Shirley Bassey - Good Bad But Beautiful

1976 (Shirley performs a nice song written by Clive Westlake titled, 'Good Bad But Beautiful' and Clive accompanies Shirley on the Piano.

The song, 'Good, Bad, But Beautiful' is the title track from Shirley's 1975 LP of the same name.

ABOUT the LP, Good, Bad, But Beautiful:
Good, Bad but Beautiful is a 1975 album by Shirley Bassey. In the first half of the decade, Bassey recorded nine albums, with three making the top ten. In March of 1975, Bassey released a compilation that became her highest-charting album to date, The Shirley Bassey Singles Album (#2), and reflects the momentum Bassey had maintained since her 1970 "comeback". Good, Bad but Beautiful, released in the autumn of 1975, spent seven weeks on the UK Albums Chart, peaking at #13. The album reflects the formula that brought Bassey back to the charts: a combination of contemporary songs combined with her forte of standards, show tunes, and torch songs, featuring arrangements aimed squarely at the adult contemporary, or middle-of-the-road, audience. This was also achieved by modifying her backup orchestra to include electric guitars, a string and brass section with a more contemporary sound, and drumming that is more soft rock-oriented than jazz-oriented, while side two's opener, "Feel Like Makin' Love" displays a smooth jazz style.

This was Bassey's seventh album of the 1970s to make the Billboard 200, peaking at #186. It also reached #54 on the US R&B chart. In the UK the album was awarded a silver disc six weeks after it was released. The song "Good bad but beautiful" was the title track of Shirley's 1975 album and was released as a single.
On the B-side: "I'm nothing without you" from her previous album "Nobody does it like me".

LYRICS:
I've seen a man help a friend
When he's down
And put him back on his feet
I've seen a man kick a man when he's down
In a lonely street
But I've seen the face of a child
When he's lying sound asleep in bed
And I've seen the sun go down when the world is red

I've seen good, and I've seen bad
But I've seen beautiful
I've seen right and I've seen wrong
But I've seen love

Life is good and life is bad, but very beautiful
And if you live it right
You'll fill your world with love

I've seen a boy take the hand of a girl
And lead her to his heart
I've seen a man break the heart of a girl
And leave her sad
But I've seen the love in the eyes of a man beside me
Yes, and I've seen the world the way that makes me glad

I've seen good, and I've seen bad
But I've seen beautiful
I've seen right and I've seen wrong
But I've seen love

Life is good and life is bad, but very beautiful
And if you live it right
You'll fill your world with love

I've seen good, and I've seen bad
But I've seen beautiful
I've seen right and I've seen wrong
But I've seen love

Life is good and life is bad, but very beautiful
And if you live it right
You'll fill your world with love

Your world with....
LOVE!

ABOUT the songwriter, Clive Westlake:
Clive wrote songs for the likes of Elvis Presley, Tom Jones, and Dusty Springfield, and of course Shirley Bassey. Westlake's songs were recorded by more than 135 artists; they include such works as "I Close My Eyes And Count To Ten" and "Losing You" for Springfield, "A Minute Of Your Time" for Jones, "Good bad but beautiful" for Shirley Bassey and "Here I Go Again" for the Hollies.

Clive wrote several songs for Elvis Presley including "How The Web Was Woven," "Twenty Days And Twenty Nights" and "It's A Matter Of Time."

According to the archives staff at Elvis's Graceland estate, in the early hours of July 24 1973 a backing track for 'Good, Bad But Beautiful' was laid down at the Stax studio in Memphis. Earlier that evening Elvis had walked out of the recording session after discovering that his personal microphone had been stolen. Although they continued laying down backing tracks for Elvis to record his voice over, he never recorded the vocals for "Good, Bad But Beautiful."

Westlake was born and raised in Wales but went to London to study piano at the Royal Academy of Music. He worked for many years at Carlin Music on London's Saville Row, where he was the main staff writer. He moved to Nashville in 1980.

Welsh songwriter, Clive Westlake who wrote some of Dusty Springfields' most well-known songs, passed away on June 17, 2000, at his home in Pegram, Tennessee.

Sprinfields 1968 hit "I Close My Eyes And Count To Ten" and her 1967 single "I Will Come To You" were penned by Clive. He also collaborated with Ben Weisman for Dusty's 1966 hit "All I See Is You," and with Tom Springfield for the Springfields songs "Pit-a-Pat" and "Little Boat," and for Dusty's 1965 hit "Losing You".

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Shirley Bassey
• Clive Westlake