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Tony Sings the Great Hits of Today! (1970)

Where the lyrics of Tony Sings the Great Hits of Today! take you, and where it was really made.

Bennett himself counts this 1970 album among his career lows, and the Columbia label's push for contemporary songs is what he blamed for his departure from the label.

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Album story

Overview

• Tony Sings the Great Hits of Today!: 1970 album by American classic pop and jazz singer Tony Bennett
• Attempts at songs by the Beatles and other contemporary artists, with a psychedelic art cover
• Critics and Bennett himself view it as a career low
• Released January 7, 1970 by Columbia Records
• Included in the CD box set The Complete Collection, issued November 8, 2011 by Sony Music Distribution
• 11 tracks; personnel listed are Tony Bennett (vocals) and John Bunch (piano)

Background

• Columbia Records head Clive Davis saw Bennett's album sales steadily decreasing
• Davis decided Bennett should record more contemporary material
• Similar pressure was applied to Lena Horne, Barbra Streisand and Mel Tormé to record contemporary rock songs
• Horne and Peggy Lee welcomed the chance to try rock; Bennett did not
• Bennett said he listened to as many current hits as he could stand, some making him physically nauseous
• Davis reported that Bennett vomited before the first recording session
• Bennett later said he left Columbia for one reason: they forced him to sing contemporary songs
• He recovered artistically by returning to the Great American Songbook
• His commercial fortunes improved only with a late 1980s and early 1990s comeback that appealed to a younger audience without changing his music

Recording

• Songwriters covered include Lennon and McCartney and Burt Bacharach and Hal David, all highly regarded in their own right; Bennett had no genuine feeling for their style
• Bennett's partly spoken take on Eleanor Rigby drew the most commentary

Cover

• The cover is designed in the psychedelic art style of Peter Max
• Bell-bottom pants and a psychedelic necktie are noted as adding to the garish overall look

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · it.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Early life

• Born Anthony Dominick Benedetto on August 3, 1926, in Long Island City, Queens, New York City.
• Grew up in poverty after his father, a grocer, became unable to work and died when Tony was ten.
• Sang for money from age 13 as a singing waiter in Italian restaurants in Queens.
• Attended New York's School of Industrial Art but dropped out at 16 to help support his family.

Military service

• Drafted into the U.S. Army in November 1944 and fought as an infantryman in the final stages of World War II.
• Stayed in Germany with the occupying force and sang with an Army Special Services band under the name Joe Bari.

Career

• Studied bel canto at the American Theatre Wing on the GI Bill; Pearl Bailey and Bob Hope helped launch him, and Hope shortened his name to Tony Bennett.
• Signed with Columbia Records in 1950; first number-one hit "Because of You" in 1951.
• Shifted toward jazz singing in the late 1950s; "I Left My Heart in San Francisco" (1962) became his signature song.
• Declined commercially during the rock era and struggled with addiction and debt until a comeback in the late 1980s, managed by his son Danny.
• The 1994 MTV Unplugged album won the Grammy for Album of the Year.

Later career

• Collaborated with Lady Gaga from Cheek to Cheek (2014) through Love for Sale (2021).
• Won 20 Grammy Awards, including a Lifetime Achievement Award, and sold more than 50 million records worldwide.
• Received a Kennedy Center Honor in 2005 and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
• Co-founded the Frank Sinatra School of the Arts in Queens with Susan Crow.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• Sales goals for the album were not met
• Release came in January 1970, when Columbia had pushed Bennett toward contemporary material

Reappraisal

• In the 2000s, Allmusic and Time magazine both called the album a disaster
• Allmusic: of all the songs Bennett attempted, Is That All There Is? is the only one he seemed to show any enthusiasm for
• Time magazine described Bennett's Eleanor Rigby approach as Shatneresque, referring to William Shatner's spoken-word recordings
• Music writer Will Friedwald said Bennett recited Eleanor Rigby as if it were Thomas Gray's Elegy
• The Second Disc catalogue review site: even this album does not seem too bad in context, with The Look of Love, Something, My Cherie Amour and Live for Life done well

Records

• Peaked at number 144 on the Billboard 200 albums chart
• Included in the 2011 CD box set The Complete Collection
• Out of print for many years and not issued on compact disc before 2011

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · it.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• According to Davis, Bennett vomited before the first recording session for the album.
• The cover follows the psychedelic art style of Peter Max, one of the trends Columbia tried to capitalize on.
• Bennett's partly spoken Eleanor Rigby drew most of the criticism, with Time calling it Shatneresque.
• Bennett said he left Columbia because it forced him to sing contemporary songs he could not stand.
• Bennett's career later recovered through a comeback that appealed to younger listeners without changing his music.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · it.wikipedia.org

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