Search - Tony Christie :: Very Best of

Great vocal pop

Pieter | Johannesburg | 10/10/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Tony Christie had sevral big hits on the UK charts in the early 1970s and also appears on the original recording of Rice/Webber's Evita album from 1975. With his big booming voice and power ballads he mined a similar vein as Tom Jones and Engelbert Humperdinck. This is an excellent, value-for-money collection of his greatest hits plus some covers of popular songs from the seventies, like Home Lovin' Man, You've Lost That loving Feeling, Daddy Don't You Walk So Fast, I'm Not In Love and The Way We Were. My favorites include the powerful lament about gambling called Las Vegas, the brilliant Avenues and Alleyways and the dramatic tale of revenge called I Did What I Did For Maria that was a UK top ten for him in 1971, and really sounds more like a genuine rock `n roll song than anything else. Other hits that I remember include (Is This The Way To) Amarillo and Don't Go Down To Reno, but these sound a bit formulaic and unoriginal. Only one track from the Evita album is included: On This Night Of A Thousand Stars, but it's real classy and far better than Jimmy Nail's version on the Soundtrack album to the Evita movie. Christie's good taste in material, versatile voice and professionalism lift him above many contemporary easy-listening or MoR balladeers. This album will please his fans and one hopes that fans of say, Michael Bolton and Andrea Boticelli, would discover this great but obscure vocalist."

Essential CD for easy listening fans

Dino | Scotland | 07/29/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"As a best of collection, I rate this CD as an equal to Sinatra, Tom Jones and any other male easy listening singers of the 70s. Tony Christie had hit records from 1970-76 and continues to record into this decade, even scoring a UK and European top ten hit in 1999 with Walk Like A Panther. This CD covers his 70s peak: his soaring vocals, not unlike Tom Jones, stamped his authority over Is This The Way To Amarillo, I Did What I Did For Maria, Don't Go Down To Reno and over a dozen others. My personal favourite is Avenues And Alleyways, a gloriously over-the-top epic. What makes Christie more listenable than most other Vegas-style big-voiced balladeers is the soulfulness of his vocals. He really commits himself to each song."

Old world, old school, all class

Van Lee | detroit, mi | 10/05/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is perhaps my single favorite cd in my entire collection. Tony Christie is a little known talent in the United States, but by god he should be. Christies music will take you back to a time when vocal talent, musical arrangement, larger than life sound, and sheer showmanship still meant something. Armed with a voice that in range and depth that could rival your Tony Bennetts and Sinatras, Tony Christie has amassed a beautiful body of work that has led him to a devoted cult following in Europe, and pockets of the U.S. My experience began with the single "Las Vegas", a eulogy of a damned mans ongoing life at the hands of the city of sin. A personal favorite is "Avenues and Allyways", a sort of street ballad and warning to those who work and play in neighborhoods filled with dangerous gangster types who operate outside of the light and law. Other significant trademarks of Christie are "Is This the Way To Amarillo?"(about a love sick man going to the love of his life), and "I Did What I Did For Maria"( a posibble tragic sequel to I.T.T.W.T.A.?). Every song on this disc is highly enjoyable. This upbeat music is perfectly suitable to take the edge off of your daily commute, and the perfect accessory to your best suit, finest cufflinks, nice cigar, a cadillac, and a night on the town. Burn your hip hop, and boy band music, and go back to when real men sang songs and told storys of real triumph, true love, heartfelt moments, and the things a man has to do whether he likes it or not. Enjoy, and spread the word."