Search - Ken Dodd :: Very Best of Ken Dodd

The comedian who made great music

Peter Durward Harris | Leicester England | 03/27/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Ken was best known as a comedian but in the sixties he made some wonderful, easy listening pop music and had a string of British hits. Very few reached the top ten but his style appealed to fewer people than the music of the Beatles and the Rolling Stones so that's no surprise. There are no novelty songs here - this is straight music of the highest quality.He had three hits for Decca including Love is like a violin, which made the UK top ten, but those hits are not here. This compilation focuses on his most important years as a singer, with what is now EMI but was then Columbia (confusing, because the American Columbia label was a completely different label and is now part of Sony).Ken's first three hits for Columbia (Still, Eight by ten, Happiness) were all covers of songs written by Bill Anderson, a top country songwriter of the sixties who also had significant success as a singer. All of them made the UK top 40 although none made the top 20. Of course, there's no hint of their origins in Ken's versions, with their orchestral backing. After those songs, Ken only had one more hit with a cover of a country song. Just out of reach, recorded by Patsy Cline in 1958, became a top thirty UK hit for Ken in 1972.By far Ken's biggest hit, Tears, spent several weeks at number one in the UK charts of 1965 and was one of the best-selling UK singles that year. The two singles that followed it (The river, Promises) both made the top ten but there were to be no more top ten hits for Ken after that. Ken's other hits here are So deep is the night, More than love, It's love, Let me cry on your shoulder, Tears won't wash away my heartache, Broken hearted, When love comes round again and Think of me wherever you are.The remaining tracks are covers of classic songs - Very thought of you, Try to remember, Until it's time for you to go, For all we know, What a wonderful world, Only you, Somewhere my love and two Charles Aznavour songs - She and Old-fashioned way. This is an excellent collection of Ken's music. If you enjoy other balladeers of the sixties such as Andy Williams and Val Doonican, you will surely enjoy this album."