Search - Bobby Darin :: A & E Biography: A (Musical) Anthology [ENHANCED CD]

Bobby Darin - A&E

Zabadu | Northern California | 12/28/2000

(4 out of 5 stars)

"A good compilation of his work from start to finish. The first cut is from his last recorded performance, and has a lot of humor injected in the center. You would never know that he was very ill when you listen to "Higher and Higher", and would die several months later. Bobby gave 150% to his audiences, and despite comparisons to Sinatra and the rest, he was true to himself and his talent is unmistakable. Why else would we be listening 27 years after his death? This is a great CD for a beginning Bobby Darin fan."

This album is outrageous

Daniel Berger | Atlanta, GA USA | 02/18/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This album is outrageous. It's a mix of live and studio recordings, the live ones not all from the same concert. Some of them were done in 1963 at the Flamingo, others in 1973 (the year he died) in Los Angeles. Only after I saw Spacey's film "Beyond the Sea" and read Darin's biography, did I find that the 1973 concert was his last major one, and he already knew his time was running out. That makes the performances even more powerful to listen to. It is awe-inspiring that this guy was running backstage for oxygen between songs.



"Beyond the Sea" is great fun here; the song doesn't have the studio version's romance and power, but his joshing with the audience and the interminable vamp are tons of fun.



"As Long As I'm Singing" was sort of a signature song for him, so true about the buzz he got from performing. It's great to hear "Mack the Knife" live. "18 Yellow Roses" is a great period song and Darin wrote it. (In the Darin book it notes that when he was courting Sandra Dee on a Rome movie set - she was all of 16 and fiercely guarded by her mother - he sent her 18 yellow roses every day.)



"Call Me Irresponsible" is one of the Darin songs used in the film "American Beauty" and is iconic in its own way. "If I Were A Carpenter" represents another phase of the old pop's decay, this one "struggling to stay relevant" as rock and political folk displaced it. It shows Darin's versatility and helped put him back on the map of a changing music world.



This entire album would be made worthy, if it weren't already, by its version of "Your Love Keeps Lifting Me Higher". You want to turn your stereo up REAL loud for this one. It just keeps building and building. Both he and the backup singers are out of this world; it is so powerful. When you think he would die that same year from a weak heart - imagine a weak heart singing this. It's barely imaginable.



"Don't Rain On My Parade" is so powerful it transcends schlock, which it otherwise would be.



There isn't a bad cut on this album."

BUY THIS COLLECTION!!!

john gilbert | 06/13/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"...Wait till you here the sensitive perfomance of " If I were a Carpenter" the way it was recorded on the old FLIP WILSON broadcast on NBC in 71! Darin will bring you to tears....I promise!! He could sing in an eclectic way...it doesnt matter if it were the 50,s-60,s or the Anti-war 70,s....his singing always fits the generations that he sang to! Frank Sinatra could not sing a better version of this cover of the Darin hit ...BEYOND the sea! Discover or RE-discover Darin,s work....you will thank me!!!"