Search - Claudine Longet :: Very Best of

IT'S BEEN A LONG LONG TIME, LONGET

Michael G. Batcho | McAdoo, PA (USA) | 05/06/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

""The Very Best Of Claudine Longet" is a very pleasant and enjoyable musical experience. The album does not reflect Claudine's "best" which are scattered throught the albums of her recording career but it is truly representational of the "Claudine Experience". Her mellow whispy voice evokes quiet intimate warmth.
Perhaps her most famous recording opens this album: "Hello Hello"! This was my first introduction to the person and music of Ms Longet a way back when. She does a unique rendition of the Beach Boys "God Only Knows" which certainly does Brain Wilson proud.
My personal favorite on this collection is "As If You Walked Away". There is a sad melancholy aura that permeates this song and lingers with you long when it's over.
I can't imagine the late sixties/early seventies without the musical soundtrack of Claudine Longet. I'm happy she came along and recorded the tracks she did. . . and now we can listen to them all these years later with that same naive joy we had way back then.
I don't know if Claudine will ever or plans ever to record again, but I would be glad if she would. Thanks Claudine for all the beautiful songs and thanks for all the happy memories of youthful years. You're a beautiful woman who made beautiful music singing beautiful songs."

The Guilty Pleasure Of A Forgotten Artist

Michael G. Batcho | 06/21/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Claudine Longet is one of the great guilty pleasures of pop music--and not just because of the controversy behind the 1976 death of Spider Sabich, the scandal for which she is best remembered. Claudine belonged to the legendary 1960s roster of Herb Alpert's A&M Records, a group of loungecore artists horribly reviled by "hip" music critics for bucking the music and image trends of the pot-and-acid era. Alpert's acts included The Carpenters, The Sandpipers, Sergio Mendes, Alpert's own Tijuana Brass, Burt Bacharach, and Chris Montez. As Alpert himself explains: "I think people were bugged with hearing music which had an undercurrent of unhappiness and anger, even sadism." Claudine made five albums for A&M, and then went on to ex-husband's Andy Williams' Barnaby label for three early 1970s releases--and faded into musical obscurity. Until this compilation, Claudine's music was only available through costly Japanese imports or scratchy old vinyls at the thrift shop. Varese Sarabande has done a nice, if incomplete, job of presenting her music. The selections are mostly from the later Barnaby releases, leaving off some gems like "Wanderlust" from her first album and her incredibly beautiful version of the Everlys' "Let It Be Me" from her best album "Colours" and completely ignoring her most obscure album "Run Wild, Run Free." But since Claudine never made a bad record, any 16 of her tracks would be a very listenable "best of" collection. Ethereal, innocently sexy, free-spirited, Claudine sang like she looked on some of the jacket sleeves--the gorgeous, young lady in the diaphanous dress on the beach. Guilty, guilty, guilty. Nobody ever made records like these!"

Viva La Longet! - but, sadly, not here

David Scott | Claremont, CA United States | 02/22/2004

(2 out of 5 stars)

"There's an undeniable magic when Claudine Longet has her way with an arrangement by Nick DeCaro. It's four parts camp to one part brilliance, and it can really hook you if you keep an open mind. This collection, however, is not a best-of or even the place to start. Get Claudine's "Love is Blue" album which has most of her all-time greats - Randy Newman's "Snow," "Small Talk," "Happy Talk," a hysterical "Falling In Love Again," the Bee Gee's "Holiday" (you have to hear it!) and - I swear to God - a love song to a seal. There's never been anything quite like her...."