Alan Bergman, along with his wife and partner Marilyn, have written the lyrics to some of the best-loved songs in popular music history. "The Windmills of Your Mind" and "The Way We Were" were awarded both the Academy A... more »ward and Golden Globe for Best Song and the latter also won 2 GRAMMY Awards. Their score for Yentl also won an Oscar and their work has received a staggering total of 16 nominations. Lyrically finds Alan in the company of top-notch musicians from the world of jazz, as he turns his Chet Baker-like vocal stylings to a number of his signature tunes including "What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life?" and "You Don't Bring Me Flowers."« less
Alan Bergman, along with his wife and partner Marilyn, have written the lyrics to some of the best-loved songs in popular music history. "The Windmills of Your Mind" and "The Way We Were" were awarded both the Academy Award and Golden Globe for Best Song and the latter also won 2 GRAMMY Awards. Their score for Yentl also won an Oscar and their work has received a staggering total of 16 nominations. Lyrically finds Alan in the company of top-notch musicians from the world of jazz, as he turns his Chet Baker-like vocal stylings to a number of his signature tunes including "What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life?" and "You Don't Bring Me Flowers."
"Followers of the marvellous songwriting team of Alan and Marilyn Bergman would have been astounded to learn of Alan's surprising vocal debut. For decades they have delighted all people who love classy music and are probably best known for working with Michel Legrand, Johnny Mandel and Dave Grusin.This astonishing debut work is brimming over with immaculate performances and lyrical mastery. As his wife Marilyn says in the sleeve notes "This is with Pride and Prejudice". Each track displays that his timing, pitch and phrasing is quite amazing. If you want to listen to poignant, emotional music, then, in my humble opinion, this is the best album released in 2007. It is difficult to single out individual tracks since all have an individual sensitivity. However, I'll just mention one to wet your appetite. The song "What Matter Most" (a little jewel of a melody originally beautifully sung by Kenny Rankin) gets unbelievable emotion from Alan, and closes the album. On a personal note, if I had to name one song as my favourite over a lifetime of loving and listening to music - this would be it! Bravo Alan"
Lyrically, Ours
Daniel E. Molloy | Connecticut | 07/05/2007
(5 out of 5 stars)
"This recording is Bergman's love letter to the life he has lived so fully and so generously.
Rarely is a recording so aptly named. LYRICALLY, ALAN BERGMAN is the signature to his heartfelt expression of the joy, love and privilege he feels as he nears the end. Like other lyricists and composers, notably Johnny Mercer, Herb Alpert and Burt Bacharach, his vocal skills and styling are subservient to the emotion he expresses in the songs.
Bergman, an octogenarian, brings us his smile, his laughter and his gratitude in a way that makes tune and tone less important than his emotion. Each piece fits, like a finely sawed puzzle part, into the magnificent portrait at which he has been working for the past sixty years. The orchestrations are wonderfully understated. The production work is subtly superb. Everything works together to present a giant of lyricism at his most humble and beautiful.
Will there be a finer recording produced this year? Hard to know. Will this one stand out as one of the great self-interpretations in modern music history? Most definitely.
A gem - listen to it, love it, share it as Bergman has done all of his life.
"
Pretty....Romantic....Mellow
Renee | BROOKLYN, NY USA | 07/14/2007
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Pour a glass of wine, have a seat, sit back, and listen to some beautiful music and lyrics, sung beautifully by Mr. Bergman. He sounds a little like Jack Jones here, a little like Bacharach there. The music that Alan Bergman and his wife Marilyn have gifted us with over the years has just been so memorable and lovely and heartfelt. What a treat to have the composer very ably show those singers who have brought us their music how they intended it to be sung when words and music were put to paper."
Songs that glow
Vieuxblue | Ewing, NJ USA | 02/14/2009
(5 out of 5 stars)
"This set of songs creates a mood of love, of the passing of love, of how time slips past and before you know it, what is, was. It is also a tribute to two of the best American lyricists, Alan Bergman and his wife Marilyn, who over the years have teamed with noted composers to create these classic songs.
Past reviews have critiqued Alan Bergman's singing capabilities. I hear much beauty in his renditions. First, as a lyricist, he makes sure that you understand every word he sings. Other singers focus on themselves, their technical virtuosity, sometimes to the detriment of the song itself: Bergman enhances the songs. Then, as a man in his eighties, he brings a lifetime of understanding and feeling to each of these songs.
He may miss a note here and there. He never misses the songs. They glow in his renditions."
Lyrically very satisfying
Richard Klein | Chestnut Hill, MA USA | 11/29/2007
(5 out of 5 stars)
"This is a great CD. Bergman clearly doesn't have an exceptional voice, but he sings these tunes with such feeling and understanding that it more than makes up for that shortcoming. A great selection of songs that are really a pleasure to listen to."