Search - Liberace :: 16 Biggest Hits

Many A Joke's Been Had...

Shane | New Zealand | 03/09/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Many times me and some friends have joked about Liberace. We joked many times about starting a Liberace fan club here in New Zealand where we live and verious other jokes (by the way, when we mentioned his name we would pronounce it Lib-er-ace).

The point is, having heard the mans music as I hadnt before I feel a little sheepish.



We could easily being forgiven for poking fun at this utterly tacky and flamboyant man, but what an artist.



El Cumbanchero is great dance song if you ask me, with a slight latin flavor it makes me itch to dance for some reason.

The Warsaw Concerto is such a haunting song, big and dramatic, the kind of chilling songs I love to hear.



Liebestraum is a wonderful piece that has amazing staying power. One of those classical pieces that you hear some time, thinking you dont know and ending up saying "OH! I love this one!".



Easter Parade is just wonderful. Starts off slow and moody and then swings to an end.



Alexander's Ragtime Band is one of those great songs by Irving Berlin that is almost always good by any performer. While the Liberace version is not half as good as that by Bessie Smith, its still a great track.



Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata is another great classic pience that I find chilling to the bone, in an addictive way. The version hear is a tiny bit faster in tempo than the version by Liberace played in the film Misery (where, I might add, his music was used to great effect as the soundtrack of Paul Sheldon's stay in the deranged Annie Wilkes' house, and where I first heard Liberace's music).



The Story of Three Loves is a delightful slow piano peice perfect for rainy days.



September Song and Sincerely Yours are two great tracks on which Liberace's vocals are stunning, like that of a great crooner.



Beer Barrel Polka and Twelfth Street Rag are great tracks, jumping and upbeat, the kind of thing you expect to see in a silent film from the 20s (perhaps they were in silent films? My knowlege of silent movies isnt as good as it should be, considering how much I love old films - im a bit of a film maker myself).



Liberace Boogie, another live track, and one in which the audience takes part. This is to Liberace what My Ding-A-Ling was to Chuck Berry I suppose.



Cement Mixer (Put-Ti, Put-Ti) is the most peculiar song. Listening to the lyrics, to be quite honest, I dont want to like it...its somehow absurd, but I find myself enjoying it.



Chopsticks....ugh! Every person stands at a piano and plays chopsticks (usually the only song they know), and says "Oh I bet you didnt know I played huh?", and you say to yourself two words... CHOP STICKS...who cant play it? However Liberace's brilliant arrangement adds to it something that is quite unique, and I think probably quite hard to play well.



Nocturne No. 2 in E Flat Major, Op. 9...a peice by the great Chopin is beautiful.



And last, but certainly not least, my personal favorite...I'll Be Seeing You, another song immortalized by Misery. Brilliance and its most stunning.



Over all, I love this CD. But then I love Liberace. His music is haunting, creepy at times (in a way I find thrilling, like watching those taught and tense film noir movies of the '40s), and also supremely joyous and...dare I say it gay (and that does happen to be a pun I believe). So my fellow gay man Liberace's 16 Biggest Hits is a great buy.



(the only disappointment for me is that his awesome version of Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1 isnt on here. another track that was used in Misery its absence is a shame)

"