The Performance

Shirley Bassey: аn example of lasting and fruitful career

Shirley Bassey is a legend of the British and world pop-scene. This singer may serve as an example of commitment to music and longevity on the stage. There are many reasons for that. Bassey has released more than thirty studio albums and sold over one hundred thirty million copies of them. She is the only artist who performed three themes for the James Bond movies. Several years ago she celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of her musical career. Although her best times are far behind, she continues to work performing live and recording new material. It was once again evidenced by the release of Bassey’s subsequent studio effort, The Performance, in November 2009. Her participation in the making of the soundtrack to the Agent 007 films is associated with this album. The thing is that the producer of the singer’s last to date record is David Arnold, the composer of those motion pictures, who certainly treasures memories about his collaboration with Shirley Bassey. Keeping in mind the fact that the most successful albums of this performer were released in the fifties and sixties, there is no point expecting any revelations or breakthroughs on The Performance. But there is a umber of reasons to get familiarized with it.

Profound and emotional album The Performance

Speaking about The Performance, we have to touch upon the authorship of the songs featured here. Bassey drew support from other established performers who were glad to pen songs for such a remarkable and respected person in the showbiz world. Therefore, Our Time Is Now was proposed by John Barry and Don Black who wrote the songs sung by Shirley for the films about James Bond. With all the beauty of this ballad number, it is outshined by some other tracks. For example, a more interesting composition is The Girl From Tiger Bay, a romantic song seeming to have some connection with the singer’s biography. It was penned by the members of Manic Street Preachers who know hot do stuff like that. In general, the album turned out to have many more thought-provoking songs than just those light-minded tracks many would have expected here. Despite the tendency to open full-length records with vibrant and energetic compositions, The Performance begins with the profound Almost There. Such mature artists like Shirley Bassey know that the last song on the album should be a very singular and special track. It was Shirley’s wise choice to close this long player with a song called The Performance Of My Life from Pet Shop Boys. Basically, the seventy-two-year singer’s vocals sound as convincing and impressive as ever before. Her singing alone, even if we don not study the lyrics, hide a vast world of emotions, experiences and feelings. Listening to The Performance makes you wonder how Shirley Bassey is still able to beat time.

Overcoming the age

The Performance is a collection of eleven tracks lasting altogether a bit less than fifty minutes. There certainly will be those who would say that twenty years (the singer’s previous studio album was released in 1987) could be enough to make something more than that. But will you now recollect the names of those artists who are capable of recording new material at an age like hers? Many musicians simply die before they could turn seventy. Others, those who reach this age, lose the ability to make music and become sources of numerous scandals and controversial statements desperately trying to remain in the focus of the public attention. Shirley Bassey still sings, just like she did it fifty years ago, and continues doing better than the overwhelming majority of her colleagues. The Performance proves it one more time. Of course, this record is first of all interesting to old supporters of this singer, those people who are no more young too. However, like any other piece of quality music, this album might bring pleasure to any music lover regardless of his or her genre preferences.