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Boy From Down Under: The Very Best of
Peter Allen
Boy From Down Under: The Very Best of
Genres: Folk, International Music, Pop, Broadway & Vocalists
 
  •  Track Listings (20) - Disc #1

The late Peter Allen became an international pop icon of many a disparate part: evocative tunesmith of such unabashed sentimental pop as "Don't Cry Out Loud" and "I Honestly Love" you (both original versions of which are i...  more »

     
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CD Details

All Artists: Peter Allen
Title: Boy From Down Under: The Very Best of
Members Wishing: 1
Total Copies: 0
Label: Hip-O Records
Release Date: 1/27/2004
Genres: Folk, International Music, Pop, Broadway & Vocalists
Styles: Australia & New Zealand, Singer-Songwriters, Vocal Pop, Cabaret, Traditional Vocal Pop
Number of Discs: 1
SwapaCD Credits: 1
UPC: 602498615430

Synopsis

Amazon.com
The late Peter Allen became an international pop icon of many a disparate part: evocative tunesmith of such unabashed sentimental pop as "Don't Cry Out Loud" and "I Honestly Love" you (both original versions of which are included here); vigorous stage performer who willfully blurred the line between mere flamboyance and outright camp; the original ex-Mr. Liza Minnelli; one of the first celebrities to openly admit their homosexuality. Such was Allen's life that it became the basis of the hit stage musical The Boy From Oz in his home country of Australia in the late 90's, then a Hugh Jackman-starring Broadway edition for the 2003 season. The 20-tracks here make a fine companion piece to that Allen revival, wending their way from early 70's Australian pop fare like "Honest Queen" and "Tenterfield Saddler" through his embrace--and shamelessly emotional retooling--of the decade's introspective singer-songwriter mindset that led to MOR hits for Olivia Newton-John, Melissa Manchester, Pablo Cruise, and others, to his ebullient, hard-won career as solo artist in his own right. Culled from Allen's various albums for A&M, RCA, and Arista, the tracks here display a shameless devotion to tin-pan alley traditions ("Everything Old is New Again," a cover of "The More I See of You"), American songbook icons (the Judy Garland tribute "Quiet Please?"), and the solid pop craftsmanship that led to mega-hits like "Arthur's Theme," all of them powered by an effusive performing sense that was truly bigger than life. --Jerry McCulley

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CD Reviews

I am gonna get this album
Anthony | New York NY USA | 06/15/2007
(5 out of 5 stars)

"To the other reviewer ... yes he does deserve some respect ... because he WROTE all of the songs (apart from the couple of classic covers) ... including Still Call Australia Home"
"Free at last...what a blast!"
jon sieruga | Redlands, CA USA | 12/31/2008
(5 out of 5 stars)

"Perhaps it was only an illusion--a theatrical trick to delight us momentarily--but Peter Allen's life looked like a carnival, a traveling, ramshackle show of glitz and carefree hoofing. That said, he's surprisingly serious (in the singer/songwriter mold of Billy Joel and Elton John) on the early tracks such as "Honest Queen" and the shiveringly bracing "Tenterfield Saddler" (an ode to his grandfather). When disco came in circa 1976, Allen's style changed dramatically, though he never stopped writing quality music in this idiom--and he never lost his nakedly romantic soul. This Best Of CD is addictive and wonderful to hear! One wants it to go on & on--like Allen's non-stop energy--but all good things have to end. It's a shame because Peter Allen was an entertainer of the highest magnitude...he had so much of his spirit left to give us. A-"