Music Review by Neil Sadler
Shirley Bassey is an icon. The belter from Tiger Bay has been a great British export for almost as long as Cliff Richard but hasn’t quite managed the number of hits that he or the likes of Tom Jones have managed. Apart from the fantastic, History Repeating, she hasn’t troubled the charts at all for quite a while despite a headlining turn at Glastonbury.
Get The Party Started is based around her version of the Pink track of the same name as well as various remixes of earlier tracks by some lesser known dance producers of the day. Sadly it all sounds a bit desperate. None of the remixes transcends the original and most feel very unsinspired – a little brazilian rhythm and even that damn “funky drummer” beat reappears.
Personally I think that any party that Pink got started would very likely be a pretty amazing affair, but you get the feeling that Ms Bassey would rather stand on a stage at her party and perform while we applauded politely. You can’t deny she has a great voice but it doesn’t suit either the covers or the rather obvious remixes of her classics that are presented here.
There is one song – The Living Tree – which shows that there is life in the old diva yet and encouragingly it is a new track. Full of big choruses and even bigger vocals it is a Bond theme waiting to happen. But unless she rediscovers her passion and finds some new material that suits that mammoth voice, I don’t think she’ll be starting many important parties.
