Review Summary: Get The Party Started with DSB's take on a few classics and a few newies.
When you think ‘Shirley Bassey’ you think James Bond themes a plenty, you think that voice, the vibrato, and you think ‘Hey Big Spender’. Well you thought that until you picked up this album. There must be something in the water with all of these artists laying in their attempts at Dance Recordings, but true to form, Dame Shirley Bassey places her Jazz spin on the hour long session and love affair you will soon develop.
Remember that P!nk song, ‘Get The Party Started’?, ever thought you’d hear Shirley give it a crack? I’m guessing no. Well, push play, and track one. Think eerie strings, piano playing and strings increasing before the deepened voice of Bassey hits the audio. As the song progresses, the drums kick in and the tempo picks up before the chorus sees Bassey hit all the right notes. I’m the first to admit I though this would be a bad idea, but upon hearing the girlish giggle at the end of the line ‘kissing my ass’, all fear is gone. Whilst keeping the song upbeat and amusing, it seems Miss Bassey was able place a James Bondesque theme to a party song. Bravo.
Alright, I’m the first to admit they ‘Hey Big Spender’ is perhaps overdone and overused, but I’ll also admit, it’s always in the same way. Hit track two, hear a pounding drum line, guitar playing, hard, before you hear a full brass incorporation and again, Ms Bassey has surprised us with a remake. I honestly don’t like it when a singer remakes a song of their own, see Kylie Minogue, Locomotion, but ok, I was impressed. The song is catchy, Bassey has never sounded better, and ‘Hey Big Spender’ hasn’t been as impressive since about 1967. I’m starting to really like where this is heading.
But it’s then we hit a snag, tracks four and give don’t quite tickle my fancy, both just a touch bland in comparison for my liking. ‘I Who Have Nothing’ attempts and nearly wins, but just falls short whilst, ‘This Is My Life’ really does nothing for me at all. Shame really, just as I was getting into the rhythm…Rhythm? Ahhh here to my rescue comes ‘Slave To The Rhythm’ with a simple boso nova beat and strings and Electronica. Just what I was looking for to be honest, it’s the perfect boost to an otherwise dull set of the past two songs. Just enough to bring me back into the airwaves, we press forward!
‘Can I Touch You There?’ and “What Now My Love’ are two nice place fillers, nothing overly special in the musical sense, but enough to keep you amused whilst waiting for some crescendo of musical creativity. ‘Kiss Me Honey Honey’ just lies north of this trap, being a little more droll than the past couple, but then ‘Hello’ just goes down in flames. Ok, I have to admit, I couldn’t sit through the whole song. I’d attempted to lure me in. but I had to fight it. The song, really does nothing for the listener, other than wish he was back at tracks one and two. Yet, the listener continues with some dull flame of desire and hope that there is still a chance and there is.
‘You Only Live Twice’ looks like it’s preparing you for something, something amazing. The tempo has picked back up, Bassey is singing as she should be, and then it hits you, ‘The Living Tree’. This, fellow music enthusiasts, is one incredible piece of writing, and in fact, one incredible piece of musicianship on Bassey’s part. The notes are amazing, the instrumentation is incomparable, and the crescendo of intensity sends shivers through your spine. The track is incredible in all senses of the word, and quite easily able to fall into what I call the repeat trap. You play it once, then again, then again, then again….
‘Where Is The Love’ is a smashing little number, good choice to follow ‘The Living Tree’ whilst the final song, ‘I Will Survive’ is, well, what I like to call, a demonstration of talent. Bassey shows us how jazz and syncopation go hand in hand, she falls behind the beat, she runs in front, and all the while, you sit, unable to stop listening, the amazing band behind Bassey not only keeps up with the now 72 year old, but creates this mental image of a time far back in history. Sure, she may have fallen apart in the middle, but hell, she picks it up in the end and powers it home!
I’m the first one to jump out and say I don’t know many of the Bassey songs. I’m not a James Bond fan, and the only theme I know was Tina Turner’s incredible ‘Goldeneye’ but once having listened to this album, I have an itch that wants to be scratched with some Shirley, I think a greatest hits may be on the shopping list.
Listen To;
Get The Party Started
Big Spender
The Living Tree
Where Is The Love
Slave To The Rhythm
ZR
