Two Words, One Answer.
Robert Goulet
 Music of Your Life: Best of Robert Goulet $5.98 This CD is ok, but I have heard him sing some better renditions of some of these songs. All in all, it was worth buying.  16 Most Requested Songs $7.99 I suppose it figures that, when putting this volume together for their vast 16 Most Requested Songs series, the folks at Columbia would zero in primarily on songs made famous on Broadway. Not all of them by Robert Goulet, mind you, but seldom done better by anyone else. Looking through the many volumes in the series, however, what I would like to know is, how exactly did they arrive at what they consider to be the artist's 16 Most Requested? Take Robert Goulet for example, a man who had 15 charted hit singles from 1962 to 1969 (even though that wasn't his focus over the years, but for some reason just three of those hits are included here. Seems to me that, if the contents were based upon fan input to any degree, there would have been more of those included. Such as the # 5 Adult Contemporary (AC)/# 119 Billboard Pop Hot 100 # 118 "Bubble Under" entry from late 1965, Come Back To Me Love. Especially when they include the B-side, On A Clear Day You Can See Forever, which also charted at # 13 AC/# 119 "Bubble Under." One of the other two hits presented here is What Kind Of Fool Am I? from the Broadway musical Stop The World - I Want To Get Off starring Anthony Newley. Robert's rendition for Columbia struggled to a # 89 Hot 100 in October 1962, finishing back of the Newley version (# 85 Hot 100) and the top hit by Sammy Davis, Jr. (# 6 AC/# 17 Hot 100). The third is My Love, Forgive Me (Amore, Scusami), which peaked at # 3 AC and # 16 Hot 100 in late 1964. Certainly, I can see the inclusion of If Ever I Would Leave You from his smash Broadway debut in Camelot in 1961 where he played Sir Lancelot, ultimately winning the 1962 Best New Artist Grammy Award. Somewhat surprising, that song never made any national charts, although it did go as high as # 2 in March 1961 on the weekly Your Hit Parade. Most of the rest here are more associated with other performers. Tony Bennett jumps to mind when you hear This Is All I Ask, If I Ruled The World, For Once In My Life (as well as Stevie Wonder), and Who Can I Turn To? while Jack Jones is the voice you imagine when discussing Call Me Irresponsible (or perhaps Frank Sinatra) and The Impossible Dream. All had hits with those songs, as did Steve Alaimo on Real Live Girl, Eddie Fisher on Sunrise, Sunset, Ray Conniff on Somewhere My Love, Barbra Streisand on She Touched Me (as He Touched Me), and Sonny & Cher on What Now My Love? Surely requests would have come in for things like Summer Sounds, a # 14 AC/# 58 Hot 100 for Robert in June 1965, Daydreamer (# 22 AC) and Once I Had A Heart (# 15 AC), both from 1966, and Thirty Days Hath September (# 17 AC) from 1968. These, and several other AC hits remain very hard to find on CD. Until we get something definitive on his hits, this is a nice package presented in excellent AAD sound quality, brief liner notes written by Brian Gari, and a listing of the shows that featured some of the songs.  The Best of Robert Goulet $5.98 I particularly like this one, but I wonder why it is called the Best of Robert Goulet, since 1, 2, 3 and 9 are not on any other CD of his I have. The music and voice are the best and the picture of him is great. It is one of my favorites. |
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