up there with Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Tom Jones<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Bassey\u2019s charisma comes laced with reality: like another Welsh legend, Tom Jones, she started out working in a factory \u2013 making gloves in his case, munitions in hers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are a couple of mis-hits. Her cover of Always On My Mind only goes to prove that nobody can really match classic version by Elvis Presley. A re-recording of  her own Ain\u2019t Heard Nothing Yet doesn\u00b4t actually match up to her own earlier version<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The song is not to be confused, of course,  You Ain\u2019t Seen<\/em><\/strong> Nothing Yet by Bachman-Turner Overdrive: but come to think of it, that is a song she really could do justice, I reckon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The only new song is the title track, written by Don Black, (left)<\/strong> who gave her Diamonds Are Forever. A natural-born showstopper, I Owe It All To You is My Way with less grandstanding and more gratitude. A song for someone more humble than Frank Sinatra.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a spoken introduction Bassey confesses that her fan base \u2018has (always) been my bread and wine.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It only adds to the suspicion that she\u2019ll be back. Though she has given us such a career and such a catalogue of amazing interpretations that she could call her follow up album I Don\u00b4t You Any More and it would be very appropriate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is we who are in debt to her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Dame Shirley Bassey<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Even now, if a track of this album were to be played on the radio with no introduction you would still recognise that voice as soon as you heard it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3333,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3324","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3324","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3324"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3324\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3334,"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3324\/revisions\/3334"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3333"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3324"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3324"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3324"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}