Those Were the Days
Product Details | Similar Products | Customer Reviews | Artist: Dolly Parton List Price: £15.99 Our Price: £4.47 You Save: £11.52 (72%) Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours  |
|
 | Product Details: Release Date: 20 February 2006 Record Label: EMI Rating:   Sales Rank: 51657 | | Look for similar items by category:
| | Customers who bought this item also bought:
| | Customer Reviews: Outstanding covers album (11 May 2008)This is often regarded as Dolly's third covers album (after Great pretender and Treasures), but Dolly also recorded a Christmas covers album (Home for Christmas) and a gospel covers album (Precious memories) as well as an album of Porter Wagoner songs (My favorite songwriter Porter Wagoner). Nevertheless, if you're going to make comparisons, Great pretender (recorded during the Hollywood phase of Dolly's career) and Treasures (recorded during the mid-nineties when Dolly's albums weren't selling well) are the obvious albums to compare with. Actually, each of these albums differ in style so much that comparisons are pointless, even though one song (Turn turn turn) from Great pretender is reprised here. I see from other reviews that while many people enjoy this album, others don't like it for a variety of reasons. I can understand that, but my tastes in music are fairly eclectic. Furthermore, I've spent more time through the years listening to Dolly's music than I have listening to any other artist, so I know not to have any preconceived ideas about what she records. This particular album features songs from the fifties, sixties and seventies recorded with country and bluegrass instrumentation. A stellar cast of supporting guests looks very impressive, though fans of those guests shouldn't buy the album in the hope of hearing their favorites because they'd have a hard job making most of them out. The prominence given to the names of some of the guests on the front cover may lead people to believe that this is a duets album, but there are only two duets here. The other tracks here are Dolly solos although some of the backing singers on these tracks are easier to discern than others. One thing I learned from reading other reviews is that Dolly intended this to be an anti-war album, but that this concept would escape most people. Well, it certainly would have escaped me if I hadn't read those reviews. There are some obvious anti-war songs (Blowin' in the wind, Where have all the flowers gone, The cruel war, Imagine) and maybe some of the others can be interpreted that way, but I don't see the connection. One of the other songs (Turn turn turn), which is an extract from the biblical book of Ecclesiastes, actually acknowledges that there is a time for war as well as a time for peace. Another song (Where the children play) is about environmental destruction. While war certainly causes that, the song specifically mentions roads and their vehicles (lorries) as the villians. The title track is about memories of good times past, which could be interpreted as remembering how things were before the war, but there are no references in the lyrics to suggest it. So maybe Dolly felt that four out of twelve songs were sufficient to get her message across, or maybe she saw some ant-war sentiment in the other songs that I don't. But it doesn't really matter because most people buying this aren't likely to be looking for an anti-war album anyway. Indeed, this album comes across as a good-time, fun album. The title track has alway been one of my favorite songs. Originally a Russian folk song, the Limeliters (an American folk group) recorded an English language version in the sixties but their version was never released as a single. Welsh folk-pop singer Mary Hopkin launched her career with her cover of the song and scored a huge worldwide hit wit it, going all the way to number one in Britain. Mary contributed vocals (recorded in the Welsh capital, Cardiff) to Dolly's cover, but other singers also joined the supporting cast on this track including the Opry Gang (Jack Greene, George Hamilton IV, Jan Howard, Brenda Lee, Mel McDaniel, Jimmy C Newman, Jeannie Seely, Pam Tillis, Porter Wagoner and Billy Walker) and a choir. Despite (or maybe because of) the abundant backing vocalists, this track works very well. I've heard a few versions of this song including Dalida's French version (Le temps de fleurs) but not (yet) the Limeliters. This one is as good as any version I've heard. The title track sets the standard for the album, not only for the quality (outstanding) but also for the mainly feel-good mood, although none of the other tracks feature as many backing vocalists. Blowin' in the wind (with backing by Nickel Creek and others), Where have all the flowers gone (with Lee Ann Womack and Norah Jones), Both sides now (with Judy Collins and Rhonda Vincent) and Turn turn turn are all brilliant, as are Twelfth of never (with Keith Urban) and If I were a carpenter (with Joe Nichols), which are both genuine duets - you can clearly hear the male vocals on these songs. Of all the songs here, I've heard more versions of Me and Bobby McGee than any other song here, but Dolly brings a freshness to this song that I find most welcome. This is unquestionably an outstanding album that will appeal to most (but not all) of Dolly's committed fans as well as plenty of people who have never bothered with her music previously. A bit different from Dolly's usual Country but pulled off well!! (11 April 2007)This CD is a lovely album from the Queen Of Country Dolly Parton. It is a bit different from the usual Country stuff but it makes a lovely change and it is lovely to hear Dolly's 'Countrified' versions of these classic pop songs! I was a little worried I might not like it at first but as soon as it arrived and I heard it for the first time I loved it. Dolly is one of my all time favourite Country superstars and here she is singing many of my all time favourite songs in her own Country style. And the original artists joining her on many tracks is a nice touch. Until The 12th Of Never...I Will Love this CD (12 October 2006)Now then - at first I thought this Dolly project would be a little bit sugary. Well, I needn't have worried. The CD opens with the lovely rendition of the ole Mary Hopkin song THOSE WERE THE DAYS - a nice folky tune, you can't help tapping your foot along to this. The song Twelfth of Never is awesome. It's sung with Aussie bloke Keith Urban and at first it seems a little too fast - listen to it a couple of times and you will be hooked. Where Do The Children Play is great - indeed it's performed much better than the original Cat Stevens recording!! The poorer track on the album is Me and Bobby McGee -I just doesn't work for me. Both Sides Now is brilliantly done and Dolly's vocal range rings true on this song. The most wonderful track on the album (and I always hated it in the past) is the song Imagine - Dolly say's 'You may say that I'm a Dreamer (Some say I am..)' so camp and excellent. This song will move you to tears - a remarkable album from the truest country icon of world - DOLLY. Fun pop album (23 July 2006)Those Were The Days is an delightful excursion into nostalgia as Dolly Parton covers hits from the 1960s and 70s, often accompanied by the original hitmakers. This is definitely not an album of authentic country music, despite the country instrumentation, but rather a set of pop covers of memorable songs from days gone by. Mary Hopkin and Porter Wagoner assist on the title track with its pub ambience, whilst on the Dylan anthem Blown' In The Wind, Dolly is accompanied by Nickel Creek. Where Have All The Flowers Gone, with Norah Jones, gets a sensitive interpretation whilst Twelfth Of Never, with Keith Urban, is lilting and soulful. Me And Bobby McGee, with Kris Kristofferson, is one of my favorites. The arrangement is close to the legendary version by Janis Joplin, especially at the climactic end. In other words, not at all similar to Kristofferson's original or Gordon Lightfoot's cover from 1971. Another stroke of brilliance is Crimson And Clover which sounds great with a simpler treatment, although the original psychedelic version remains a gem. Other highlights include Turn, Turn, Turn with Roger McGuinn, the duet with Joe Nichols: If I Were A Carpenter with its lovely harmonies, and the robust Both Sides Now, where Judy Collins and Rhonda Vincent contribute their voices for a powerful and uplifting listening experience. The music is mostly breezy and done in a singalong style, but no less enjoyable for that. It will appeal to fans of feelgood pop music, and not so much to those who prefer solemn or definitive country versions of these legendary songs. A good album, but beware the schmalz (15 April 2006)Now, there is no doubt that at times this album lapses into hopeless schmalz ("Imagine" is a case in point) and, depending on your view of Dolly Parton, this will either be completely damning or completely redemptive. However, there is no doubting that underneath all the layered harmonies, backing choirs and bluegrass frills, Parton is still a fine singer and, when she hits her stride, as in "Me & Bobby McGee", she's incredible. Elsewhere on the album, there are tracks that seem, at first listening, like potential car crashes (such as "Where Do The Children Play?" and the almost disco speed "Both Sides Now") but actually, after repeated listening, do start to grow on you, and that, I think, is true of the whole album: it is a grower, and, actually, a testimony to Parton as an interpreter of other writers' material, but if you don't have a strong stomach for bluegrass-lite sentimentality, I'd be wary. |
