I Am What I Am (Shirley Bassey album)

1984 studio album by Shirley Bassey

I Am What I Am

Studio album by

Shirley Bassey

Released| October 1984[1]
Genre| MOR
Label| Towerbell Records
Producer| Norman Newell
Shirley Bassey chronology
| All By Myself
(1982)  | I Am What I Am
(1984)  | La Mujer
(1989)

|
|

I Am What I Am was the only studio album recorded by Shirley Bassey for the Towerbell Records label. Several other tracks were also recorded at this label and issued as singles only. The recording sessions took place at Olympic Studios, Barnes, London, in July and August 1984. Following the success of the previous album All by Myself, this album peaked at number 25 in the UK album chart and reached Gold status.[2][3] This release was the first digitally recorded album made by Shirley Bassey and was issued on vinyl, cassette and CD. Consisting of mainly re-recordings from Shirley Bassey's back catalogue and two new songs, this album was recorded 'live' with The London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Carl Davies. The album also reunited Shirley Bassey with Norman Newell, who had served successfully as her producer throughout the 1960s.

Towerbell Records is now defunct but this album has been re-issued on CD many times on various labels.

Several of the vocal performances made for this recording were remixed for the 2007 album Get the Party Started.

## Track listing

[edit]

1. "What Now My Love" (Gilbert Bécaud, Pierre Leroyer, Carl Sigman)
2. "Something" (George Harrison)
3. "As Long as He Needs Me" (Lionel Bart)
4. "Kiss Me Honey Honey" (Al Timothy, Michael Julien)
5. "As I Love You" (Jay Livingston, Ray Evans)
6. "Big Spender" (Cy Coleman, Dorothy Fields)
7. "Send in the Clowns" (Stephen Sondheim)
8. "I Am What I Am" (Jerry Herman)
9. "Goldfinger" (Leslie Bricusse, Anthony Newley, John Barry)
10. "I (Who Have Nothing)" (Mogol, Donida, Jerry Leiber, Mike Stoller)
11. "Natalie" (U. Balsamo, Norman Newell)
12. "And I Love You So" (Don McLean)
13. "Never, Never, Never" (Tony Renis, Alberto Testa, Norman Newell)
14. "For All We Know" (Fred Karlin, Arthur James)
15. "This Is My Life" (Norman Newell, Bruno Canfora, Antonio Amum)
16. "If You Don't Understand" (Toto Cutugno, Norman Newell) - 4:10 (This track did not appear on the original issue of the album and is from a different recording session without the London Symphony Orchestra)

Bonus Track

The Japanese LP issue featured a bonus track: "To All the Men I've Loved Before" (Albert Hammond, Hal David) but the Japan CD release did not include this track.

## Singles

[edit]

Four singles were issued from the original release of this album.

* "If You Don't Understand" / "To All the Men I've Loved Before" Ariola Records, Germany only)
* "Natalie" / "As I Love You" (Towerbell Records)
* "I Am What I Am" / "This Is My Life" (Towerbell Records)
* "To All the Men I've Loved Before" / "I Am What I Am" (Towerbell Records) UK #86[2]

1984 a Towerbell/Vogue maxi-single was issued with a "Special Dance Mix" of "If You Don't Understand" (re-mix by Robert Levy-Provençal) - 7:11

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "Music Week" (PDF). p. 29.
2. ^ a b "Shirley Bassey on officialcharts.com". Official Charts. Retrieved 29 May 2016.
3. ^ BPI (manual search) Archived 2016-09-17 at the Wayback Machine

## External links

[edit]

* http://home.arcor.de/bassey/info/trkl048.html

* v
* t
* e

Shirley Bassey

Studio albums|

* Born to Sing the Blues
* The Bewitching Miss Bassey
* The Fabulous Shirley Bassey
* Shirley
* Shirley Bassey
* Let's Face the Music
* Shirley Stops the Shows
* I've Got a Song for You
* And We Were Lovers
* This Is My Life
* This Is My Life (La vita)
* Does Anybody Miss Me
* Something
* Something Else
* I Capricorn
* And I Love You So
* Never Never Never
* Nobody Does It Like Me
* Good, Bad but Beautiful
* Love, Life and Feelings
* You Take My Heart Away
* The Magic Is You
* All by Myself
* I Am What I Am
* La Mujer
* Keep the Music Playing
* The Bond Collection
* Sings the Songs of Andrew Lloyd Webber
* Shirley Bassey Sings the Movies
* The Show Must Go On
* Thank You for the Years
* Get the Party Started
* The Performance
* I Owe It All to You

Live albums|

* Shirley Bassey at the Pigalle
* Live in Japan

Compilation albums|

* The Shirley Bassey Collection
* The Shirley Bassey Singles Album
* Thoughts of Love
* 25th Anniversary Album
* Bassey – The EMI/UA Years 1959 – 1979
* Four Decades of Song

Remix albums|

* The Remix Album...Diamonds Are Forever

Singles|

* "Burn My Candle"
* "The Wayward Wind"
* "After the Lights Go Down Low"
* "Banana Boat Song"
* "With These Hands"
* "As Long As He Needs Me"
* "Reach for the Stars"/"Climb Ev'ry Mountain"
* "Love for Sale"
* "Goldfinger"
* "If You Go Away"
* "Big Spender"
* "Something"
* "The Fool on the Hill"
* "For All We Know"
* "And I Love You So"
* "Never Never Never"
* "To All the Men I've Loved Before"
* "The Rhythm Divine"
* "Love Is No Game"
* "'Disco' La Passione"
* "History Repeating"
* "Light My Fire"
* "World in Union"
* "(Where Do I Begin?) Love Story"
* "Diamonds from Sierra Leone"
* "The Living Tree"
* "Get the Party Started"
* "Big Spender (remix)"

Related articles|

* Discography
* Songs
* Albums
* Shirley Bassey (TV series)

Authority control databases |

* MusicBrainz release group

|

*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template