Search - Petula Clark :: Live at the Copacabana

A "LONG LOST" RECORDING FINALLY SEES THE LIGHT

MIKE | NYC | 09/16/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I must admit to a special fondness for this release due to the fact I was in the audience at the Copa the night it was recorded . . . in fact, I can swear I hear myself yelling a "Bravo!" or two midst the clinking of china and silver (the Copa was a fashionable Manhattan "supper club") accompanying Clark's lively set. Originally scheduled by Warner Brothers as a Christmas season release in 1966, it was shelved when "This Is My Song" topped record charts worldwide and its followup "Don't Sleep in the Subway" had all the markings of another huge hit, so the label rushed out a studio LP with those songs and apparently let the Copa tapes gather dust in a vault for some 30 years. The tracks here prove why Clark was the darling of NYC niteries (she later broke all records @ the Waldorf-Astoria's Empire Room) - her patter is brief and clever, and her singing rich and powerful, prompting one critic to write, "She's the only contemporary singer who can take a one-syllable word, sing it as if it has eight, and still make me like it." Sadly, this is only a truncated edition of her show (surprisingly, the "Downtown" finale is excluded), but what's here is choice, ranging from Gershwin ("Love is Here to Stay"), to Porter ("So Nice to Come Home To"), to British music hall ("Typically English"), with a dash of her hits ("My Love", "I Know a Place") thrown in for good measure. A medley utilized to demonstrate how people amusingly mangle her name ("My Name is Petula") outshines "Liza with a Z" and is in itself worth the price of admission. Listen to her hysterical rendition of "Santa Lucia" as part of the bit and see if you don't agree."