Talk:Tony Sings the Great Hits of Today!

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As much as I'd love to move onto other things I find I cannot forego another attempt to rectify what seems to have become the accepted view that this album is rubbish. Having listened to it again I find it distasteful that Wikipedia relishes that some 2000 or more people accessed the above comment and without any balancing remarks. Having already made my views known on the Tony Bennett page I find their repetition and extension here most odd. I do not dispute that TB was not keen on this material, was sick, now regrets recording it, felt his lack of selection control forced him out of Columbia. What I cannot accept is that the album contents were misguided, were recorded without enthusiasm and it was all a disaster. As I have previously mentioned in a Rolling Stone interview in 1973 he felt he had the done his best with material he disliked. I cannot refer whomsoever makes these decisions to a list of critics whose opinions agree with mine and would then make them "so called" verifiable - but I can refer to the actual album.

I quote " While many of the songwriters used on the album , such as Lennon and McCartney and Burt Bacharach and Hal David, are highly regarded in their own right, Bennett had no genuine feeling for their style."

Whilst this is the first attempt at Lennon & McCartney, TB was quite familiar with Bacharach & David songs having recorded "Alfie", "What The World Needs Now" and "Whoever You Are I Love You" on his previous album (and "The Night That Heaven Fell" in the 50's). So that can be corrected without further verification.

Next "All Music states that of all the songs Bennett attempted on TSTGHOT "Is That All There I?" is the only one he seemed to show any enthusiasm for. Bennett's partly spoken take on the Beatles "Eleanor Rigby" has garnered the most commentary, with music writer Will Friedland saying it was recited as if it were Thomas Gray's Elergy Written In A Country Churchyard"

..and yet when you listen to the album "Is That All There Is?" has almost as many speaking sections as "Eleanor Rigby" which has moments of sustained note holding, this can be verified by listening to the tracks on the album.

"and Time Magazine describing it as "Shatneresque" and verifying by quoting a BBC poll of the worst Beatle covers ever - unfortunately TB does not make that list! It just looks like a clever line!

I don't think cover artwork has any bearing on the quality of the album within and the opinions expressed are not relevant and should be seen in the context of their time.

"The commercial goals for the album were not met as it charted to only 144 on Billboard 200 albums chart"

agreed

but refer to the his wikipedia Billboard page and you will find all TBs albums from 1957 to 1967 made the Billboard top 100 (although I Wanna Be Around" released 1963 took until 1968), those after 1968, except his Christmas album, appeared in the second half of the top 200 and the best performance of those is this album.

Like all established acts TB struggled post British invasion and that was reflected in many of their sales - with as usual exceptions, Many welcomed the changes - Andy Williams, Jack Jones, Barbra Streisand, Peggy Lee, Ella, Johnny Mathis, Dino, Sammy and Frank was tying his yellow ribbon well into the 70's.

In the mid 60's TB picked up on a Motown song and recorded it as a slow ballad, a single and album are recognised hits (although the album only went to #164), Stevie Wonder had already recorded his uptempo version it was not a hit until 1968 when it went to #2 I think, "For Once In My Life" was a sort of contempory cover in reverse but shows TB was not frightened of contemporary material - Steve & Tony joined together for a Duet and won a Grammy in 2000. A Stevie Wonder song is on the disputed album and Tony's treatment of "My Cherie Amour" is excellent in my opinion - but I only have the album to play as verification - an album that stands almost as good as any he made that deserves better than being described as "This Is The One that Made Me Sick", all artists can be their worst critics, Frank Sinatra did not allow his 1962 UK recordings to be released in the US because he felt his voice was in bad shape - but those who like his music enjoy it.

This "History" needs a more balanced re-write which records the criticism with an objective review of the music it contains - or contain no comment like some of his other albums.

Chrisphase (talk) 15:15, 31 March 2012 (UTC)

I don't want to rehash our general disagreements here, but what you need to present are mainstream sources that are favorable regarding this album. The story of "For Once In My Life" is quite interesting but has nothing to do with this album. As for album covers, those were regarded as an integral aspect of the overall artistic presentation back in the LP era, think Sgt Peppers or In the Wee Small Hours for example. As for sales, it may have been marginally better-selling than his other albums of the time, but clearly did not achieve its purpose in finding Bennett a new audience or keeping his recording career going. Wasted Time R (talk) 17:21, 7 April 2012 (UTC)

"Here"

Is it worth noting that this song is largely just an arrangement of Erik Satie's "Trois Gymnopédies?" I have no idea if it was written specifically for this album, since I cannot find any trace of the lyrics anywhere on the Internet to see if it was on any other albums, and it is impossible to Google a song called "Here" even with the composer's name attached. 174.31.158.199 (talk) 23:58, 13 April 2012 (UTC)

"Scant Praise at last?"

Returning to the condemnation of this album there is a review to be found on "The Second Disc" Holiday Gift Guide - Tony Bennett The Complete Collection wherein the reviewer takes a more concillatory view in December 2011 and may provide an opportunity for you to final accept that the album has its good points also, the paragraph follows :-

Within three years of 1969’s controversial Tony Sings the Great Hits of Today! , the album which made the singer physically ill, Bennett was off Columbia. (Even that album doesn’t seem too bad in context; as inappropriate as “Little Green Apples” and especially a half-spoken, half-sung “Eleanor Rigby” are, the singer does well by “The Look of Love,” “Something,” “My Cherie Amour” and “Live for Life.”) A beguiling and odd take on Stephen Sondheim’s “Losing My Mind” makes Summer of ’42 (1971) a keeper, while “Easy Come, Easy Go” from his label swansong With Love (1972) could have described the singer’s situation. (Both albums are new to CD, and fantastic treats, indeed.)

Perhaps this could be used to correct your article. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Chrisphase (talk • contribs) 11:03, 1 August 2012 (UTC)

or should I just go ahead and include it ? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Chrisphase (talk • contribs) 11:16, 6 August 2012 (UTC)

Yes, you can include this. Wasted Time R (talk) 12:19, 6 August 2012 (UTC)