Search - Anne Murray :: Now & Forever

Anne Murray Cannot Sing in Spanish and Some Small Omissions.

S. Sarabia | Portland, ME, USA | 09/21/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This set is SO incredibly complete and beautiful and features some never before released live selections as well as previously unreleased songs which date back to the late Sixties before she hit it big as an American Pop success. There's only one downfall for me: Out of the 64 songs included, her 1979 second monster Pop hit, "Broken Hearted Me," is featured in Spanish. Why on earth would Capitol choose one song out of 64 to be released in a Spanish version? It's not only ridiculous, but it completely robs this awesome package of its sheer perfection. Hence, 4 stars instead of five despite the immense adoration I have had for this easy-going Canadian superstar who has inspired so many other Canadian women to cross over to the American charts and whose voice has been a major staple in my life since boyhood. Her accent is way off (in Spanish) and it only serves in making her sound ridiculous and like the victim of a weird international marketing ploy gone seriously awry. "Broken Hearted Me," the first single from her excellent, "I'll Always Love You" CD should never have been tampered with in such a manner. It's not like the song fared very well on the Latin Music circuit anyway (Correct me if I'm wrong.) I was completely disappointed by this bizarre choice. Otherwise, what you have is the most comprehensive set to date that Anne Murray fans will cherish for a lifetime. The booklet included in the set features Anne's comments on every song that's been selected. I still think that it might have included such early, obscure gems such as "You Can't Have A Hand On Me," "Uproar" or "Blue Finger Lou;" songs one cannot easily obtain in CD format. Also omitted was a nice little country song from 1980 entitled, "Do You Think of Me" from her "Somebody's Waiting" CD. All in all, this is a treasure to possess if you can get it for under $75.00. I once owned it and had to sell it to pay up on the rent after a series of layoffs in the late 90's. I hope to find it again one day. One might think that every major recording artist whom has a boxed set to their credit that is representative of decades of recordings would see to it that the boxed set would remain in print for years to come, but such is not the case here. I mean, COME ON, one can easily obtain boxed sets from Streisand w/o issue. Murray, similarly is a superstar in her own right too. It's just another classic example of the music industry's consumer-directed piracy; plain and simple. This is a beautiful set to own from Canada's beloved original "Snowbird.""