Search - Petula Clark :: Spirit of Today

A high quality collection of odds and ends

Peter Durward Harris | Leicester England | 08/26/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The title of this album is at first confusing, until you realise what it's about, then it is self-explanatory. The original Today album (previously released on CD but out of print, yet still available from Amazon.com at the time of this review) was a compilation released in 1971, made up of a couple of hits, some unreleased songs and various other tracks. This compilation was released together with the last of a series of twofers covering Petula's recordings from 1959 to 1971. It is also made up of a couple of hits, some unreleased songs and various other tracks - but not usually the same ones. Hence the title, Spirit of Today.



Among the songs included here are I want to sing with your band (an Australian top ten hit), American boys (an American hit) and Downtown '76 (a South African hit, and a very interesting remix).



The highlight is the final track, Baby it's cold outside, a duet with Rod McKuen. Apparently, Rod was (and still is) a huge Petula fan so it must have been a dream come true for him to record this song with Petula. Surprisingly, this had never been released in Britain prior to it's appearance here, although it had been released in America on a various artists compilation. Originally a duet hit for Johnny Mercer and Margaret Whiting in 1949 (as well as several other versions), this has become a Christmas classic (even though it's not specifically about Christmas) , so could have been included on Petula's Merry Christmas Joyeaux Noel compilation, but wasn't.



Given the nature of the compilation, you might expect it to be below the usual Petula standard, but not so. Apart from those already mentioned, there are many other excellent songs on this CD, which is a worthy addition to any collection of Petula's music."