Bobby Darin - Mack The Knife - The Best Of Bobby Darin Volume Two

Best known for his early rock hits such as "Splish Splash," by the early '60s Bobby Darrin had pretty much abandoned rock and recast himself as something of a finger poppin', tuxedo wearing, youth-camp version of Sinatra. Surprisingly, it worked. While he lacks Frank's chops, the swinging "By the Sea" and "Mack The Knife" are two of the best latter-day Sinatra imitations, and there's no denying his light touch on "Lazy River." He even had the guts to take on "Guys and Dolls," a song identified with the Chairman. As good as this album is, it only gives a fraction of Darrin's talents. For a broader picture (including his late 60's transformation into a jeans wearing folkie), check out Rhino's Darrin box, As Long As I'm Singing. --Steven Mirkin Amazon.com

Darrin the best

Bobby Darrin was one of the best, Sinatra was the King, Darrin was the Prince , first in line to the throne , I was in the English Pub in NYC the day it came over the air that Darrin had died on the operating table, We knew he was sick, but not that sick, Sadly missed by all fan's of quality music throughout the world, This album is a Five Star recording, A must for the Darrin fan. Bobby's sitting on a cloud looking down, snapping his finger's in time and smiling. September 7, 2005

Fabulous

This has become one of my alltime favorite albums, and the best of the five Darin albums I've got.

"Mack the Knife" is one of the greatest songs ever. Lots of people have done this, including Sinatra and Louis Armstrong, but no one touches Bobby Darin's version here. This song will live as long as bars have jukeboxes. "Lazy River" is strangely evocative; it somehow combines the hazy, lazy sense with his ferocious delivery. "Beyond the Sea" is right up there with "Mack the Knife." I believe it has undertones of being with the one you love, after death. It's one of the most romantic songs ever.

His "Guys and Dolls" just assassinates this song. It swings like crazy. All the blues numbers in here - "Was There A Call for Me" "I Guess I'm Good For Nothing But the Blues" "Black Coffee" and "Pete Kelly's Blues" - are fine. They draw vivid pictures in the imagination; Darin sells them completely.

"Clementine" is politically incorrect but true to the original and still wonderful; you wouldn't think a corny traditional song like that could be delivered with 10 tons of dynamite like he does. Ditto "Bill Bailey." (This was something he apparently excelled at, resuscitating traditional songs most vocalists wouldn't bother with and making them work.)

Darin wrote "Artificial Flowers" and shows that social consciousness wasn't the sole property of folk-singing pukes with acoustic guitars. At least two people I know cried when I first played this song for them.

"I Didn't Know What Time It Was" and "Just Friends" make a pair on this album that has private meaning for me: My first foray into jazz in college involved Charlie Parker; the first Bird album I ever had also had versions of these two songs on it. This is the only other album I know that does both - I'd never heard the words before - and this says something about the versatility of both the standards songbook and Bobby Darin. Bebopper on the one hand, rock `n roller cum Vegas singer on the other hand.

"Skylark" - you can just see the bluest of skies when he sings this. "Christmas Auld Lang Syne" almost makes me want to celebrate Christmas. (I'm Jewish.) I think it speaks to Christmas as people imagine they'd like to have it. February 18, 2005

SHARIN' DARIN

It strikes me that the individual human response to music is one of life's most intriguing mysteries. What is that unexplainable thing inside us that resonates to a certain combination of musical notes, or to the tonal quality of particular instruments, but not others? And why is this response not universal?

For me, the melody of MY FAVORITE THINGS is so pretty, so clever, so powerful that I can't hear it once without it bouncing around inside my skull for the next several hours. And yet I know people who are apathetic about it. How can that be? We even find this mystery taking place between people who inhabit the same musical orbit. The "King Of Rock 'N' Roll" might have two devoted fans; the first who loves SUSPICIOUS MINDS and MEMORIES, but is not overly thrilled by HOUND DOG and IN THE GHETTO. The second fan's opinion is the complete reversal.

Some might think that this is comparable to our myriad responses to food flavors, but in that example there is a physiological explanation - something to do with chemical reactions in the glands, the taste buds. With music it's entirely intangible; some "it" within the inner being that responds, makes the body move, the toes tap, the mind rejoice. . .or mourn.

That "it" within me loves Bobby Darin's music, but "it" is selective. "It" doesn't care for Darin's pop hits, of which only a few appear on this collection. And although "it" digs LAZY RIVER which has one of the greatest, most energetic vocal performances ever, we play this album for the fabulously moving standard ballads (some with big band arrangements.) WAS THERE A CALL FOR ME; I GUESS I'M GOOD FOR NOTHING BUT THE BLUES; DON'T DREAM OF ANYBODY BUT ME; WHAT A DIFFERENCE A DAY MADE; BLACK COFFEE; SKYLARK; and even CHRISTMAS AULD LANG SYNE, these are the reasons you find me in this place. "It" likes 'em!

There is a certain something, a quality, in Darin's voice that can be discerned on his ballads; an innate melancholia that can't be taught, nor faked. I have found this in the voices of only two other singers: the jazz vocalist, Astrud Gilberto, and Karen Carpenter, who had it in spades! In fact, so much so that it sometimes bled through even on her uptempo numbers like TOP OF THE WORLD and SING. It's a kind of faint whisper of an intense inner aloneness, or a vague remembrance of something; a wistful yearning for what has passed and can't be retrieved, like a dream of something that glowed golden way back when, in the recesses of the mind. Hell, I don't know what it is, but "it" sure loves it! Anyway, that quality permeates so much of these recordings and that's why "it" makes me play them so often.

If you know what I'm yakking about here, and if it appeals to your "it" too, then also obtain a used copy of the "out-of-print", 'CLASSIC DARIN' if you can locate one at a reasonable price. This collection also contains many ballad tracks like WHERE LOVE HAS GONE; FLY ME TO THE MOON; A TASTE OF HONEY; SOFTLY, AS I LEAVE YOU; and SOMEWHERE with Bobby's "blue" voice thang goin' on.

According to his 2004, July 14th review, it seems that The Big Dong, doesn't have this same "it" inside of him. You think maybe I should go see if his priest can exorcise my "it" too?
November 14, 2004

It has his swingers, but too many ballads, which Darrin

Daris was many things a 50's rock'n'roller teeny bopper, a rockon' cowboy, and a vegas swingin' lounger, but he COULD NOT sing ballads. He just doesn't do well with songs like Black Coffee, when he sings a 3 minute ballad it seems like 10 minutes of terror. This cd does however have his greatest swinger son one cd Artificial Flowers, Beyond The Sea, and Mack The Knife, with a few midtempos taht he handles well by rockin' and rollin' hsi way thru swing standards liek Bill Bailey, Down With Love and Clemintine. A good cd, if only there were no ballads and all swingers! Still a good disc! July 14, 2004

the PERFECT Darin collection

OK. I finally found the PERFECT Darin collection! The range of genres, the hits, the misses--this has it all! A great companion to this all-studio collection is the 3-CD box set "Rock & Roll Legends," in which Darin has his own disc, featuring LIVE versions of "Splish Splash," "Plain Jane," "Dream Lover," and "Mack The Knife" (the ONLY song to overlap with "Best Of Bobby Darin Vol. 2"). Though "Best Of Bobby" gives you ALL the goodies, "Rock & Roll Legends" lets you hear how Darin laid on the spangle in his stage show; it's a heart-stealing, mood-changing ten-tracker that sits nicely beside the "Best." March 4, 2004

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