Shirley Bassey covers Pink, out-goths us all
Dame Shirely Bassey of James Bond music theme fame recently put out an ubergoth video to promote her cover of Pink’s “Get the Party Started.” I showed this to an extremely talented musician friend who shall remain nameless, prompting a hilarious knee-jerk reaction that I did not expect. There were some choice words for this, let me tell you. My friend was like, “it’s the cheese knob being cranked to 11! Combined with out-of-her-prime show tune hag in bad frame composites and uber tacky goth trappings! It’s phantom of the opera meets a Calvin Klein perfume ad! Meets Liza Minelli’s fat ass! Terrible, sterile video and the insincere bellowing of a woman who forgot to take her menopause meds.”
Oh man, harsh! I don’t have my friend’s fine-tuned ear for music, so the horror of the singing did not penetrate me quite the same way. Also, I have bad taste. I’ll be the first to admit this. I kinda like the pretty goth dresses! However, even I’ll concede that the masks are kind of questionable. However, I can watch this video again and again. I now share this bad taste with all of you. Video and stills, behind the jump. Enjoy!
[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/vqNcyFNMfLM" width="400" height="330" wmode="transparent" /]
via Jaborwhalky
November 8th, 2007 at 12:58 am
um… interesting… to say the least.
November 8th, 2007 at 1:08 am
Thank you, thank you, thank you. I love this site. This video is cheesy enough to be amazing. Thank you again.
November 8th, 2007 at 1:21 am
hahahaha!! this is waaaay awesome! crazy old lady in a crazy pink gown! I hope I have as much pep when I’m 70…
and yeah, the video is ridiculously cheesy, but I think that was sort of the point. and look at her! she’s totally not taking the spectacle seriously – she’s just goofing around, being dramatic and silly and generally having oodles of fun.
November 8th, 2007 at 1:23 am
Oh my god. That’s just… wow. Your musician friend should be commended, because words just completely fail me. Except, I suppose, that the worst part (second to the fact that somebody somewhere thinks Pink is suitable material for a cover) is somehow that it sounds exactly, horrifically like Moonraker.
That said, I kind of admire that you’re able to enjoy it, I broke down after 55 seconds.
November 8th, 2007 at 1:32 am
I have a soft spot for large vibrato voices covering pop songs, because I think they underscore just how delightfully ridiculous pop lyrics tend to be. The arrangement reminds me of the disco version of the Star Wars theme, with its soaring cinematic strings and woka-chika dance beat.
November 8th, 2007 at 2:37 am
Oh Shirley Bassey I love you so much.
The look on her face right before the camera cuts away at 2:21 in just made me bust out laughing.
November 8th, 2007 at 4:05 am
Vomits ! Yikes what the hell is thinking ? who is this aimed at marketwise ????
Those maks look like they were made at some YMCA summercamp craft hour….
November 8th, 2007 at 3:41 pm
After being subjected to thin-voiced, anemic, soprano singer-songwriter types accompanied by nothing but a hesitant guitar, I welcome Ms. Bassey and her overwrought orchestrations with open arms.
The video, however, is beyond awful. I don’t consider myself goth by any stretch of the imagination, but I can still feel their pain from all the way over here. I think it was the weird rotating camera and the overused cameo frame effect that pushed it over the edge for me. Oh, and the really unimaginative choreography. Hello, chicken arms?
Perhaps your friend is so used to thin-voiced sopranos he doesn’t recognize this isn’t “insincere bellowing.” It’s called diaphragm-supported singing. Some of us wish it was more common.
November 9th, 2007 at 2:53 am
I could be mistaken, but I get the impression that the abundance of black was meant to create a silhouette effect, rather than to add a goth vibe. By the way, did anyone catch the corpses swinging from the mini gallows on the lady’s hat around -1:12? Egads!
November 9th, 2007 at 3:29 am
@ April: Normally I’d agree but there’s just too many black roses, lace and ravens for me not to be suspicious
@ Lydia: CHICKEN ARMS! Hah
@ Ben Johnson: The disco star wars theme! I haven’t listened to it in years! Thanks for reminding met that it exists. I too am a fan of disco covers.
@ Jry: 55 seconds? That’s actually not a bad record… for you.
@ Denise: I know, somehow the fact that she’s 70 actually makes all of this more forgivable
November 9th, 2007 at 9:13 am
“Perhaps your friend is so used to thin-voiced sopranos he doesn’t recognize this isn’t “insincere bellowing.” It’s called diaphragm-supported singing. Some of us wish it was more common.”
Um. I’m all for diaphragm-supported rock opera style belting, and I love all the Bond era Shirley Bassey strangeness quite a lot, but her voice grates on me here and the entire endeavor just does not strike me as particularly, mmm…soulful?
Which is okay. I’d still take her over Natalie Imbruglia any day.
It’s the video itself that really made my butthole pucker.
November 9th, 2007 at 2:24 pm
Echidna,
I agree. Compared to her older recordings, no, this is not particularly soulful. But held next to, as you say, Ms. Imbruglia, well…And also, how could the source material (dear gods, Shirley, why that song?) provide much soulful inspiration?
I maintain my posistion that she displayed a lack of taste, not talent, on this one.
November 9th, 2007 at 10:40 pm
Reminds me of Alanis Morissette’s my humps cover, only not deliberate
November 13th, 2007 at 9:49 pm
Some of the graphics are actually kind of striking. The dancing is very strange but I loved the ink and ink blot effects. Hated the panning to the frame, tho.