Tony Bennett - Sings The Hits Of Today (1969) - VINYL - 24-bit/96kHz plus CD-compatible format

Thank Clive Davis for this catastrophe. Tony literally vomited before one of the sessions. A fascinating document of a tumultuous time for "classic pop" music.

Not his best. Enter if you dare.

Word is, Tony threw up before the first session for this LP, feeling that these hip, "now" songs were forced on him by an uncaring record company. Columbia in this era was led by Class-A jackass Clive Davis, a know-nothing in the right place at the right time. One can read the long list of great talents that he "discovered", but I asure you, my grandmother could have done as well. Pick a few folks, and promote the hell out of them. Suddenly, you're a genius.

But just as soon as Zeitgeist decided that this was his worst, the counter-geist decided that this is not as bad as all that. I tend to side with the latter. There a some clunkers to be sure, but all-in-all it's not as bad you might think. Funny, "Something" is the same version as issued as the title song of his next LP.


Allmusic review by William Ruhlmann
"Disaster strikes. Accompanied by a sleeve note from company president Clive Davis, who forced this record down his throat, Tony Bennett is presented on the album cover in a garish illustration, wearing bellbottoms and a psychedelic tie. On the record, he sings "MacArthur Park" (well, some of it, anyway), "Eleanor Rigby" (most of which he recites instead of singing), "Something," and other "great hits of today." You'd think he might make peace at least with numbers like "The Look Of Love," but the only song he shows any real enthusiasm for is "Is That All There Is?," and even that is too cynical for his style. "

01 - Live For Life.flac
02 - Something.flac
03 - The Look Of Love.flac
04 - Here There And Everywhere.flac
05 - Live For Life.flac
06 - Little Green Apples.flac
07 - Eleanor Rigby.flac
08 - My Cherie Amour.flac
09 - Is That All There Is.flac
10 - Here.flac
11 - Sunrise Sunset.flac


+ 10/07/1969 CO 103423 MacArthur Park (Jimmy Webb)
*+ 10/07/1969 CO 103424 Is That All There Is (Jerry Lieber, Mike Stoller)
+ 11/17/1969 HCO 104180 The Look Of Love (Bert Bacharach, Hal David)
+ 11/17/1969 HCO 104181 Sunrise, Sunset (Jerry Bock, Sheldon Harnick)
*+ 11/17/1969 HCO 104182 Here, There And Everywhere (John Lennon, Paul McCartney)
11/18/1969 HCO 104206 Something (George Harrison)
*+ 11/18/1969 HCO 104207 Eleanor Rigby (John Lennon, Paul McCartney)
*+ 11/18/1969 HCO 104208 Little Green Apples (Bobby Russell)
*+ 10/07/1969 CO 103419 Here (Gene Lees)
*+ 10/07/1969 CO 103420 Live For Life (Norman Gimbel, F. Lai)
*+ 10/07/1969 CO 103421 My Cherie Amour (Stevie Wonder, Henry Cosby, S. Moy)

* = only LP appearance
+ = not available on cd

Unissued from these sessions is "Michelle".

Tony Bennett (ldr), Peter Matz (con, a), Don Ashworth, Wally Kane, Sol Schlinger, Joe Soldo, Bobby Tricarico (r), John Bello, Al De Risi, Joe Ferrante, Joe Wilder (t), Wayne Andre, John Messner, Charles Small, Tony Studd, Chauncey Welsch (tb), Joseph De Angelis, Paul Ingraham, Joseph Singer (frh), Jim Mitchell (g), Richard Davis (b), John Bunch (p), Margaret Ross (hrp), Gerry Kagan, Richard Kay, Charles McCraken, George Ricci, Alan Shulman, Tony Sophos (vc), Mel Lewis (d), Jack Jennings (per), Lamar Alsop, Max Cahn, Harry Cykman, Paul Gershman, Emanuel Green, Joe Malin, Marvin Morgenstern, George Ockner, Gene Orloff, John Pintavalle, Matthew Raimondi, Julius Schachter, Gerald Tarack (vn), Julien Barber, Al Brown, Theodore Israel, David Schwartz (vl), Tony Bennett (v)



No music was harmed in the making of this vinyl rip.