Shirley Bassey One of Those

Long before he'd evolved into a fully-fledged cult figure, Joe Meek was the UK's first fully independent record producer. This unique 2CD set traces his career from his earliest sessions, as a sound balance engineer in the mid-'50s, to his emergence as a major songwriter and hit maker in the early '60s. It includes many of Meek's biggest records, including five UK # 1s by, Anne Shelton, Lonnie Donegan, Frankie Vaughan, Emile Ford and John Leyton, plus several other major million selling hits! Indeed, more than half of the sixty sides included herein were significant UK hits. This set also includes several collectors' rarities, previously unavailable on CD, most notably Gary Miller's unfeasibly-rare 'Moby Dick'. John Fraser's 'Golden Cage' and Geoff Goddard's 'Girl Bride'. If you are looking for what is by far the most interesting Joe Meek-related compilation for years then this is it!

One of John Barry's best efforts, with a particularly striking title song belted out by Shirley Bassey between blasting brass fills, Goldfinger was also the first James Bond soundtrack to hit the number one spot on the U.S. charts (ironically, displacing another United Artists soundtrack, A Hard Day's Night), even as Bassey's performance hit number eight as a single. While Barry effectively expanded his collection of Bond themes with Thunderball (underwater themes) and You Only Live Twice (space themes), Goldfinger was a prime opportunity to lock in some of the action themes that would recur over the next 35 years. Of particular note is the track compiling Barry's cues for the robbery of Fort Knox ("Dawn Raid on Fort Knox"), which provides a slow build so wonderfully agonizing that the remainder of the album, including "The Arrival of the Bomb and Count Down," with its pounding drums and roaring brass, actually serves as stress relief. In February of 2003, Goldfinger was issued in a remastered edition that featured not only significantly improved sound but also added an extra nine minutes of music, contained in four sections of the soundtrack that originally appeared only on the British LP edition.

Limited edition Deluxe 8CD set featuring the best female voices in jazz history. This is no ordinary compilation, but an anthology of 15 complete original albums by some of the best loved jazz vocalists: Billie Holiday, Carmen McRae, Anita O day, Abbey Lincoln, Peggy Lee, Sarah Vaughan, Ella Fitzgerald etc.

Born John Barry Prendergast to a father who owned a cinema and a mother who played piano, all the elements were in place for John to develop his career as he did. Even when he had to do national service, he managed to secure a job as an army bandsman, so he managed to use that period to hone his craft. John first came to prominence via his recording of Hit and miss, which became the theme to the TV show Jukebox jury. Famous as his TV theme became, John's most famous hit is the James Bond theme. This particular compilation, as its title suggests, focuses on John's recordings for EMI. Many of these recordings date from the early to mid sixties, but there are a few from the nineties too. Most of the tracks are instrumentals, but there are also three Shirley Bassey tracks (Goldfinger, Mr Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Diamonds are forever) and a Matt Monro track (Born free) in which John was involved. Two of the Shirley Bassey tracks are famous, but I'd not heard the other one before buying this CD. It was apparently intended as the theme for Thunderball but was dropped in favor of the Tom Jones song Thunderball. There are 25 tracks altogether and the CD comes with a nice booklet. By no means a definitive John Barry compilation, this does at least contain all those early sixties tracks that I particularly wanted and showcases John's versatility as a composer and arranger. Sadly, John died early in 2011 but his legacy in the history of cinematic music is assured.