ALBUM DETAIL
Engelbert Humperdinck His Greatest Hits
With Engelbert Humperdinck's Decca Records contract coming to an end in 1974, the label compiled His Greatest Hits. The American version (released on Parrot) contained ten tracks, eight of them being Top Ten hits on either the pop or easy listening charts between 1967 and 1969, and the remaining two being "Quando Quando Quando" and "Spanish Eyes." Humperdinck had scored plenty of other easy listening hits that could have been included, but instead, all but one ("I'm a Better Man") of his Top 40 pop-chart entries were included here, among them such signature songs as "Release Me (And Let Me Love Again)," "A Man Without Love (Quando M'Innamoro)," and "Les Bicyclettes de Belsize." Those were the songs that established Humperdinck as a contemporary romantic balladeer with a European flavor, setting the pattern for his subsequent career. A more complete compilation of his hits, especially in the CD era, would be welcome, but the basic recordings that made him a star are included on His Greatest Hits, and this may have helped the album stay in print over the years. ~ William Ruhlmann
- Release me
- Quando, Quando, Quando
- Les Bicyclettes De Belsize
- Spanish Eyes
- Am I That Easy to Forget
- A Man Without Love
- There Goes My Everything
- The Way It Used to Be
- Winter World of Love
- The Last Waltz
REVIEWS
Engelbert is long overdue a three disc box set to contain some of the fantastic songs from the first dozen or so years of his nearly four decade long career, those melodies that hold so many memories, sung to perfection by "The King of Romance"; for now they are scattered among dozens of CDs, and to get all one's favorites means purchasing multitudes of compilations. Though practically all will include "Release Me", there are lesser known beauties that are "must haves". This is a terrific grouping, and the rarity on it is "Ten Guitars", and to a lesser extent "Everybody Knows (We're Through)", which is sung from a woman's point of view, and from his first "Release Me" LP, the wonderful Herman's Hermits hit "There's a Kind of Hush (All Over the World)", and "My World" (sometimes listed as "Il Mondo").
Also included is the song I could listen to for hours, "The Way it Used to Be", the exquisite "Les Bicyclettes de Belsize", and the waltz to end all waltzes, "The Last Waltz". These are all the original recordings, and the sound is O.K., though not as good when compared to "Ultimate Collection" or "Greatest Love Songs", which are two compilations that are on the top of the heap for excellence, and deserve to be in every Engelbert collection.
The booklet insert includes a mini bio and most appreciated, a U.K. and U.S. singles chart history from 1967 to 1970, and total playing time is 43'19.
Born in Madras, India, in 1936, Arnold Dorsey, a.k.a. Englebert Humperdinck, became one of the best pop singers of the late 60's through the 70's, and even up to the present. This collection contains his greatest hits between the period of 1966 to 1969, plus 5 songs that weren't released as singles but were still very popular during that time...and of course, they still are. These are songs that will always be good to listen to. Booklet contains a 2 page essay about E.H, plus a U.K. & U.S. Singles Chart History, which is very informative.
Wonderful music, great listening
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