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US Release

 

The Greatest Hits - This Is My Life Accompanying Book: International Music Publications 2001, ISBN 1-903692-31-8.

Accompanying the UK collection, a great book was released with the sheet music (piano, vocal and guitar) for all 22 songs.

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Review From The Times, Nov 25 2000

High notes: Bassey's beautiful career
Currently celebrating more than 40 years in show business, Dame Shirley Bassey can justifiably sing This is My Life. A seaman's daughter from Tiger Bay in Cardiff, she initially found fame in a West End revue and enjoyed pop success in the late Fifties with Kiss Me honey Honey Kiss Me. Her melodic vocal style proved ideal for show tunes such as Climb Ev'ry Mountain and What Kind of Fool Am I? which established her on the international cabaret circuit, and she became the popular choice for the James Bond film themes, with Goldfinger, Moonraker and Diamonds are Forever to her name.

A national institution by the Seventies, regularly performing in front of royalty, her lavish dresses and high camp style subsequently made her a gay icon for a new generation. But a more serious pop reinvention came about in 1987 when she collaborated with Yello, the Swiss avant-garde duo. In the Nineties, dance remixers including Groove Armada, DJ Spinna and Kenny Dope reinterpreted her work and the Propellerheads returned her to the pop charts with History Repeating, which nestles incongruously in this album among the big ballads.
 

Review From Bristol Evening Post, Nov 30 2000

BELTER: Shirley Bassey's Greatest Hits is a real cracker
- this is a cracking compilation which digs deep into the Bassey back catalogue and pulls out gems like Light My Fire, Diamonds Are Forever, Never, Never, Never, Goldfinger and Something. Big, brassy and also featuring the History Repeating collaboration with the Propellerheads. It's a CD that will liven up any Christmas party or Karaoke session.
 

Review From Amazon, By Olivia Ferenczi

Welsh chanteuse, Shirley Bassey's This is My Life-The Greatest Hits came hot on the heels of her critically acclaimed remix album, Diamonds Are Forever. This Is My Life is a celebration of her 40-year-long career as Britain's classiest female icon/singer. Totally individual, Bassey came to most people's attention with her classic 1960s and 1970s James Bond themes "Goldfinger", "Diamonds Are Forever" and "Moonraker", written by soundtrack composer par excellence, John Barry. These songs were probably her greatest achievement but as this 22-track disc reveals, Bassey's repertoire was always as versatile as her glorious, instantly recognisable voice. Digitally re-mastered, this album is a musical autobiography, stretching from "I Who Have Nothing" produced by George Martin in 1961 through to her 1990s collaboration "History Repeating" with big beat combo The Propellerheads. The post-modern irony-mongers among us will pass Bassey off as over-produced cool kitsch but as dazzling tune follows dazzling tune you will know they are far off the mark. Working the singles market as adeptly as the Americans, Bassey's hits include the blues of Jean Jacques Brel's "If You Go Away", The Door's "Light My Fire", the 60s soul of Leiber/Stoller's "I Who Have Nothing" and show tunes like "Big Spender". Shirley Bassey was an amazing, highly emotive stylist and we may never see her like again.