Downtown: Pye Anthology

1. Downtown
2. You'd Better Come Home
3. You're The One
4. Sailor
5. Romeo
6. My Friend The Sea
7. I Willow Follow Him
8. I Know A Place
9. Call Me
10. Who Am I?
11. Gotta Tell The World
12. The Life And Soul Of The Party
13. Every Little Bit Hurts
14. Just Say Goodbye
15. A Sign Of The Times
16. Heart
17. Where Did We Go Wrong
18. Round Every Corner
19. A Groovy Kind Of Love
20. We Can Work It Out
21. My Love
22. You Can't Keep Me From Loving You
23. Elusive Butterfly
24. There Goes My Love, There Goes My Life
25. The Show Is Over
26. Don't Sleep In The Subway
27. Colour My World
28. Thirty First Of June
29. This Is My Song
30. On The Path Of Glory
31. The Other Man's Grass Is Always Greener
32. Happy Heart
33. People Get Ready
34. Conversations In The Wind
35. You And I
36. If
37. Tears Of A Clown
38. Cranes Flying South
39. Look At Mine
40. Cry Like A Baby
41. Games People Play
42. Maybe I'm Amazed
43. I Don't Know How To Love Him
44. The Song Of My Life
45. Let It Be Me
46. The Windmills Of My Mind
47. The Wind Of Change
48. I Believe In Love
49. What I Did For Love
50. Downtown (1999 Remix)

Album Description

Customer Reviews:

Brilliant British compilation made me a big Petula fan.......2001-03-04

I had assumed that, with 50 tracks, it would contain all the obvious hits, but I soon discovered that one big hit (I couldn't live without your love) is missing, along with a few lesser hits. As things turned out, the record company were saving these for a second volume (Music - the Pye Anthology volume 2) which is also available from Amazon and which I have also reviewed. Both volumes are excellent in their own way, and between them cover over 100 of Petula's finest recordings of the sixties and early seventies, plus a '99 remix of Downtown.

The 50 tracks on this volume are all sung in English (the second volume contains five sung in French) and include, along with the hits, some stunning cover versions and original songs, some of which she wrote herself. The hits include three excellent British hits from her pre-Downtown days (Sailor, Romeo and My friend the sea). Of the covers, my favourite is Elusive Butterfly, an excellent song but I never expected to hear another female singer come even close to matching Dolly Parton's brilliant 1984 version of the song. Petula matches Dolly on this one. There are many other good covers here, including A groovy kind of love, Days and Tears of a clown.

It was the unfamiliar original material that really convinced me that I should look for more of Petula's music. These include some songs she wrote herself (On the path of glory, Heart, I believe in love) as well as less-well known Hatch/Trent songs. Unfortunately, there was not enough room on this compilation for a really strong selection of such material to be included, but with fewer hits on the second volume, there are many more of her own songs there, together with more brilliant covers.

Between the two volumes, there are all the essential English-language tracks from the sixties, together with many other very desirable songs. The main French recordings can be found on Ses Plus Belles Chansons and C'Est Ma Chanson. Most of her original albums (English and French) have also been released on CD.

Even if you already have the excellent American compilation From Downtown to Sunset Boulevard, you will find much of interest on both British compilations.

Petula Clark is well represented on CD, and deservedly so. Before I bought this collection, I thought Dusty Springfield was Britain's best female pop singer. I was wrong - Dusty is brilliant, but Petula is MAGIC.

Average customer rating:

Downtown/Pye Anthology-2 Cds Petula Clark Manufacturer: Sequel Records ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD ASIN: B0002B6FNI Release Date: 2003-01-21

Music: