Shirley Bassey: The Performance--Ending a Year of Great Music on a Spunky Medium

Big, expressive voices, cinematic pop gems, unexpected collaborations. These are a few things that I am an utter sucker for. Although Shirley Bassey excels at lures one and two, it took temptation #3 to lure me in. Adding to her new album's (The Performance) charms is the fact that two of Bassey's collaborators---Manic Street Preachers and Richard Hawley---were responsible for my two favorite albums of the year.

So, The Performance should be an instant classic by default. But alas, there are more than a few instances where the album can't elevate itself above background fodder (Kaiser Chief that's not Ricky Wilson, my eyes are glaring in your direction). The standout tracks, however, make the lulls worth busying one's self through.

Even if I weren't horribly sentimental and biased, I would still cite "The Girl From Tiger Bay" and "After the Rain" as The Performance's most outstanding tracks. The former, well, it's basically a Manics song sung by Shirley Bassey. It's four minutes and seventeen seconds of triumph with a baby guitar solo thrown in for good measure. The latter is of a caliber of sadness that reduces one to staring out the window and sighing a lot. In other words, it's signature Richard Hawley. Having been immersed in Hawley's fantastic variations on sad songs for some time now, it's so nice to hear one of his subtle heartbreakers from a female's perspective.

Tracks written by those who I spend little time being agog about have their merits as well. "This Time" written by Take That's Gary Barlow, is a fanciful pop treasure, containing all the elements of an old standard yet still sounding fresh. Another lush tune, "Our Time is Now," written by James Bond composer John Barry, fares far better than "As God As My Witness," written in part by David Arnold--another Bond scorer; Bassey's mighty voice can't even rescue from cliche.

Now that the initial thrill of the inspired collaborations has worn off, The Performance hasn't left me feeling abandoned. "Next track please" pops into my head during more than a few songs, but one can't be too harsh on a dame. Until James Dean Bradfield invents a guitar solo for Judi Dench, this is as good as it gets.

Level of Disappointment: 5; provided your family has some taste, this is a perfect home for the holidays soundtrack.

Watch: "The Girl From Tiger Bay" on The Graham Norton Show (she seems so pleased to be singing this! So very, very pleased.)