Shirley Bassey - Let's Face The Music And Dance

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 40:41
Size: 93.1 MB
Styles: Vocal, Easy Listening
Year: 1962/1999
Art: Front

[3:05] 1. Let's Face The Music And Dance
[3:53] 2. I Should Care
[3:01] 3. Let's Fall In Love
[4:29] 4. The Second Time Around
[3:59] 5. Imagination
[3:05] 6. All The Things You Are
[2:46] 7. I Get A Kick Out Of You
[3:10] 8. Everything I Have Is Yours
[3:57] 9. Spring Is Here
[2:41] 10. All Of Me
[3:37] 11. I Can't Get You Out Of My Mind
[2:52] 12. What Now, My Love

Bassey's fourth EMI/Columbia album is regarded as the magnum opus of her pre-Goldfinger career, bringing her together with conductor/arranger Nelson Riddle. (Ironically, it was Riddle's still being under contract to Capitol Records which prevented him from working with Sinatra on Reprise at the time, that made this record possible). Riddle approached this album from the standpoint that less is more, providing elegant and subdued accompaniment that emphasized the strings. Bassey's voice comes across with a delicacy of nuance that is startling to hear, achieving new levels of subtlety on this album. One may disagree with the order of the songs -- the moodily expressive "I Should Care," reminiscent of Judy Garland at her best, would be the ideal opener -- but not with the overall content of this album. Throughout Let's Face the Music, one almost gets a sense of Bassey slipping inside these songs, becoming part of them and they her, rather than merely performing them. The interpretations are fresh in other respects as well, with works such as "Let's Fall in Love" or "The Second Time Around" given unexpectedly slow tempos that work beautifully. Riddle is so careful and measured in his every orchestral nuance of this record, that he leaves us open to surprises at many points, perhaps most startlingly the sudden appearance of a harp glissando on "Spring Is Here," after we've been lulled into the expectation that no part of this orchestra will play full-out. Re-released in the late 1990s as part of EMI's anniversary reissue series, remastered in 24-bit sound. ~Bruce Eder

Let's Face The Music And Dance

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Shirley Bassey - 12 Of Those Songs

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 35:16
Size: 80.8 MB
Styles: Pop-jazz vocals
Year: 1968
Art: Front

[2:16] 1. Come Back To Me
[3:11] 2. I'm A Fool To Want You
[3:24] 3. A House Is Not A Home
[2:20] 4. If Love Were All
[2:56] 5. Moon River
[2:10] 6. Don't Rain On My Parade
[2:54] 7. Something's Coming
[3:02] 8. Days Of Wine And Roses
[3:47] 9. Call Me
[3:36] 10. Charade
[3:19] 11. I Wish You Love
[2:17] 12. One Of Those Songs (Girls Of De Folies Bergère)

She’s gold, gowns and glamour. Champagne, charisma and chic. Savoir faire, style and showbiz. She’s besequinned, beloved, Bassey.

The buzzwords have been tripping off our tongues for decades, but there can never be enough of them to sum up an artist who defines the word superstar. In a world where true legends of entertainment are an endangered phenomenon, it’s time once again to celebrate the unique force of nature that is Dame Shirley Bassey.

One of Great Britain’s greatest-ever entertainers has been having a love affair with her public for more than 50 years. She’s sung for Presidents, Queens and secret agents, hung out with a King, packed concert halls across the known world and sold an estimated 135 million records in the process. Every step of the way, she has radiated magnetic elegance, and now the moment has come for Dame Shirley to bedazzle yet another new generation.

12 Of Those Songs

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Shirley Bassey - Sings The Standards

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 78:16
Size: 179.2 MB
Styles: Vocal, Easy Listening
Year: 2001
Art: Front

[3:30] 1. Fly Me To The Moon
[2:45] 2. I Get A Kick Out Of You
[3:19] 3. All The Things You Are
[2:13] 4. I Believe In You
[2:57] 5. Moon River
[2:30] 6. Strangers In The Night
[2:14] 7. 's Wonderful
[3:31] 8. I've Got You Under My Skin
[3:25] 9. Cry Me A River
[3:11] 10. The Fool On The Hill
[3:04] 11. The Look Of Love
[3:03] 12. Nature Boy
[4:25] 13. And I Love You So
[2:44] 14. Day By Day
[3:20] 15. Send In The Clowns
[4:39] 16. Killing Me Softly With His Song
[4:51] 17. Greatest Love Of All
[3:54] 18. Can't Take My Eyes Off You
[4:38] 19. Feelings
[5:12] 20. Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye
[5:11] 21. Don't Cry For Me Argentina
[3:30] 22. As Time Goes By

When a great set of songs like these are put together by a GREAT singer like Shirley Bassey, you know your in store for a special treat and that is what this great collection is!! Beginning with early to mid-sixties standards such as a jazz tinged exciting rendition of "I Believe In You", it is clear that this is a classic singer with an incredibly great voice in peak form!! "Fool On The Hill" is soulfully sung and "The Look Of Love" is sultry while "And I Love You So" is haunting and mesmerizing. The exhuberant "Day By Day" is winning and "Send In The Clowns" is one of the most beautifully sung versions ever!! Beginning with the seventies material, one can notice that Shirley's voice became fuller and more powerful and Miss Bassey uses her full bloom voice to stunning effect on classics such as "Killing Me Softly With His Song" and "Feelings" in this engrossing collection. Too bad Shirley Bassey didn't star in "Evita" as her "Don't Cry For Me Argentina" is the definitive version which has never sounded as passionate and beautiful as it does here!!! BRAVO SHIRLEY...a true classic Diva with an extraordinary voice. ~Bradley Briggs

Sings The Standards 

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Shirley Bassey - April In Paris

Bitrate: 320K/s
Time: 52:43
Size: 120.7 MB
Label: MBop
Styles: Pop-jazz vocals
Year: 2009
Art: Front

[2:58] 1. April In Paris
[3:13] 2. A Foggy Day
[2:56] 3. As Long As He Needs Me
[2:36] 4. Basin Street Blues
[3:32] 5. The St. Louis Blues
[2:17] 6. Take My Love, Take My Love
[2:42] 7. The Banana Boat Song (Day-O)
[4:05] 8. Birth Of The Blues
[3:30] 9. The Party's Over
[2:20] 10. Kiss Me, Honey, Honey, Kiss Me
[3:13] 11. They Can't Take That Away From Me
[2:17] 12. 's Wonderful
[3:36] 13. Cry Me A River
[3:05] 14. Easy To Love
[2:48] 15. I'll Get By (As Long As I Have You)
[3:40] 16. I've Got You Under My Skin
[3:47] 17. I've Never Been In Love Before

Known to Americans most for her belting rendition of the theme to Goldfinger, the 1964 edition in the James Bond series (as well as 1971's Diamonds Are Forever and 1979's Moonraker), Shirley Bassey was one of the most popular female vocalists in Britain during the last half of the 20th century. Known as Bassey the Belter and also the Tigress of Tiger Bay, her early career in touring shows and cabaret brought her a recording contract with Philips by the late '50s. After reaching the top of the British charts in 1959 with "As I Love You" and later "Reach for the Stars/Climb Every Mountain," Bassey was tapped to swing the theme song to the third James Bond vehicle. Her voice, brassy and sexy, conveyed the James Bond myth perfectly and became a big hit in America. Though later chart placings in the U.S. were few, she continued to do well in Great Britain, France and the Netherlands into the mid-'70s.

April In Paris

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