This Week's R E V I E W ...

Bobby Darin
Oh! Look At Me Now/
Helly Dolly To Goodbye Charlie

© EMI/Capitol

October 21 - 27, 2018

Year of Release: 2001
Rating:
Oh! Look At Me Now
  • All By Myself
  • My Buddy
  • There's A Rainbow
    'Round My Shoulder
  • Roses Of Picardy
  • You'll Never Know
  • Blue Skies
  • Always
  • You Made Me Love You
  • A Nightingale Sang In
    Berkeley Square
  • I'm Beginning To See The Light
  • Oh! Look At Me Now
  • The Party's Over
    Hello Dolly To Goodbye Charlie
  • Hello Dolly
  • Call Me Irresponsible
  • The Days Of Wine And Roses
  • More
  • The End Of Never
  • Charade
  • Once In A Lifetime (Only Once)
  • Sunday In New York
  • Where Love Has Gone
  • Look At Me
  • Hello Dolly To Goodbye Charlie

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    Bobby Darin has (finally) arrives to WSVNRadio for our reviews! I've often said how Bobby Darin was an inspiration to me when I was a young child, to become a singer. When I was about 5 years oldf, we were watching his TV show. He appeared underneath a lamp post, and it was pitch black around him. As we were watching, I asked my mother, "Is he really singing?" Of course, this was way before lip-synching and auto-tune, etc. My mother replied, "Yes, he is." My response was "I want to do that." And from that point on, an interest in music was born. Many decades later, I was watching a A&E Biography on Darin, and there he was, with the lamp post and singing. As I grew up, I would develop my singing voice, by singing along with many of the records I had. (Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons' records were the records that mostly developed my singing voice the most.) Collecting records from my mom and older brothers, and of course, the endless garage sales, in which I would find treasures of 45 rpm records. Playing the keyboards was next, and then radio, and the rest, as they say is history.



    Bobby Darin was not to have lived as long as he did, having a heart ailment. And it did affect his life, as he only lived 37 years. He died in 1973 on the operating table, awaiting another operation on his heart. Another life-changer was how he learned that whom he thought had raised him throughout his young life, turned out to be his aunt, and not, whom he thought was his biological mother. His mother was an entertainer, and although the heartbreak of knowing the woman who he thought was his mother had raised him was not, Bobby Darin himself would become an entertainer, and oh, how he was, a great entertainer.



    He was a talent all on his own. In the continuing years of his recordings, he would be easily compared to the likes of Frank Sinatra, and in more recent decades of today, Tony Bennett. Bobby Darin, I thought, was more encouraging as Sinatra. (I really wasn't big into Sinatra growing up.) Again, he held his star to the much higher calibers. And this week's review of two of his albums, Oh! Look At Me Now from 1962, and Hello Dolly To Goodbye Charlie from 1965, showcases Bobby Darin as a true crooner, and we could imagine what he could have accomplished had he lived longer. Another Tony Bennett in his much later years, amnd most likely, as Bobby probably would have been, getting better with his age.



    Oh! Look At Me Now -- This album has some great standards, and Bobby Darin sings them in his own top-notch style, and Oh how they all shine in their own rights. Throughout this particular album, the comparison is there to Sinatra. But, in my honest opinion, Darin easily outshines Sinatra. "All By Myself," "My Buddy," "Roses Of Picardy" easily have the Sinatra-style, yet Darin overcomes Sinatra, all on his own.



    "There's A Rainbow 'Round My Shoulder" is another standard favorite classic, as I remembered this version by Jerry Lewis. (Yes, THAT Jerry Lewis, who recorded two albums of "serious" singing.) Darin shines on his version here, of course. Dick Haynes originally had this hit, "You'll Never Know." Haynes reached #1 with his version. And again, Darin puts his outstanding touch on this classic.



    More of the classic standards follow - "Blue Skies," "Always," "You Made Me Love You" are all recorded in high-style, only as Bobby Darin could. More on the Tony Bennett style gets the comparison on "A Nightingale Sang In Berkely Square," "I'm Beginning To See The Light," "Oh! Look At Me Now," "The Party's Over." I'm sure both Sinatra and/or Bennett recorded their own versions of these particular songs as well.



    Hello Dolly To Goodbye Charlie -- This particular album has more of a Tony Bennett style, as the most common songs (of which I can remember) were the title track, "Call Me Irresponsible" (recorded recently by another great crooner, Michael Buble), and Andy Williams' "The Days Of Wine And Roses." As for the remaining tracks, they are easily compared to either or both to that of Bennett and/or Buble, and maybe, Sinatra.



    Towards the end of Bobby Darin's recording career, the Sinatra style was best compared. However, he put his own signature on the many songs he would record and perform. It's hard to believe he would only achieve one song to reach #1, "Mack The Knife." For some, that would be his signature song, but there were so many great songs Darin recorded. To name a few, "Beyond The Sea," which surprisingly, did not hit #1, "Clementine" was another favorite of mine. And let us not forget his Rock and Roll songs, such as "Splish Splash" and "Queen Of The Hop." His last years were with Motown, as his albums recorded on that label were recently re-issued on CD.



    Not one bad album can ever be said about his music, as there were many albums he recorded. Oh! Look At Me Now maybe the better album of the two, compared to Hello Dolly To Goodbye Charlie. Yet it is Bobby Darin we are referring to, a man who left us a great legacy of music and style, and, like many talented music artists before, during and after him, he left us way, way too soon.







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