Tony Bennett's All-Time Greatest Hits (1972)

Note: the CD I listened to was the 1997 remastered reissue.

As one would expect. Powerful vocals supported by fantastic arrangements by the likes of Percy Faith, Ray Conniff, and Johnny Mandel; sometimes accompanied by Count Basie or The London Philharmonic. Lots of popular show tunes/movie themes (marked below with an asterisk) and easy listening ballads to croon. No liner notes to speak of, but at least the tunes are presented in chronological order.

Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: #175

Tracks with chart positions. It's all good, but my top tracks marked with a ✔.

Song	Year	Hot 100
Because Of You	1951	1
Rags To Riches	1953	1	✔
Stranger In Paradise*	1953	2
Sing You Sinners*	1967	-
Just In Time*	1956	46	✔
The Boulevard Of Broken Dreams	1956	-
Love Look Away*	1958	-
Firefly	1958	-	✔
Put On A Happy Face*	1960	-	✔
I Left My Heart In San Francisco	1962	19	✔
I Wanna Be Around	1962	14
This Is All I Ask	1963	70
Who Can I Turn To (When Nobody Needs Me)*	1964	33
The Shadow Of Your Smile*	1965	-
Smile*	1965	-
A Time For Love*	1966	-
For Once In My Life	1967	91
Something	1969	-
(Where Do I Begin) Love Story*	1971	-
Maybe This Time*	1972	-

Despite the album title, most of Bennett's Top 40 hits are absent: Can You Find It In Your Heart (#16, 1956), From The Candy Store On The Corner To The Chapel On The Hill (#11, 1956), Happiness Street (#38, 1956), The Autumn Waltz (#18, 1956), In The Middle Of An Island (#9, 1957), Ca C'est L'amour (#22, 1957), Young And Warm And Wonderful (#22, 1957), The Good Life (#18, 1963), and If I Ruled The World (#34, 1965).

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None

Previously revisited for the blog:

Duets: An American Classic (2006)
Snowfall: The Christmas Album (1994)

Tony Bennett - Duets: An American Classic (2006)

Well, if Sinatra gets a Phil Ramone-produced duets album, why not Tony, too? This is pleasant enough, but there's a lot here that leaves me scratching my head, especially in regard to repertoire and pairings (some folks just don't have the voice tonal qualities compatible with duetting). But it sold well and won the Grammy Award for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album so what do I know? For what it's worth, that's exactly how I felt upon hearing the Sinatra duets album, too.

Rolling Stone, November 2, 2006, pp. 72, 74

Question: to what is the titular term "an American classic" referring? The duet form? Bennett himself? The Great American Songbook?

Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: #3

Tracks: Although all arrangements and band performances are top notch, the only tunes grabbing me today are these:

• Rags to Riches (with Elton John)
• The Best Is Yet To Come (Diana Krall)
• For Once In My Life (Stevie Wonder) - includes sublime harmonica solo
• Because of You (k.d. lang & Chris Botti) - I guess it's a trio not a duet, but with that talent let's not nitpick.
• Just In Time (Michael Buble)

There's also 4 bonus tracks recorded 1963 (with Judy Garland), 1988 (Sinatra), 2000 (Buble), and 2006 (Krall). Most were recorded live; all are quite good but Sinatra and Bennett absolutely tear the house down with The Lady Is A Tramp - easily the highlight of the whole CD.

Noticeably absent from this disc: Harry Connick, Jr., Jane Monheit, and Michael Feinstein.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None

Previously revisited for the blog:
Snowfall: The Christmas Album (1994)

Tony Bennett - Snowfall: The Christmas Album (1994)

A reissue of Bennett's 1968 album with the addition of a bonus track. The arrangements swing, Bennett is in excellent voice - what's not to like?

Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: Did not chart

Tracks: Even with the bonus track, the CD is only 31 minutes long, so there's not a lot of bang for your buck here. My favorite track is Winter Wonderland - what a great arrangement. Other top tunes are My Favorite Things and White Christmas. The bonus track, I'll Be Home For Christmas, was recorded during a live appearance by Bennett on The Jon Stewart Show, a talk show on MTV from 1993-95. Recorded with a swinging trio, it is one of the better songs on the disc. The clunkers here are track 4, a generic medley of holiday tunes that really needs a big band, and track 5, an original song titled Christmasland. I'm not a fan of the song Snowfall, but with Bennett at the helm, this version is tolerable.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None

Original 1968 cover artwork: