Thanks to robert[o] for bringing this song to my mind. This is my favorite of all of Shirley Bassey's recordings. Her powerful voice is perfectly suited for this deeply emotional track from the hit musical "Jesus Christ Superstar". Backed by lush orchestrations, Shirley hits the notes perfectly and her fabulous vibrato captures the feelings of the song.

A nasty/under appreciated gem from David Bowie's Berlin period, "Beauty and The Beast" is sheer perfection/pure malice in musical form. Ominous squibs of sound coalesce around an almost crocodilian groove and Robert Fripp's hissing, poisonous guitar line. Then Bowie makes one his most memorable vocal entrances with a sound somewhere between a croon and a scream. Things just get nastier from there - David playing the hipster, killer android on the lead vocal, while the backgrounds get all down and dirty on chorus. Then, as if he's suddenly come his senses after committing some atrocious act, Bowie howls over the break: "I want you to believe me!/I wanted to be good!/I wanted no distractions!/Like every good boy should!" - before sliding back into the sociopathic sleekness of the last verse. The genius of the tune is that it suggests all manner of violence/bad shit without actually describing any act of mayhem. Therefore the imagination runs riot. A brilliant/evil track.

This beautiful cover of the Beatles song was buried on a b-side in the UK in 1966,it deserved to have been a big hit for Cilla. Cilla's treatment and George Martin's arrangement make this essential listening.

This 1965 cover of a then new songwriter Randy Newman was a moderate hit for Cilla in the UK reaching No.17. It is superbly sung and arranged, indeed Randy Newman has said on numerous occasions that Cilla's version of this is his favourite version of all his songs. Dusty also recorded this in 1965, taking it slightly slower than Cilla, but an excellent version nonetheless.

This should have been massive for Dusty in 1970, a lovely arrangement including accordian, it only reached the mid 30's in the UK. Amazingly David Cassidy had a big hit with it only 3 years later, it was nowhere near as good as Dusty's.