The Pretender

Amazon.com
A songwriting prodigy since his teens, Jackson Browne had already reached a zenith in confessional writing with 1974's Late for the Sky, a song cycle of his guitar and piano based anthems, reveries, and rockers, distilling themes of disillusionment, apocalypse, friendship, and fragile romances. Teaming with Bruce Springsteen's producer, Jon Landau, Browne himself clearly sought to up the ante with more epic settings, while Landau worked on pumping up the star's vocal attack. But personal tragedy, in the suicide of his partner and mother of his young son, cast an unplanned shadow across these songs, giving The Pretender a darker, heartbroken edge and an authentic, scarred toughness. Fatherhood, mortality, and resignation inform brilliant songs like "Your Bright Baby Blues" (featuring Lowell George's plangent slide guitar and vocal counterpoint), "Here Come Those Tears Again" (with Bonnie Raitt), and the prayerful, desolate "Sleep's Dark and Silent Gate," but it's the title tune that remains the haunting highlight. --Sam Sutherland

The Pretender,Jackson Browne,Elektra / Wea,Pop,Pop/Rock,Popular Music,Rock,Rock/Pop,Singer/Songwriter,Soft Rock

The Pretender

Average customer rating:

REMASTER ????
Another Of Jackson Browne's Best Albums
flawed, but fascinating, and often brilliant
Looking up from down on the ground
I'm Gonna Be A Happy Idiot!

The Pretender
Jackson Browne
Manufacturer: Elektra / Wea
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Pop | Styles | Music

Singer-Songwriters | Pop | Styles | Music

Soft Rock | Pop | Styles | Music

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Similar Items:

Running on Empty
Late for the Sky
For Everyman
Jackson Browne (Saturate Before Using)
Hold Out

ASIN: B000002GVW
Release Date: 1990-10-25

Tracks:

The Fuse
Your Bright Baby Blues
Linda Paloma
Here Come Those Tears Again
The Only Child
Daddy's Tune
Sleep's Dark And Silent Gate
The Pretender

Amazon.com

A songwriting prodigy since his teens, Jackson Browne had already reached a zenith in confessional writing with 1974's Late for the Sky, a song cycle of his guitar and piano based anthems, reveries, and rockers, distilling themes of disillusionment, apocalypse, friendship, and fragile romances. Teaming with Bruce Springsteen's producer, Jon Landau, Browne himself clearly sought to up the ante with more epic settings, while Landau worked on pumping up the star's vocal attack. But personal tragedy, in the suicide of his partner and mother of his young son, cast an unplanned shadow across these songs, giving The Pretender a darker, heartbroken edge and an authentic, scarred toughness. Fatherhood, mortality, and resignation inform brilliant songs like "Your Bright Baby Blues" (featuring Lowell George's plangent slide guitar and vocal counterpoint), "Here Come Those Tears Again" (with Bonnie Raitt), and the prayerful, desolate "Sleep's Dark and Silent Gate," but it's the title tune that remains the haunting highlight. --Sam Sutherland

Customer Reviews:

REMASTER ????.......2007-04-11

Masterpiece from Jackson! My main purpose for entering this "review" is to plead with the label for a REMASTERED version....

Another Of Jackson Browne's Best Albums.......2005-08-24

THE PRETENDER, along with JACKSON BROWNE, FOR EVERYMAN, LATE FOR THE SKY, and RUNNING ON EMPTY, is one of Jackson Browne's best albums. It features songs that cut to the very heart of the human soul, as well as railing against greed and materialism in the title track, a song which could teach valuable lessons to anyone who's ever told a young woman that she's overweight or called a classmate "freak", "nerd", or "loser." Other tunes on the album deal with the suicide of Browne's wife, which had occurred as he was writing for this one. This should be one of the first Jackson Browne albums you purchase anyway, but Browne's advocacies of sanctions against Indonesia in retaliation for that country's trumped-up drug-smuggling conviction of a young Australian tourist, as well as more funding for community policing, make all of Browne's 70s, 80s, and 90s albums essential purchases for both your ears AND your conscience.

flawed, but fascinating, and often brilliant.......2005-05-07

Jackson Browne left no doubt about his songwriting genius with 1974's "Late For The Sky", an artistic triumph in the truest sense of the word, and also a solid commercial breakthrough. However, by the time Jackson started to record his follow-up album, 1976's "The Pretender", things had changed drastically for for him with the suicide of his first wife with whom he'd had a son. This tragedy seems to have dramatically impacted his music, because, although Jackson's vocal phrasing and melodic style are carried over from "Late For The Sky", "The Pretender" is a big change from its predecessor. Without a doubt, a big part of this change is due to Jon Landau who produced the album. Known for his work with Bruce Springsteen, and having produced his "Born To Run" album from the previous year, Landau may on the surface seem like an unlikely guy to have teamed up with Jackson, but it actually proved a unique match. Browne's voice sounds a lot different here on many of the songs, much tougher and more 'from the gut' than it had sounded before. The album is also much slicker and punchier than any of his previous albums, and opposed to the 5 piece combo used for "Late For The Sky", this one features a load of legendary session musicians including Jeff Porcaro, Leland Sklar, Chuck Rainey, Jim Gordon, and Fred Tackett, as well as appearances from Lowell George, Don Henley, J.D Souther, Bonnie Raitt, John Hall (of Orleans), plus JB regulars David Lindley, Russ Kunkel, and Craig Doerge; aside from vocals, Jackson's only performance credit on the entire album is the acoustic guitar on "Your Bright Baby Blues"--some will try to tell you that Jackson was trying to make a "contemporary pop-rock record", but don't let that give you the wrong idea; this is far from a sell-out. Jackson, hurting from the devastating loss of his wife, sounds like he's desperately seeking redemption on here, and in turn, the album is a step away from the wistfulness that was at the core of "Late For The Sky", even on songs like the eulogy "For A Dancer". Reportedly, the material here was mostly written prior to suicide of Phyllis, but it sure doesn't sound that way--from the opening moments of "The Fuse", you can tell this isn't going to be a repeat of "Late For The Sky". "The Fuse" is marvelously powerful, containing masterful use of dynamics, as well as Jackson layering his own voice several times, something he rarely did, and doing so to great effect. The yearning, expansive epic "Your Bright Baby Blues" is absolutely brilliant as well with a marvelous Jackson vocal. The mid-tempo pop-rocker "Here Come Those Tears Again" was the obvious choice for a single, and it's a cathartic, flawlessly melodic song with a phenomenal Jackson vocal, and it's the only track here that isn't a Jackson Browne solo composition. "The Only Child" is a wonderfully bittersweet song--indeed, it's the one track here that really sounds like it could have been on "Late For The Sky". The atypically short, orchestrated ballad "Sleep's Dark and Silent Gate" is weepy, but still works pretty well. However, a couple of tracks add a diversity to the proceedings that unfortunately doesn't come off well--"Linda Paloma", with its Mexican-style arrangement, is really corny with ultra-lame background vocals near the end; and the bouncy horn-laden section of "Daddy's Tune" feels awkward and badly out of place. Still though, this is a fascinating album that also very much points the way to the future for Jackson. I see "The Pretender" as the beginning of a trilogy that also includes 1977's "Running On Empty" and 1980's "Hold Out"--each album is a piece of an ongoing journey, like chapters in a book, so to speak. "The Pretender" isn't one of Jackson's very best albums, but it's still unquestionably a must for all of his fans.

Looking up from down on the ground.......2005-05-03

When you've just been kicked about as hard as life can kick you, (Browne's wife Phyllis, mother of their son, killed herself before these songs were written) it's certain to make you take a long look at how you're living your life. This album finds Browne coming to grips with her death, single fatherhood, estrangements with his own father, and struggling to decide how to go on living now. Along the way, some of the finest talent of the decade joins him: Bonnie Raitt (harmony vocal for "Here Come Those Tears Again"), Bruce Springsteen pianist Roy Bittan ("Your Bright Baby Blues"), Lowell George (slide guitar, harmony vocal for "Your Bright Baby Blues"),The Eagles' J.D. Souther and Don Henley (harmonies for "The Only Child"), and Graham Nash and David Crosby (harmonies for the title track).

HIGHLIGHTS:
"Here Come Those Tears Again" finds Browne struggling with a lover who comes and goes, but it's easy to read between the lines and see it as his pain over losing Phyllis ("Just when I was going to make it through/Another night without missing you/Thinking I might just be strong enough after all/When I hear your footsteps echoing in the hall")

"The Only Child" reads like advice Browne wishes he'd given his young boy before her death ("Take good care of your mother/When you're making up your mind/Should one thing or another take you from behind") then shifts perspective to his boy's actual situation, urging him to find a woman who's dealt with her own grief to share his life with ("When the pain of another will serve you to remind/That there are those who feel themselves exiled/On whom the fortune never smiled/And upon whose life the heartache has been piled/They're just looking for another lonely child").

The title tune finds Browne seeking significance in his own life ("I'm going to pack my lunch in the morning/And go to work each day/And when the evening rolls around/I'll go on home and lay my body down/And when the morning light comes streaming in/I'll get up and do it again") only to decide that he won't find it until he finds a new soulmate ("Thought true love could have been a contender/Are you there?/Say a prayer for the Pretender/Who started out so young and strong only to surrender")

LOWS:
"Linda Paloma" is a Spanish tinged number with thick harp (not harmonica...an actual harp) that just sounds out of place stylistically here. It breaks the flow of the album for me.

BOTTOM LINE:
Jackson Browne was one of the biggest stars of the "singer-songwriter" movement of the 1970s. This is one of his finest albums and one of the decade's defining moments musically. Recommended.

4 1/2 stars

I'm Gonna Be A Happy Idiot!.......2004-04-15

David Geffen must have pooped his tightey whiteys when he realized what he had, when he signed Jackson Browne to his first record deal..It was pure serendipity..Geffen's secretary found a discarded kit of Jackson Browne in the office trash can, and told David, don't toss that out without sampling it.."He is nice looking, well mannered, serious..Listen to his demo, please!"..Geffen acquiesed, and called Jackson back for an audition..It apparently went well..And Geffen took an immediate shine to Jackson..Saw his "Boy Genuis" songwriting qualities, right away!..In fact, for awhile they were roomies, until Jackson got some financial momentum of his own, and could pay his own rent..The rest is Country Rock lore.."The Pretender", Jackson's first Big Album (units sold) put him on the Country Rock A-List..Though he and Glenn Frey (Co-founder of The Eagles) and their other Laurel Canyon cronies (the Buffalo Springfield) had been stumping around LA, playing Sunset Blvd. club dates for years, anonymously..Waiting for that elusive break..The nexus between Geffen and Jackson Browne became the platform for Geffen's fortune, his billions..Because Jackson Browne introduced Geffen to all the hot country rock acts emerging around Sunset Blvd. (Joni Mitchell, Poco, for starters) as payback for Geffen's unyielding faith in him..Geffen to his credit, left Browne alone, to create his own brand of brilliant, confessional, West Coast Country Rock.."The Pretender" is Browne's defining anthem..His ethos..And to appreciate Jackson Browne one has to know "The Pretender"..This CD is either the first, or second best Browne compilation ever.."For A Dancer", being that other close competition for best CD..Like copper, this CD gets better with age, and more play..The classics always do..And Jackson never wrote or sounded better than he does on "The Pretender".."So put your dark glasses on and make love til all your strength is gone"..Sounds like "Risky Business", another Geffen project..And "Be a happy idiot and struggle for the legal tender"..Buy the CD!..It's money well spent and likewise money well earned.."Become a happy idiot where junkmen pound their fenders, and believe in whatever may lie, in the things that money can buy, and beware true love could have been a contender"! "The Pretender" was JB's bounce back from the loss of his first wife to suicide..And obviously Jackson was looking to ascend to happier times, higher ground, without minimalizing the hard-learned lessons of life..To JB's credit, the album shares alot of pain, without becoming morose or self-indulgent..Once again, Jackson stands up straight, to be counted among rock's better voices, brighter lights..illustrating that a paint by number dreams life handbook, might not be the perfect portrait it's advertised to be?

Average customer rating:

An interesting sampling of Mercury's solo work
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
Hmmmmmm
Too real
What A Voice What Talent!!!

The Great Pretender
Freddie Mercury
Manufacturer: Hollywood Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Similar Items:

Barcelona
Solo Collection
Innuendo
Another World
The Miracle

ASIN: B000000OCF
Release Date: 1992-11-24

Tracks:

The Great Pretender
Foolin' Around
Time
Your Kind Of Lover
Exercises In Free Love
In My Defence
Mr. Bad Guy
Let's Turn It On
Living On My Own
My Love Is Dangerous
Love Kills
Living On My Own (Techno Mix)

Customer Reviews:

An interesting sampling of Mercury's solo work .......2006-11-19

Another compilation of Freddie Mercury's solo work , including his magnifficent reworking of The Platters hit The Great Pretender , the offbeat Foolin' Around and Living On My Own , the funky Your Kind Of Lover and Let's Turn It On , the bold Living On My Own and my personal favourite among Mercury solo Hits , Love Kills.
An interesting sampling of Mercury's solo work.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!.......2006-09-04

Have they no shame? The mixing engineers absolutely desecrated Freddy's music. This album is not for true Freddy fans. Casual fans and fans of Queen (only) may enjoy this, but anyone who is interested in hearing Freddy's true solo art the way he intended it should stay the #^#@ away from this (as well as "The Freddy Mercury Album" which is the same as "The Great Pretender", different packaging).

Allow me to provide an analogy:
If you're a Freddy Mercury/Queen fan, I assume you're old enough to have seen the original Star Wars when it came out in '76. It was great wasn't it? Sure, the cantina scene was cheezy as hell, and some of the special effects were--by today's standards--lackluster. BUT WE LOVED IT. Then in the late 90s, Lucasfilm decided to re-do Star Wars, chopping up the cantina scene and adding in stupid modern CGI effects. I was sickened, and I'm hoping most of you were as well.

"The Great Pretender" is the equivalent of the Star Wars 90s re-release. A travesty. We don't want stupid CGI effects on the Millenium Falcon, nor do we want stupid "arena rock" reverb on Freddy's drums. We don't want the annoying distorted guitars mixed in after Freddy's death. And we certainly don't want the inane Fine-Young-Cannibals-ripoff drumbeat overtop the original grooves.

Go find yourself a copy of the original MR. BAD GUY album. It may sound cheezy at first with its dated drum machine and flamboyant piano playing, but c'mon folks, that's what Freddy was all about. Let's remember him that way, not through some post-production sound engineer's drunken nightmare of a remix.

I give Freddy's voice 5 stars, and I give the mixing engineer -3 stars. Averages out to a 2. Avoid it. Read my review of "The Freddy Mercury Album" for more.

Hmmmmmm.......2004-08-25

I would like to say I enjoy this album immensely, I am a big fan of Freddie Mercury but this album overlooks many of his solo songs of sheer briliance and focusses largly on lame covers and Freddies synth led dance/disco material. Foolin Around and Your Kind Of Lover sound like outtakes from the highly overrated Dance Floor/Acid Jazz Queen travesty Hot Space. Still theres some great stuff with Excercises In Free Love, Mr. Bad Guy, My Love Is Dangerous and Love Kills. These show Freddies songwriting at its best and elevate the album from the dreck and theres no deneing through even the worst parts of this album the former member of Wreckage is in fine form vocally and his piano although very minimal is also great.

Too real.......2003-09-06

This is a compilation album of Freddie Mercury solo material. Six of the songs are from his "Mr. Bad Guy" album, two are from Dave Clark's musical 'TIME', two are from movie soundtracks, and there is one other song which, I believe, is an outtake from the "Barcelona" sessions. The songs on this CD have been remixed. I have never heard the original mixes of these songs, so I can only judge them based on how they sound here. Well, they sound pretty good to me. I enjoyed all the songs here, some more than others, of course. If you are a fan of Queen, you will probably enjoy this CD, too.

What A Voice What Talent!!!.......2003-07-03

I love FM and how can't you? He had talent written all over him. His voice could swoon anyone. I have only one complaint where is, There Must Be More To Life Than This!? The song is one of the most beautiful pieces Freddie wrote that almost brings me to tears everytime I hear it and is a much needed song in the time of war. Please do FM justice and release a compliation with all his songs with the all the different versions. I think my fellow Freddie and Queen fans would agree.

Average customer rating:

Great disc, a lot of fun and energy...

The Pretender
We All Have Hooks for Hands
Manufacturer: Afternoon Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music

General | Rock | Styles | Music

Pop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music
ASIN: B000OTC3ZM
Release Date: 2007-04-17

Tracks:

Music Which Feeds the Guests
Jumpin Jean-Luc
Oh I'd Expect
Hold on, C'mon
Man Trying to Outfox Us All
Elvis "MF" Christ
On & On
Ghosts and Strangers
Teeth That Feed the Lions

Customer Reviews:

Great disc, a lot of fun and energy..........2007-07-24

First, let me say that in no way, shape, or form am I a personal friend of this band. Some Dutch kid on an eels message board told me I might like this disc, so I checked it out, and it's been playing on my mp3 player ever since. These guys just flat out sound like they're having a great time, and even though the disc is a bit short, the infectious energy still runs through my head constantly. Nine guys in the band? Great. I think they're at a moment when their youth and pure "happy to be alive" vibe serves them perfectly. Someday I'll stop playing this disc in my car, but I don't see that taking place before the end of the summer...this is roll down your windows and sing along music for 2007.

Average customer rating:

Tchaikovsky: Moscow; Ode To Joy

Manufacturer: Citadel
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Symphonies | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Cantatas | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music
ASIN: B000031VSB
Release Date: 1999-11-23

Grant Johannesen Performs Rare Russian Repertoire

Average customer rating:

Grant Johannesen Performs Rare Russian Repertoire

Manufacturer: Bonneville / Bwe
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Tangos | Ballets & Dances | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music

Movie Scores | Soundtracks | Styles | Music

Movie Soundtracks | Soundtracks | Styles | Music

General | Soundtracks | Styles | Music
ASIN: B00000587B
Release Date: 1996-09-03

Average customer rating:

Amazing
personal album
Browne at his best (again)

The Pretender
Jackson Browne
Manufacturer: Dcc Compact Classics
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Pop | Styles | Music

Singer-Songwriters | Pop | Styles | Music

Soft Rock | Pop | Styles | Music

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Silk Degrees
Second Helping
At Fillmore East
Breakfast in America
Thick as a Brick

ASIN: B000000178
Release Date: 1993-10-22

Tracks:

The Fuse
Your Bright Baby Blues
Linda Paloma
Here Come Those Tears Again
The Only Child
Daddy's Tune
Sleep's Dark And Silent Gate
The Pretender

Customer Reviews:

Amazing.......2004-02-21

Jackson is my favorite singer-songwriter. I tell anyone I discuss music with the he is my "Lyrical God." An amazing poet/writer and musician. My favorite song is "Bright Baby Blues," which he initally change the words to once he recorded the song. This is a great album displaying his brilliance.

personal album.......1999-12-08

Jackson Browne fans know of the personal losses for Jackson. Losses of wife and closests of friends.Things that leave you at a loss for words ..But not for Jackson.Catharsis comes to mind for myself and possibly J. This release and with other songs (for a dancer) have helped myself,and others deal with personal loss . I thank him for that. BUT this is a review so.. As a loong time J.B. fan and fellow so.cal. oldie its my favorite with craig Russ,David,etc. Just listen to 'yer bright baby blues' Brilliant I think It's one of J's personal favorites too because he has played it at every concert i've heard GET THIS C D ONE OF HE BEST FROM ONE OF THE BEST

Browne at his best (again).......1999-02-21

Browne continues his survey of the human condition in "The Pretender". His band really kicks it into gear after their subdued, yet stellar, performance on his previous album, "Late for the Sky", and contributes more to the overall quality of this work than on any JB album to date. I wonder how many of us can relate to songs like, "Sleep's Dark and Silent Gate" or "Daddy's Tune"? "The Fuse" is a wonderful track, both in its instrumentation and its lyrics. This CD doesn't seem to suffer from the muting of Brown's voice and some of the instruments which seemed to plague "Late for the Sky", and thus I give it a five-star rating! Buy it!

Average customer rating:

INSPIRATIONAL
Leaves you in awe
Amazing

The Great Pretender

Manufacturer: Stockinrock Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Pop | Styles | Music

General | Pop | Indie Music | Stores | Music
ASIN: B0001OJWT0
Release Date: 2004-04-13

Tracks:

Anymore
Lose you
Last time
When I'm with you
Sentimental
Fallen for you
Again
You are
Where do you go
Banished
Fire below the ice
Calm and breathless
Wait for me
The Great Pretender

Album Description

"Intimate and exposed, spontaneous and personal."

Twenty-year-old South Dakotan, Layne Larson says her music has no secrets.

"It is what it is."

Listen for yourself and you'll hear a combination of Layne's delicate, yet deliberate voice accompanied seamlessly by the grounded sounds of a special piece of her heart- the piano. A simple mixture from a girl who herself is the definition of down to earth.

Now Layne has opened herself to the world. Her full-length album, "The Great Pretender," is due for national release on April 13, 2004, and Layne is anxious to share her profoundly sincere sonnets with music lovers everywhere. Emphasizing that her music is a reflection of life, thoughts and ideas we can all relate to, she explains that the title track on her debut CD "The Great Pretender" is about the facade we all put on for people. "I know as a performer, I do it myself. We're all vulnerable. We all pretend sometimes."

Her debut single "Wait for Me" speaks to relationships being tested by the conflict in Iraq and is touching souls across the country, clearly striking an emotion in those who have loved ones far from home. The message in "Wait for Me" is personal, like all of Layne's music. I wrote this song for a friend who had a brother heading overseas. I didn't know the words to say, so I let the song voice what I could not." The video for "Wait for Me' is a recipient of a prestigious GOLD ADDY® Award.

Among other themes Layne explores in her debut project are love, contentment, change, and the need for reflection. "I think most of my songs are the arrival point of deep emotional journeys, whether they are my own journeys, or someone else's."

Layne Larson has music that gently creeps under the skin without giving notice. It lingers in your ears and expands in your heart. It offers a sense of solace, comfort and companionship while keeping no secrets - Layne Larson truly is an undiscovered treasure from the heart of South Dakota, a performer who prefers to wear her own on her sleeve for the world to hear.

Customer Reviews:

INSPIRATIONAL.......2004-06-25

Layne's voice is beautiful and the words to her songs are all very meaningful. I loved the piano and overall the entire CD is magnificent! It is definitely a feel good CD which is great to listen to at any time of the day. I'm glad that I bought the CD and would recommend it to anyone. I look forward to hearing more of Layne Larson's music in the future.

Leaves you in awe.......2004-04-21

This is the most amazing cd i have ever listened too. I have never heard such beautiful music put with such touching lyrics. Layne has been writing music all her life. She not only writes, but also sings and plays all of her own original works. Her music truly has something for everyone.

Amazing.......2004-04-21

This CD blew me away! The amazing voice of Layne Larson as she sings her heart-felt lyrics is pleasing to anyone's ears. Since Layne wrote all the music and lyrics for this album her emotions come through in each and every song. I have never heard anyone with a voice like Layne's. This CD should not appeal to a certain genre of music but rather it should appeal to anyone who enjoys listening to music. Amazing CD!

Average customer rating:

Great !
you'll never listen to the Platters the same way again

The Great Pretender
Lester Bowie
Manufacturer: Ecm Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Avant Garde & Free Jazz | Jazz | Styles | Music

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I Only Have Eyes for You
When the Spirit Returns
Sahara
Conference of the Birds
Intuition

ASIN: B00002615B
Release Date: 2000-09-12

Tracks:

The Great Pretender
It's Howdy Doody Time
When The Doom (Moon) Comes Over The Mountain/A) Doom?/B) When The Moon Comes Over The Mountain
Rios Negroes
Rose Drop
Oh, How The Ghost Sings

Amazon.com essential recording

Bowie stretches the title tune to over 16 minutes with an artful and witty exploration of trumpet sounds, from brassy declarations to low blasts to half-valve techniques that sound like muttered asides. With backup vocals by Fontella Bass and David Peaston and a raucous baritone saxophone interlude by Hamiet Bluiett, the Platters' doo-wop classic becomes suspended between kitsch and concerto. On the rest of the CD, Bowie is backed by a very creative rhythm section of underrated players, Donald Smith on piano and organ, Fred Williams on acoustic and electric basses, and Phillip Wilson on drums. Together they range skillfully from the camp of "It's Howdy Doody Time" to the free jazz of "Doom?" to the Latin funk of "Rios Negroes." --Stuart Broomer

Customer Reviews:

Great !.......2006-03-08

I agree that this record is not for everyone, but is it a reason to give it less than 5 stars? Sure, the title has very little to do with the complex free-jazz oriented harmonies of Lester Bowie, and the vocals represent a drop of water in his ocean.

But this is without a doubt a brilliant record, great for those in need of some relaxing, challenging and subtely burlesque music.

Made in 1981 in Germany on the usually-no-risk-taking ECM label, "The Great Pretender" is an powerful, haunting and fully enjoyable record.

you'll never listen to the Platters the same way again.......2000-11-27

Lester was pomo before there was pomo. The Amazon.com reviewer says that its suspended between "kitsch and concerto." Exactly -- Lester Bowie obliterated such distinctions. The standout cut is the absolutely monumental reworking of the Platters' "The Great Pretender" featuring doo-wop vocals, a variety of slurred half-valve trumpet techniques a la Bubber Miley/Cootie Williams, and a scorching double time bari sax solo by Hamiet Bluiett. (Be forewarned -- when this came on the radio one afternoon in the car, the overblowing part of the solo had a friend of mine threatening to drive the car off a bridge if I didn't turn it off.) The piece ends with Bowie sounding like Jack Nicholson in "The Shining" intoning "Hey, baby I'm here...I...have...arrived...he,he,he."

"Rios Negros" is based on a repeated vamp; Bowie solos, pianist Donald Smith solos, and then Bowie comes back with a muted solo to finish. "Rose Drop" and "Oh, How the Ghost Sings" are exercises in atmospherics. "Howdy Doody Time" and "When the Doom (Moon) Comes Over the Mountain" are along the "Great Pretender" model of deconstructing pop culture themes.

This is a great record, but forewarned is forearmed -- it is not for everyone.

The Very Best of the Platters
Average customer rating:
The Very Best of the Platters

ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Doo Wop | Oldies | Pop | Styles | Music
ASIN: B000CSF1GI

Product Description

1.the great pretender.2.my prayer.3.(you've got)the magic touch.4.on my word of honor.5.twilight time.6.you'll never never know.7.only you (and you alone).8.i'm sorry.9.smoke gets in your eyes.10.if i didn't care.11.enchanted.12.harbor lights