SHIRLEY BASSEY: "Something Else"

Original released on LP United Artists UAS 291491

(GERMANY, May 1971)

In keeping with the title, Shirley Bassey's follow-up to her 1970 hit LP "Something" does indeed present a bit of a change of direction. In fact, it's a step back to her MOR dates of the mid-'60s; the album includes no recent rock standards, and the arrangements focus on full-orchestra symphonic pop with fewer nods to the contemporary scene. Though it didn't chart quite as high as its predecessor, it did make the Top Ten while her version of "(Where Do I Begin) Love Story" hit the Top 40 in Britain. Most of the album is given over to large scale, dramatic pop songs - "It's Impossible," "Bridge Over Troubled Water," "Until It's Time to Go" - best treated by a full-throated vocalist like Bassey. It's not quite as raucous or adventurous as "Something", but it must've been an easier album to digest for Bassey fans from way back. (John Bush in AllMusic)

"Yesterday When I Was Young..."

ORIGINAL RELEASED AS LP UNITED ARTISTS UAS 29100 (UK, AUGUST 1970)

Shirley Bassey, Britain’s most successful female recording artist ever, celebrates today her 70th birthday!
Rato Records salutes Miss Shirley by sharing one of her most popular albums, Something, original released in August 1970.
Not only did the album quickly become the most successful of Shirley’s career, it was also notable for a radical new musical approach that presented the Welsh singing star in an entirely new recording light, after 14 years from her beginnings. Previously, Shirley’s albums had mainly been a mix of big ballads and well-known show songs. However this new album would see her tackling contemporary rock and pop material.

During an interview at her home in Switzerland in 1976, Shirley admitted:
«The recording of Something was the real turning point for me, I suppose you could even say that it made me a pop star, and yet it seemed such a natural change.»
«I just went into the studio one evening with these songs, including “Something” which I had first heard sung by Peggy Lee on the Ed Sullivan show in the States. I didn’t even know that The Beatles had done it! I just caught the end of Peggy’s perfomance and I was so knocked out that I started ringing people up, asking if they knew the name of the song that she had sung. About two weeks later I found that it had been written by George Harrison.»