BOBBY DARIN = GREATEST GENTLEMAN OF SONG!!!!

In the late 1950's, God bless my older sister for all of the great singers she turned me on to and none better than Bobby Darin!!! Sis must have played "Beyond The Sea" hundreds of times and I never tired of it!!! We loved Frank, but Bobby was it!! When the compact disc started I decided to complete my Bobby Darin collection and have purchased every release available on this great under-appreciated artist!! When I came to this collection I was completely amazed and blown away!! From the boarding on "Alabamy Bound", you know that you are in for a great ride and it is a wildly exciting one!!! "Blue Skies" are beautiful and clearer than ever before and the pathos of "You'll Never Know" may draw a tear!! Who could take something corny like "Standing On The Corner" and make it great??? Another lightweight "I'm Beginning To See The Light" becomes really great to listen to and you soon realize there is no stopping this giant!!! "The Good Life" and "I Wanna Be Around" were Tony Bennett (who is a really fine singer!) singles but are more gutsy and soulful in Bobby's versions. Bobby does "Just In Time" haunting and ethereal and never before has this song had an interpretation like this! Standards such as There's A Rainbow On My Shouldler" and "All By Myself" will have you humming these tunes for months (in my case years!) on end and every song in this incredible collection is dynamite and done to the max...don't miss this classic as never again will a singer or collection equal this level of greatness...thank you Bobby Darin!

Bobby was Incapable of the Second Rate!!!

In fact, it's tough to find anyone, who died at such a young age (37),and left behind such an oeuvre of popular songs! The question is,"Why is Bobby so underrated today?" True,other sounds come and go,and he did pass on in 1973. Still,he covered just about every type of tune, from teen-age, adult jazz/pop, folk-rock,and wrote some of his best material. This "Great Gentlemen" collection shows him at his swingin best.True, some of the material is not first rate (could you imagine Sinatra doing "Standing on the Corner? No,that's a Dino type.) But everything here is top of the line,even given some less than superior songs.My favorite is "A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square" dating from WWII England,and just about always done as a ballad. The arrangement here flies right along with some of the best swinging horns ever. The Billy May arrangements do fly,and Bobby was smart (and lucky) to get such veterans. This is essential Bobby,along with his GREATEST HITS, II,which includes the phenomenal "Beyond the Sea", "Mack the Knife", and "Artificial Flowers". Try to get them both at some point in the near future.

Bobby with his best voice on

This is SPLENDID collection of the classic swingin' Bobby, including several "unreleased" versions including the perked-up "STANDING ON THE CORNER". B.D. shows off his tangy, confident style with a good selection of standards and then some (try "OH! LOOK AT ME NOW". The real bonus of this album (like all of the "Capitol Spotlight" series, etc) is the TERRIFFIC quality of these re-mastered versions - wow! "I'M BEGINNING TO SEE THE LIGHT" is a perfect example - as sweet and rich as if it were recorded yesterday (instead of 30 years ago). Short of unique in song selection (and lacking many of his "biggest" hits) this is still a sweet addition to your Bobby section.