Track Listing

1. Something
2. Long and Winding Road
3. Everybody's Talkin'
4. On a Clear Day (You Can See Forever)
5. Coco
6. Think How It's Gonna Be
7. Wave
8. Make It Easy on Yourself
9. Come Saturday Morning
10. When I Look in Your Eyes
11. Yellow Days
12. What a Wonderful World

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #302706 in Music
• Released on: 1995-08-29
• Number of discs: 1

Customer Reviews

Bennett at his best!
For almost his entire career, Tony Bennett has performed in the shadow of Old Blue Eyes. But even the Master himself once proclaimed that Tony was the best of the rest. Personally, I feel that Bennett, for a breif tenure in the late 1960's, knocked the Chairman of the Board off of his perch with his album entitled "Something". Although most of the numbers on the album are covers, he somehow managed to leave his own heartfelt trademark on these songs. His voice was at it's peak and the arrangments of these songs are timeless. This album is , without a doubt, a must have for the serious Bennett fan. And, incidentally, don't just take my word for it. It's one of his all time favorites as well.

One of Tony's Best
One of Tony's last Lps for Columbia and one of my favorites ever. The review called a music fan from Ottawa below says it all. Beautiful arrangements, flawless vocal interpretations, good material. He was at his vocal peak when this was recorded.

One of Tony's very best
There's no question that this is one of Tony Bennett's all-time great albums, hence its inclusion in his hand-picked Tony Bennett Masters series. Masterful it is, thanks especially to Peter Matz's great arrangements. Matz was actually Noel Coward's pianist when the great entertainer came to Las Vegas in the '50s. He went on to become a fine arranger, working famously with Barbra Streisand on hits like "The Way We Were". It's well-known that Bennett didn't like most of the mainstream popular music of the late 1960s. It's therefore surprising to find some material from that era on this album. Yet, Matz's excellent arrangements, featuring sumptuous writing for string and brass, allow Bennett to personalize these songs and to sink his teeth in them. The performances of the two Beatles songs, "Something" and "The Long And Winding Road" are outstanding. The Jobim song "Wave" is excellent. It's played at a wonderfully romantic, lilting pace. Many consider Sinatra's much faster-paced version from a year earlier to be the definitive version of this song. It's a good vocal performance from the Chairman, but this Bennett-Matz version is superior. Matz turns the hit "Everybody's Talkin'" into a swingin' big band number and Tony clearly has a ball singing it. His high note at the end of "On A Clear Day" is truly astounding. He was, at 44, in extremely good voice for this session. "Come Saturday Morning" is an excellent Broadway number, played nice and slow. Matz allows Bennett to display his fine breath control with some very long notes. "Make It Easy On Yourself" is a great Bacharach/David number from the film "Alfie". Bennett sings it with incomparable feeling and commitment and Matz's arrangement squeezes as much pathos out of it as possible. It's difficult to imagine a better performance of this song. Finally, Tony turns "What A Wonderful World" into a loving tribute to Louis Armstrong (who died the following year). It's a wonderful recording and almost as good as Louis' original. I could go on further, but, at this point, you really should buy the album. It may not be the best place to start with Tony Bennett, but if you have a few of his albums already and like them, then this album is an essential purchase.