All The Best …. 3 CD releases in Europe.

It hasn’t been a particularly good year for Dame Shirley CDs.  There have only been a few and they have not been particularly brilliant.  The one fans particularly wanted was cancelled due to Capitol Records in the US but there is no point in going over that.  I haven’t forgiven them though!  Although there is nothing new released here in the UK there have been three releases in Europe in the last two weeks.  Now that I have copies of these CDs I’m able to tell you about them.  They are all easily available from European CD sites.

First of all is a 2 CD set from Germany called ‘All The Best’.

This has been released by EMI Germany and contains 40 tracks from the Columbia and United Artists labels.  Although there is nothing new to CD it does contain some tracks very rarely seen on CD compilations.  Tracks include ‘Fa,Fa,Fa’, ‘Razzle Dazzle’, ‘Don’t Take The Lovers From The World’ and ‘Tomorrow Morning’.  Obviously the big hits are also included … ‘Goldfinger’, ‘Something’, ‘As Long As He Needs Me’.  It’s a very nicely presented set and the quality is excellent.  A booklet is included with a couple of photos, track listing and a short biography in both German and English.  Amazon Germany has this CD available as well as other sites.  The tracks are:

Disc One: 01 – Diamonds are forever 02 – As long as he needs me 03 – What now my love 04 – Something 05 – Reach for the stars 06 – I’ll get by (As long as I have you) 07 – Spinning wheel 08 – The bus that never comes 09 – This is my life 10 – Gone 11 – Light my fire 12 – Razzle dazzle 13 – I (Who have nothing) 14 – Never, never, never 15 – Don’t take the lovers from the world 16 – Shirley 17 – Does anybody miss me 18 – Tomorrow morning 19 – (Where do I begin) Love story 20 – Fa fa fa (live for today)

Disc Two: 01 – Goldfinger 02 – You’ll never know 03 – Tonight 04 – Big Spender 05 – The liquidator 06 – It’s yourself 07 – The fool on the hill 08 – Vehicle 09 – The sea and the sand 10 – For the love of him 11 – Can’t take my eyes off you 12 – Natali 13 – Seesaw of dreams 14 – Make the world a little younger 15 – Day by day 16 – What about today 17 – For all we know 18 – Yesterday when I was young 19 – You take my heart away 20 – You and I

The second release is called ‘Alle 40 Goed’ from EMI Benelux.  It’s exactly the same 2 CD set as the above release but different tile and different artwork for the sleeve.  The songs are also in the same order.  The booklet inside just has the track listing and shows other CD sets in the same series.  Once again easily available from European sites including Amazon Germany.  Below is a scan of the sleeve.  I rather like the look of this one.

The third is a 3 CD box set called ‘The Long Play Collection’.  A Dutch release on the Goldies label it contains 4 original albums plus bonus singles.  The albums are ‘The Bewitching Miss Bassey’, ‘The Fabulous Shirley Bassey’, ‘Shirley’ and ‘Shirley Bassey’.  There are 12 bonus tracks included and all the tracks are out of copyright.  I have no idea as to the quality of this set as I haven’t played it.  It does state ‘digitally remastered’.  The CDs are housed in separate jewel cases and inside a card slip case.  There are no sleeve notes included and all the photos on the sleeve inserts are the same as the outer card sleeve.  It’s a budget release.  It is also due to be released in the UK on 7th January 2013 according to Amazon UK.  Easily available now from Europe.

Tracks are as follows:

Disc One: Shirley Bassey 01 – Love is a many splendored thing 02 – The nearness of you 03 – Fools rush in 04 – Who are we 05 – Angel eyes 06 – Till 07 – A lovely way to spend a evening 08 – This love of mine 09 – You’re nearer 10 – Goodbye lover, hello friend 11 – Where or when 12 – Where are you 13 – Climb ev’ry mountain Shirley 14 – In the still of the night 15 – Let there be love 16 – All at once 17 – For every man there’s a woman 18 – I’m in the mood for love 19 – So in love

Disc Two: Shirley 01 – If I were a bell 02 – There wil never be another you 03 – Hooray for love 04 – Too late now 05 – I’m shooting high 06 – Ev’ry time we say goodbye The Fabulous Shirley Bassey 07 – A foggy day in London town 08 – I’ve got you under my skin 09 – Cry me a river 10 – April in Paris 11 – I’ve never been in love before 12 – The man that got away 13 – s Wonderful 14 – I’ll remember April 15 – Easy to love 16 – No one ever tells you 17 – They can’t take that away from me 18 – The party’s over Bonus tracks 19 – Can’t help lovin’ dat man 20 – Bill

Disc Three: The bewitching Miss Bassey 01 – Burn my candle (at both ends) 02 – Night and day 03 – Crazy rhythm 04 – The wall 05 – The banana boat song 06 – The gypsy in my soul 07 – Love for sale 08 – From this moment on 09 – Kiss me, honey honey, kiss me 10 – You, you Romeo 11 – My funny valentine 12 – How about you 13 – Fire down below 14 – As I love you Bonus tracks 15 – There’s never been a night 16 – Hands across the sea 17 – If you love me (really love me) 18 – Count on me 19 – With these hands 20 – As long as he needs me 21 – You’ll never know 22 – Hold me tight 23 – I’ll get by (as long as I have you) 24 – Reach for the stars

I’m keeping my fingers crossed that next year we may get something special released.  It would be great if we got a newly recorded album.  I can dream!