New BGO release at last!

I Capricorn/And I Love You So

The latest CD from BGO was scheduled for release on October 4th but never appeared.  I had pre-ordered a copy from BGO’s main site and was hoping I might have got it a few days earlier.  I’m always impatient when a ‘new’ CD is to be issued.  As two weeks had passed after the release date and I hadn’t received my CD I contacted BGO enquiring about it.  I received an email to be informed that there was a problem with production and it would be a further two weeks before it would be available.  I had the option to cancel my order but decided to leave it as I wanted the CD anyway.  Well a little longer than the two weeks (nearly six in fact) the CD has eventually arrived!  The official release date I’ve now seen for this is December 6th in the UK.

This is a 2 CD set packaged as normal in slimline double jewel case with a card slipcase.  I’m not keen on the sleeve design for this one.  There is a booklet enclosed and although very imformative there are no new photos.  Once again I’m very pleased with the quality of the remastering and Shirley’s voice comes over crystal clear.  One of my favourites songs of all time by Shirley is ‘Ballad Of The Sad Young Men’.  I love the orchestration on this recording and love the way she really pronounces the end letter ‘t’ on words such as ‘heart’ and ‘part’.  Unfortunately there are no bonus tracks on this set.  It is a straight remastering of the two original album releases.  It is a nice set to have in the collection and I’m hoping more will follow from BGO.  The album ‘The Magic Is You’ has never been remastered and officially released on CD in the UK.  There was a CD issued many years ago on the ‘EMI Manhattan’ label in the USA.  I’m hoping that BGO may release that album next.  There are still tracks from both the Columbia and UA labels that are waiting to be remastered and released on CD.  I’m hoping for those too.  For the moment I have to be patient and be grateful for this new addition to their catalogue of Bassey material.

Astrid’s Simply Bassey #124

Today I’m playing a request for Calkum, which is also a great favourite of mine.

Calkum wrote: “Think Of Me from the Does Anybody Miss Me album has always been one of my very favourite DSB numbers,  it is dramatic, the orchestration is wonderful and really is a great example of the records The Dame was making in the Sixties. I do not know if she ever sang it in concert but i bet it would have been a showstopper”

I agree that it would have been a great live song, but I also do not know of any live recording in existence. I hope that you enjoying listening to the studio recording today.

Think Of Me

 

 

 

Astrid’s Simply Bassey #123

For this week’s blog, I’m playing a song for Lydia who kindly wrote to me.

 

“Hello there dear friends. I love this site so much. I am so grateful
for the years of love and efforts that are represented here. Astrid I
wonder if you havea  version of Dame Shirley singing For Once in My
Lifetime. I know she did sing the Stevie Wonder song for Once in my
Life there is someone who needs me, someone I have needed so long
song. But the one I am talking about starts out Just once in my
lifetime I feel like a giant, I soar like an eagle….  Do you by
chance know the one I mean?  Judy Garland sang this song too.”

The song is “For Once In My Lifetime” and was recorded by Shirley in
the mid-sixties and released on the album “Shirley Stops The Shows”,
she also performed it live at Carnegie Hall in 1964, a recording
released in 1994 as part of the box set “The EMI/UA Years.”

I hope you enjoy listening to these Lydia and my heartfelt thanks for
your kind support.

 

.

Once In A Livetime – Shirley Stops The Shows

 

Once In A Lifetime – Carnegie Hall in 1964

 

 

 

 

 

The Bing Crosby show DVD

Here is a review of the DVD I mentioned on an previous post on the blog. It is the DVD from the Bing Crosby show from 1961. I ordered the DVD and last week it arrived. The quality is not very good and to me it looks like a bootleg. In the previous post I wrote that the DVD has region code 1, but it seems to play on any player so probably it has  region code zero which means it will play on any DVD player. The DVD is in the NTSC format (USA).

This week another DVD has been released with the same Dame Shirley clip on it. But the rest of the DVD seems different.

I don’t know how the quality of this one is though.

To learn more about this DVD CLICK HERE

To watch the clip click on the picture below where you also find an article from a magazine from around the same time. (Early sixties).

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announcement:

Dear viewers of the blog:

Due to a personal tragedy, I won’t be able to update the blog for a while.
Thank you for your patience and understanding at this time.

Pieter.