Another Winner For Shirley Bassey

Though I must admit I am not a great fan of Andrew Lloyd Webber, I thoroughly enjoyed this disc. Miss Bassey brings her considerable vocal power and talent for dramatic interpretation to bear on what would otherwise be kitschy material, turning it into something resembling art.

Songs such as The Last Man In My Life, As If We Never Said Goodbye and Tell Me On A Sunday are brought brilliantly to life, with every emotional nuance squeezed from the material. This is a disc to savour repeatedly. If you are a Bassey fan, you will enjoy it wothout reservation; if you are a Webber fan, you will appreciate the songs being sung with an intensity and realism not often heard before.

All in all, a disc for the pleasure of almost everyone interested in quality singing and 20th century theater.

Gallant effort, but not the Shirley Bassey we all remember

Shirley Bassey, (a.k.a. the Welsh banshee, Bassey the Belter and the Tigress of Tiger Bay) has been a singing star for almost half a century, best remembered for singing the theme songs to the James Bond movies "Goldfinger" and "Diamonds Are Forever." However, the Shirley Bassey who "Sings the Songs of Andrew Lloyd Webber" on this album is not the same one we remember belting out those unforgettable movie themes. These songs are mostly done in the Bassey way, which is big and brassy, starting with the opening tune, "Memory" from "Cats." Similarly, "Starlight Express" sounds like it belongs in a nightclub act, but there are also songs that try something differences, such as "Chanson D'Enfance," which is sung in French to an accordion. The problem is that every time Bassey gears up to power through a part of a song, like in "Tell Me On a Sunday," it is always less than what you expect to hear. That means that slower, quieter songs like the first parts of "I Don't Know How to Love Him," "Macavity," and "Wishing Your Were Somehow Here Again" end up coming across better, where Bassey relies more on vocal phrasing than power vocals, and when she gets to the big part of the songs she is no longer up to the challenge. The bottom line is that this one is for fans of Bassey, who enjoy hearing her sing even as her considerable vocal talent slowly erodes, and will be less impressive to fans of the songs of Andrew Lloyd Webber. For Bassey fans this will be a 4; for Lloyd Webber fans this will be a 3.

It Could Have Been Better

Shirley Bassey was voted the best female vocalist in the last 50 years, and most of her recordings reflect that. However, this CD is the exception. I don't know if she was just having a bad day, but every song seems to be a struggle for her, and knowing Bassey, there was no reason to struggle! The only song on this CD that she manages to give the "Bassey treatment" to is "As If We Never Said Goodbye", and even it could have been better. The rest are hard to listen to. I love the picture on the cover though.