| Shirley Bassey (No. 2) EP 1961: Columbia Records, EMI England, Mono: SEG 8232, Stereo: ESG 7889 |
The tracks of this EP are all taken from the 1961 album Shirley Bassey
| Track Listing |
| Sleeve Note |
For many years American artists have dominated the popular music scene but, slowly at first, Then with gathering momentum, Britain has reasserted herself in the world of entertainment. It is particularly gratifying to know that an artist such as Shirley Bassey enjoys a truly international reputation and can command optimum conditions at America's finest and most important centres of variety. In her own country, too, she receives the kind of treatment in keeping with an artist of quality.
An artist of quality needs material of quality and Shirley Bassey has chosen her songs with care. More often than not, she delves back into the past for her songs, picking tunes from the rich store-houses of Jerome Kern, Cole Porter, Richard Rodgers, etc., songs which have already proved their timelessness in the fickle world of popular music. Each song is given careful consideration by Miss Bassey, for she is able to interpret material with an intensity of expression which eludes many singers. She can and does bring drama and point to a lyric which is at once authoritative and highly individual. A song invariably takes on a new dimension in her hands, which is the true mark of the consummate artist.
This selection of tunes, arranged for the Geoff Love Orchestra and the Rita Williams Singers, contains one of the best songs ever written by the successful Richard Rodgers-Lorenz Hart team. There can be few more memorable versions of Where Or When extant, for Shirley invests Hart's lyric with a degree of smouldering tension. The relatively little-known This Love Of Mine is a song which should be performed more frequently. Apart from its individual melody, it is virtually unique in that Frank Sinatra had a hand in the composition.