Search - Jim Nabors :: 16 Most Requested Songs

Angelic Voice Overflowing With Passion!

Everett Green | Seattle, Wa | 12/13/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Jim Nabors is etched in most Americans' minds as the happy-go-lucky Gomer Pyle. For too long his finest talent has been overlooked, and this CD is a good start if you want to become familiar with Jim Nabors "The Vocalist." On the surface, this CD appears to be a companion to Mom & Dad's old Perry Como LPs. But what separates Nabors from the rest of the feelgood pack is his ability to add an unorthodox element of anger to tunes like "The Impossible Dream." That said,listen to this album with your utmost attention. Don't just put this set on as background music while doing chores. If you do,you are missing the true experience of Jim Nabor's seething baritone hiss that is the tantrum of a fed up generation. Nabors take on "The Impossible Dream" is the first rendition I've heard that cries the lyrics in anger and despair, capturing the inward pain and assault that results from chasing society's intangible holy grails. The deep focus and subtle collapse of soul in his voice is cutting, painful, raw. I can only compare the pure uncut energy he injects into "The Impossible Dream" to Iggy Pop singing "China Girl."If you want to hear a blatant example of the emotional anarchy that Jim Nabors should be appreciated for, you should sample "Love is Blue," where man's self-destructive behavior is prepared and served by Jim Nabors faster than instant oatmeal.
The pain and regret pleads obvious with Jim's unique ability to add a haunting Guajardian low-note that is just short of a societal scolding. Society pretends to change, all the while retaining the skin it claims to have shed. Yet the former Gomer Pyle truly does shed the vile snakeskin that is our pride in most of these songs. A new generation will listen closely to our modern minstrel philosophers like John Lennon, Michael Stipes and Burl Ives. Let's hope they include this great vocalist to their lessons. Jim Nabors may not have penned the words to these songs, but his emotion translates these syrupy lyrics into
exlposive narratives that scrape deep into that crazed Jack-in-the-Box that we call modern times, where too often emotion withers, omly to feed the parasite called the 9-to-5 man, who bolts from the box in horror once the music ends. But with Jim Nabors at the microphone, the horror is tamed."

Renditions that pierce your soul, barter with your psyche

K. Brown | Walnut, Ca USA | 03/29/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"For fans of Jim Nabors, this is the choice collection of covers. For those unfamiliar with this great vocalist's work, this is the CD to introduce you to the artist that does more than merely cover a repetetive rendition of memorable song; he transforms one dimensional works of emotional aria into unbridled Jungian archetypes. I feel anarchic awakening when Mr. Nabors rips open "Try to Remember;" he takes a sugary hit from the musical "The Fantastiks" and, with the sheer emotion and ironic overstatement in his voice, breaks open the song's true message. We no longer hear a song about mindless romantic recollections, we hear a seething matriarchal sword dethrone the greedy corporate masters that force us to retain our emotional needs in the name of modern repressive society. Similarly, "The Impossible Dream" was never the same since Jim Nabor's rendition. Even Jacques Brel couldn't match the Quixotic cum Descartian war cry that in essence declares "Hands off my soul, you corrupt politicians with your crumbling manifestos; I pour detergent into my own laundry of sins, no other shall bathe my psychological being!" This said, I melted like a child when he breaks into "Love is Blue." No message to cut into the depths of our awareness, just a simple song that melts us into the innocent young lovers we once were."