Name: Best of
Brand: Steele, Tommy
SKU: 865500
Price: 3.71 GBP
Availability: InStock

Tracks

1. Rock With The Caveman

2. Singing The Blues

3. Knee Deep In Blues

4. Butter Fingers

5. Water Water

6. A Handful Of Songs

7. Shiralee

8. Hey You

9. Nairobi

10. Happy Guitar

11. Yhe Only Man On The Island

12. Come On Let's Go

13. Tallahassee Lassie

14. Give! Give! Give!

15. The Little White Bull

16. What A Mouth (What A North And South)

17. Writing On The Wall

18. Half A Sixpence

19. Sweet Georgia Brown

20. Must Be Santa

Performer Notes

This 20-song collection has been superseded by The World of Tommy Steele, but as there's only a variation of three tracks between them (none of them major hits), there's hardly a difference between the two, so anyone who bought this CD can stick with it, rather than upgrading, unless owning "Flash, Bang, Wallop," "It's All Happening." and "Hit Record" is significantly more important to one than having "Must Be Santa" and "Sweet Georgia Brown." The sound is excellent -- Steele's tape library has been well taken care of across the decades -- and the material is well-transferred. As to the actual music, Steele's work will seem strange to American ears -- he wasn't really doing rock & roll, but he had just entered his twenties when he hit and he had an energetic delivery, and when given a song like "Singing the Blues" or "Rock with the Caveman," which had some youth appeal, he could deliver a performance that sounded like a very tame approximation of rock & roll. Most of the material is more a kind of precursor to the teen pop of Fabian and Frankie Avalon, et al. His voice is pleasing in a slightly bland way, by modern (i.e. late 20th century/early 21st century) standards, and he did have some solid backing, from the Steel Men and, in two instances, Roland Shaw and His Orchestra. ~ Bruce Eder