Dame Shirley Bassey - The Living Tree
A club mix does not a club artist make
Big ballad Bassey is back with four remixes of her new single The Living Treeeeeeee. Sorry, Tree - with big beats, big strings, big vocals, and a Garbage-esque vibe of minor notes and key swells. But a club mix does not a club artist make.
The obvious and uneccessary marketing venture features mixes entitled the Superbass Extended Vocal Mix, Shaken and Stirred Club Mix, Stuart Critchon Mix, and the Superbass Vocal Remix, with two versions of the original chucked in for good measure. Hardly a stunning departure for Bassey, The Living Tree (originally by rock group Never The Bride) continues her trademark vocal stylisations with wah-wah guitar and strings instrumentation, while the mixes place the track closer to lite house nights than anywhere else.
The Shaken and Stirred mix latches onto her previous Bond affiliations with dramatic aplomb, but overall this token effort to integrate and reach new markets with 'mixes' does not satiate. If you dig Bassey, be contented with her unmixed material, the way it was supposed to be enjoyed.