Michael holliday - Very Best of Michael Holliday

Very Best of Michael Holiday

By Michael Holliday

Very Good Condition

A Review

For a singer who cultivated an image of total confidence and relaxation, Michael Holliday was in fact a deeply troubled man, who never believed in himself or even some of the material that brought him so much success. To what extent, you may ask, was his uncanny similarity to Bing Crosby an advantage or a handicap ? And how many TV viewers of the time, who would watch him glide effortlessly through his weekly shows, would have guessed that this rich-voiced, confident performer also had a major hang-up about his height - surprisingly he was just 5'6'' tall, in old money. He committed suicide in 1963 and within a a matter of a year or two, he was almost completely forgotten. With his total lack of self-belief, Holliday may have subsequently looked down from On High and commented "I told you so !". This welcome CD brings together a lot of his best material, and all the hits he had in Britain and there were quite a few of them. On disc he could be warm, romantic, humourous and swing as well when backed by a trad jazz band. I would highly recommend this CD to anyone who wants to find out more about this man who at one stage made such a big impact on the British popular music industry. I have one single gripe : While this selection includes "My Last Date (With You), which was made at his last ever recording session just a week before he died, missing is his excellent interpretation of the Leiber and Stoller composition "Drums", which was made at that same session and which was intended to be the trigger to his revival in the charts, but in fact turned out to be his epitaph. You will have to look elsewhere to find it.

Tracklist