The Songs of Shirley Bassey

Full Tracklisting:

1. 2:21 - S'Wonderful
2. 2:38 - Diamonds Are Forever
3. 2:26 - Nobody Does It Like Me
4. 3:48 - Never, Never, Never
5. 2:38 - Kiss Me, Honey, Honey, Kiss Me
6. 1:56 - Big Spender
7. 3:36 - The Lady Is A Tramp
8. 3:12 - New York Medley
9. 2:54 - What Now My Love?
10. 3:37 - Something
11. 4:07 - Hey, Jude
12. 4:42 - I Wanna Know What Love Is
13. 2:46 - 'Disco' La Passione
14. 2:59 - I (Who Have Nothing)
15. 4:48 - Yesterday, When I Was Young
16. 3:32 - This Is My Life
17. 3:27 - I Wish You Love
18. 3.37 - I Am What I Am

Note by Roman:

This Collection is mixed together from the two live concerts in England on July 19th 1997 in Castle Howard and on July 26th 1997 at Althorp Park. Shirley Bassey celebrated her 60th birthday with a series concerts, of which this CD draws from the two open-air concerts. More songs of this event have been released on the double-CD The Diamond Collection.

"The Birthday Concert" was nominated for the 1999 Grammy Award for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Performance.

Here a review of this album from the net:

The brassy '60s belter Shirley Bassey, Britain's delayed answer to Lena Horne, recently celebrated her 60th birthday with a series of outdoor concerts, of which THE BIRTHDAY CONCERT draws from two. "Goldfinger," a smash hit in 1965, isn't included here but she performs her other big, bad James Bond theme "Diamonds Are Forever" with suitable brio. Bassey's speciality is a slightly menacing Euro power ballad, her primo version of Lieber & Stoller's adapted Italian hit "I (Who Have Nothing)" a choice example. Bassey is also a large enough musical personality to straddle the parallel worlds of Broadway and rock with ease. The Beatles' "Something" and "Hey Jude" actually benefit from her outsize approach and Foreigner's " I Wanna Know What Love Is" was pretty "outsized" to begin with. To bring matters further up to date, a disco-inflected version of Chris Rea's "La Passionne" reveals this all-out entertainer to be a proto-Grace Jones, sharing the same stern, declamatory style, but strangely satisfying in the end.

What Shirley Bassey tells between the songs:

1. S' Wonderful

2. Diamonds Are Forever

Thank you, thank you, and a very, very good evening to you all.
Welcome and what a wonderful, wonderful evening it turned out to be.
I mean not a cloud in the sky ...
Thank you very much, thank you. I'm still celebrating, yes ...
Oh yes, till the end of the year, you know I want...
So if you've got any champagne left? You know where to send it.
No, I was ..., I was praying, when I arrived last night on the bus, you know I ...
I did, I did, I came by bus, I did. I mean I'm not gonna let my Bus Pass go to waste. (Pensioners (woman from 60 years) can get a Bus Pass for driving bus cheapened.)
So, I mean I spent all last night ... I didn't sleep ... worrying about the act, worrying about the other things, please God: let it be a wonderful, wonderful evening, and, and it is.
So we're all going to have fun right, OK? Nice ... great

3. Nobody Does It Like Me

Thank you, thank you, OK.
Here's that song, that I found, when I was married to the italian.
Oh, that's ..., that's his name, that's correct. I did forget for a while. Thanks for reminding me.
"Grande, Grande, Grande", which became "Never, Never, Never".

4. Never, Never, Never

5. Kiss Me, Honey, Honey, Kiss Me

You beat me through, I like that.
OK, you big spenders, are you ready? Here I come.

6. Big Spender

Gosh, I'm attracting them very young, a five year old boy here. He has got a bussy, there ...
Thank you sweetheart. Oh, it's pop. I love it, I love it. No, it's really champagne.
I didn't touch a drop. I swear to God.
There's a bump in the stage, I swear.

7. The Lady Is A Tramp

8. New York Medley

9. What Now My Love?

Flower shops open.
Yes, yes. How do I stay so slim? You don't want to know. It's very hard work. It's diet and exercises. It's simple. Occasionally, I eat chocolate. This is the story of my life, going ... No, I do, I do, I do, I do ahhmm, you know. I do, I do, I do. What do I do? I pick out, yeah. I do. I believe in that. No, I don't believe in strict diets, no. I work out every day. I worked out today, actually. You should have seen me go. Oh, I don't know where I went, but I went. I went somewhere, and ...
(someone asks if sex keeps her slim)
I wouldn't know. I'm a virgin, and I brought up all my children to be the same.
Does sex keep you slim?
Oh, is that a full moon? It is. I usually go mad on a full moon. So look out. Hello moon! I wish I had a moon song. OK, we don't have a moon song, but we do have a medley of Beatles songs. Is that OK? I knew you'd say that, OK, there we go

10. Something

11. Hey Jude

I would like to share all that wonderful applause, with the ladies and gentleman of this terrific orchestra. Thank you.
And two men, that travel all over the world with me. Don't be jealous now fellows. On drums Mr. Mike Smith.
And my musical director and arranger Mr. Collin Green.

12. I Wanna Know What Love Is

13. 'Disco' La Passione

14. I (Who Have Nothing)

15. Yesterday, When I Was Young

OK, you're not going home obviously.
I can see quite a few Welsh flags here tonight. ??The ochen val(...?) (she says something in Welsh)
Oh, thank you for that happy birthday song, thank you.

16. This Is My Life

17. I Wish You Love

I love you. Until the next time. I wish you love.
I love you, too. And don't call me Shirl!
I know who started that, that Des O'Connor. (Des O'Connor had a music and chat show on ITV in Britain where Shirley has been guest sometimes and they even went out on a date together one time. Shirley once said that he's the only one who may call her "Shirl".
"Jane" sent me another idea what this could mean. She is convinced that Shirley Bassey says: "And don't call me Shirley." She explained me that in the 1980 film "Airplane" someone says to Leslie Nielsen: "Surely you can't be serious." He replies: "I am serious, and don't call me Shirley." It's been an oft-quoted remark ever since.)

18. I Am What I Am

Thank you so much. That, that was a first for me. To have everybody sing Happy Birthday.
Thank you. Good night. Until the next time. Good night.