Search - Vic Damone :: Best of

Fair to middling CD geared toward the casual fan...

Matthew G. Sherwin | last seen screaming at Amazon customer service | 04/27/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The Best of Vic Damone is yet another disappointing release from Curb Records. While Curb Records tries so hard to make sure that people in all income brackets can afford a CD, they should label this series the "best of" series. The title is misleading because Vic Damone's best work cannot be watered down to a mere twelve songs. However, the sound quality is very good; and the artwork is not bad either.



The CD starts with Vic Damone singing his heart out on "On The Street Where You Live" from My Fair Lady. Vic never sounded better; his voice is rich and full of masculine warmth. His excellent diction bolsters his performance as well. "Laura" is a stunning love ballad that comes from the movie of the same name; Vic delivers this flawlessly. He never misses a beat; and that arrangement for the piano is very elegant as well. "Tonight" from West Side Story" has great percussion and the brass is used to great advantage. Vic Damone performs "Tonight" beautifully and his rendition feels just right--it's practically THE definitive rendition of "Tonight." Great!



"Maria," a love ballad that also comes from West Side Story, shines brighter than silver and gold when Vic Damone sings it; his uncanny sense of timing makes "Maria" a major highlight of this album. The music that accompanies Vic as he sings "Maria" is also very pretty. "The Sound Of Music" clearly gets the royal treatment from Vic Damone; and the woodwind instruments along with harp makes for a strong musical arrangement for "The Sound Of Music." Vic Damone performs "The Sound Of Music" with great sensitivity and I really like this number.



"Till There Was You" comes from The Music Man; and when Vic sings this it completely takes flight! Vic handles these lyrics like a pro--he is never fazed when there are tempo and key changes. He makes it all seem so easy; although we know it really wasn't. Vic had talent!



"Younger Than Springtime" from South Pacific has excellent percussion to enhance the natural beauty of the melody; and Vic sings this to perfection. What an artist Vic was! "Lost In the Stars" also has some great harp and woodwind instrument playing in the musical arrangement; and the CD ends very well with Vic Damone performing "Something's Coming" from West Side Story. Wow!



Vic Damone clearly was one of the greatest male vocalists of the twentieth century; so it truly is a shame that this can't be a more thorough "best of" CD. They could have and should have added at least two or three more songs to this album. That annoys me and I will take off one and ½ stars for this flaw.



Diehard fans of Vic Damone may want to skip this one; this CD is best suited for the casual fan. People who like show tunes will also like this CD.

"

A Great Singer at a Value Price!

Jason E. Platt | Whittier, CA United States | 07/21/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is a great choice as a value-priced introduction to the artistry of Vic Damone. It includes many of his great hits plus some lesser known ones as well. In fact, the highlight of this cd is the inclusion of "Lost In The Stars" a great Kurt Weill song which Vic Damone performs superbly. The only negative of this cd is that the liner notes do not indicate who wrote these songs. This shouldn't be allowed to happen no matter how inexpensive the cd is--it is unfair to the people who created the songs."

The Best of Vic Damone

J. Heromin | Harrisburg, Penna. | 02/25/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is a beautiful CD that you will enjoy listening to in this much too fast moving world we live in today. It takes me back in time when I was a little girl and this kind of music was always playing on our radio. Vic Damone has such a beautiful voice and I really enjoy hearing his music."