Dame Shirley Bassey's new album 'The Performance'
Welsh singing legend Dame Shirley Bassey has been lured out of blissful seclusion in Monaco to record an album of 11 new songs specially written for her by the likes of Gary Barlow, Rufus Wainwright, the Pet Shop Boys, along with others of note. Simply titled The Performance, this offering from the 72 year old ” girl from Tiger Bay” raises questions quite apart from its musical merits, namely the nature of the relationship between gay men and their adored divas in decline.
It’s well-known that Shirley Bassey avails herself of means of preserving her looks and holding back the effects of time. and the results speak for themselves. However, the album’s cover shot makes her look so improbably youthful you might think she had been at the vampire juice.
Dame Shirley Bassey is what she is
While Bassey is in fine voice, the numbers themselves are not all brilliant. Who would have thought that a songwriting pair as experienced as John Barry and Don Black (track 5, Our Time Is Now) could have come up with such trite lyrics and a song with such a dated feel? The same datedness appears in the following track, As God Is My Witness by David Arnold and David McAlmont. But it is Arnold and Don Black’s No Good About Goodbye that really points up a problem.
The girl from Tiger Bay
One has to ask if it is really appropriate for a septugenarian like Bassey to be still pouring out the same angst-ridden stuff she did in the 1970s? Everthing screams, surely she should have moved on from this by now. It’s the kind of number meant to appeal to her longtime gay devotees, the kind who live too much in the past, bemoaning the loss of Judy(Garland), Ethel(Merman), Alma(Cogan) and Dorothy(Squires), admirable as they all were in their day. Down the line (heaven forbid) their successors could be doing the same with Kylie.
Some years ago I went to a Shirley Bassey concert in London. No sooner had she made her appearance than a young gay fan in a polka dot shirt ran to the foot of the stage and handed her a big, expensively wrapped present. Bassey insisted on opening it there and then, and looked askance as she found it was a enlarged framed photograph of the same guy presenting her with a similar gift at a previous concert! I got the impression of mirrors reflecting mirrors in a strange narcissistic act.
As divas and celebrities age, they become what chatshow host Michael Parkinson called the late Dame Thora Hird - a national treasure - and she was. Since then, the term has been used so often to describe any old C-lister who has managed to survive a few years in the business that it has become worthless. Similarly, the original justification for any diva being translated into a gay icon was that they died young, or at least suffered tragically with a string of feckless lovers or impossible marriages. Miss Bassey fails to qualify on both counts. She is flamboyant, sings her heart out, and has been around for a considerable time - she should be allowed to enjoy a well earned queen-free retirement.
By John Hartley
(c) Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
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What do you think about Dame Shirley Bassey, her latest album, and her gay fanbase? Feel free to comment below:
December 17th, 2009 at 5:40 am
some tech house tunes with her lovely voice would be wicked cool thats for sure, not so sure about lady gaga style, but ya just stunning love her
December 7th, 2009 at 5:45 pm
Really, LittleGreen Lies, you protest too much. While I have past experience as a music critic, the main thrust of this blog was a meditation on how gay men relate to their divas as both get older. I know exactly what you’re saying, but where’s the relevance to my central theme?
December 7th, 2009 at 3:49 pm
Well, you hardly read through. What I meant is she is providing music for a niche and 72 is not the right age to attract new markets. So of course she would sing for her fan base and remain dedicated to them. She deploys excelence in her field and moving now to new \"markets\" would rather be a desperate attempt, so she displays wonderful skills within a music she is familiar with. It is decent I guess, as compared to the lack of it others such as Madonna exhibit. If you were a true music critic you would grasp the situation and not make such irrelevant comments. If she were 40, yeah, we could have different expectations. So don\’t pretend more than you would ever be able to deliver.
December 4th, 2009 at 2:52 pm
Thanks for your contribution LittleGreenLies. Yes, it’s easy for DSB, with such divergent fanbases, to fall between two stools with an album like Performance.
December 3rd, 2009 at 5:03 pm
Indeed, I would’ve loved to hear some club techno tracks from her… I can see her in pink leotard, in a futuring with Tiesto or Black Eyed Peas or Lady Gaga, that would have been awesome and so not outdated!! I mean forget that it woudn’t have been honest, what she really feels about music… A producer could have used her voice on anything and then she could do playback on it! Classic means outdated and kids don’t love that. And old farts that want to feel hype speak like they are the kids. And that’s about it. Bye!
November 23rd, 2009 at 9:13 pm
No Tony, I’m not looking for negative comments, just intelligent discussion; that’s obviously difficult with diehard fans for whom DSB can do no wrong.
The Performance having come in only at number 20 has now plunged to number 37 in the album charts, in spite of Bassey popping up everywhere on tv and the Christmas shopping season being in full swing. A decline indeed. I stand by my blog and have heard nothing to refute it.
November 21st, 2009 at 7:58 am
Hi John,
Just two quick comments.
It sounds to me as if you’re only looking for negative comments about DSB’s new CD, especially when you say “and I welcome any others, perhaps with regard to the weakness of some of the songs”. You’re entitled to your opinion, but so are others. I don’t think any of the songs are weak. Dame Shirley’s voice is better than ever, and each song is brilliantly produced. Differing opinions should be encouraged perhaps with regard to the strength of some of the songs.
My other comment would be that no one has responded on the Bassey Blog. You posted on The Dame Shirley Bassey Message Board, moderated by me for the past 11 years. The responses were on the message board, which has no connection to the The Bassey Blog. Not a big deal, as I respect the work done by the contributors on that site… just wanted to point that out.
Thanks,
Tony
November 20th, 2009 at 10:42 am
I’d like to answer some of the DSB fans who have responded on The Bassey Blog.
Stevie, who writes as a gay man, thinks my criticism of the album’s cover shot unjustified - well, airbrushed or not, perhaps we’ll just have to agree to differ on that one. My point about gay icons/national treasures Stevie is that they have been rendered virtually meaningless by casual over-use.
Jeff says I’ve no interest in Bassey’s music. Sorry Jeff, but I’ve followed DSB’s career since teenage years. When I also tell you that I’m 56 and an out, proud and happy gay man, I hope you’ll realise I’m not ageist or homophobic. Must say, that’s the first time I’ve been called two bad things before breakfast! I write a regular column for Mothership Blog and have complete freedom to write about any subject that inspires me. I wasn’t “asked to do a review,” my blog was a spontaneous response to hearing Performance when it hit the shops. Equally absurd is your remark that I “looked up her age and decided she should be rubbish by now.” I’m actually a strong believer that advancing age is no bar to achievement. You can be forgiven, knowing next to nothing about me.
Vanya calls me “a predictably shrill and gauche wannabe who is determined to mobilize every homophobic metaphor in the book to ensure a response from fans.” What you don’t know Vanya is that I used to be a music critic writing for Replay magazine, the first to give a free popular music cd with every issue, paving the way for a flood of free cd mags since. My article on Jean-Michel Jarre is preserved on the his fans’ website.I’ve interviewed and written about some of the biggest names in showbusiness: I’m no wannabe - those are my music credentials. Sometimes you have to be shrill to be heard - and I have been.
I hope I’ve already put the charge of homophobia to bed, but I think you refer to my mini-critique of gay men who can’t let go of the past, whether divas die young or grow old, and that’s not healthy in my opinion.
Holly informs me that Bassey’s “not a singer who should be played in third-class gay clubs,” and she should never, never, never be compared with Kylie “who has no voice no nothing.” Well, Honey love, I don’t know what third-class gay venues you’ve been frequenting (I suspect none), but the “glamour, class and timeless good singing” you associate with DSB are the hallmark of many gay pubs/clubs across the country. You add, “to decrease her as a gay icon is a condescendence.” Holly, like your name, you are prickly and green when it comes to gay culture.
Marco finds my definition of what it means to be a gay icon (or used to mean) depressing. Again, Marco, my argument is that at least the term had a recognised meaning once, but no more.
Thanks for all your comments,and I welcome any others, perhaps with regard to the weakness of some of the songs.
November 19th, 2009 at 11:35 am
Good to hear your opinion Malcolm. Bassey’s single, The Living Tree, taken from her Get This Party Started album was a brand new song too, and went down a storm in gay circles.
November 18th, 2009 at 4:38 pm
DEFINATELY IN DECLINE!! I had such high hopes for this album after her last one Get This Party Started was brilliant. Performance is weak and not one song I can imagine played in a bar or club. Why oh why did she go in this awful direction. Her voice is still there, please team up with some dance producers again before its too late.