Search - Harry Belafonte :: Very Best of

Good enough, but easily could have been GREAT...

William E. Adams | Midland, Texas USA | 08/03/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Your assignment: Review the singles and album tracks Harry laid down for RCA between 1952 and 1970. Pick 22 selections which represent his Calypso energy, his ballad sensitivity, his race, his beliefs, his pop market hits during the height of his career (1956-62, in my opinion.) Throw in an early side or two, a novelty song or two. The people with that assignment ended up with this CD. I would have created one with at least six different songs. So would anybody. As some other reviewers have noted, it is inexplicable that "Matilda" and "Turn Around" and "Kingston Market" and maybe "Abraham, Martin and John" are not here. They would have been wiser choices, for my tastes, than "Done Laid Around" and "I'm Just a Country Boy" and "Hold 'em Joe" and "Two Brothers" and perhaps even "Bam Bam Bamba" which is Harry's version of "La Bamba", made famous in 1958 (two years later) by the late Ritchie Valens. However, there are many fine performances here: "Day-O" and "Angelina" and "Jump Down Spin Around" and "Jump in the Line" and "Jamaica Farewell" and "Island in the Sun" and "Man Smart" make the CD worth owning if you lack them on other Harry discs. "Scarlet Ribbons" from 1952 and "Mary's Boy Child" from '56 close the album on a solemn note. Was it a good choice to have the slow songs outnumber the catchy ones? Personal taste rules. Was it wise to lay out the songs in this order, which is not strictly chronological, and in fact, to me, has no obvious sense to it? Personal taste again. I found my CD at a bargain price, about half the current retail amount, so I am content. But this isn't the complete and total one-disc best of Belafonte it should have been. And since he didn't end his RCA contract until 1970, but the disc has no song younger than 1961 on it, it appears the compilers are telling us that HB produced not a single song in nine years worthy of inclusion. I find that hard to believe. Still, this looks like the best overall Harry CD on the market right now."

Excellent BUT...

R. Riis | NY | 03/16/2002

(4 out of 5 stars)

"A well-packed CD with sound much improved from the old RCA Greatest Hits volumes, but two glaring omissions cost this compilation a five-star rating : where is "Matilda" and "Turn Around"? The search for the definitive one-disk Belafonte anthology goes on..."

Not what I expected but...

Queen Merla | NJ, USA | 02/26/2002

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I heard the songs Day-O and Jump in the Line on Beetlejuice and found myself singing them at work--so i decided to buy the CD. When I looked it up I decided to buy this CD rather than the Beetlejuice soundtrack so I could hear more of his work. The other songs are VERY VERY different from the two I had heard before, but I enjoyed them all. It is an excellent CD. I especially like the way Belafonte sings Gomen Nasai (Forgive Me), it is an interesting interpretation for a Japanese song."