SHIRLEY Bassey played the Glasgow Alhambra in May 1967, and the critics adored her. “Compared to Miss Bassey, the average feminine inhabitant of the ‘Top Ten’ is a small girl just learning. And compared to Miss Bassey, few of them will ever learn,” wrote our critic, one “J.W.R.C.”
Bassey is seen here prior to her two-week residency at the Alhambra, part of the highly popular Howard & Wyndham Startime season. She was billed as arriving in the city “direct from her Triumphant American Tour”. Appearing with her were comedians Joe Baker and Stan Stennett and singer Malcolm Roberts.
“Shirley Bassey is inevitably described in superlatives,” enthused J.W.R.C. “Nothing less than superlatives can possibly do justice to Miss Bassey’s immense performance. She is that truly rare creature, an entertainer of genius. Whether in the wistful ‘Shadow of Your Smile’ or the belting ‘Big Spender’, her magnetism and that wonderful voice envelop each member of her audience in a cocoon of intimacy which one can only sit and admire.”
Iain Macdonald, writing in the Evening Times, was equally impressed. “With almost hypnotic magnetism, hip-swaying, finger-snapping Shirley Bassey came, sang, and captivated last night’s audience,” he wrote.
“Although there were minor displays of the temperamental Bassey with several false starts, this was a high-spirited, fun-loving Shirley, whose voiced soared through the theatre and had half the people in it on their feet, yelling for more.”
Bassey, he added, had recently appeared in a dress that had rather proved too much for American TV producers. When she appeared on the Alhambra stage in it, a huge ovation greeted her.
A vivid recollection of the show, by David Yule, can be read on the Shirley Bassey Blog. David writes: “After what seemed a lifetime – and once all the other acts had finished – there was an interval and after it she appeared, looking marvellous.
“The new album “and we were lovers” had just been released and she sang most of the songs on it. Towards the end of her act as was usual, the audience started calling out song titles for her to sing.
“The only song on the album that she did not sing was ‘It Must Be Him’, so in my very loudest voice I called out the title of the song, two or three or maybe four or five times. To which Shirley retorted 'Why can’t it be her?'…. to which I couldn’t reply!
“I had the new album with me and so with great haste after the show was over I rushed to the Stage Door and was just in time to see her leaving. I thrust the album in her hand and a pen. She signed it and I have it still to this day.
"I also told her that she missed out one of the best songs of the album and she replied, “Were you the mystery voice?”
* shirleybassey.wordpress.com
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