Disco de Lulu: “To Sir With Love: The Best of 1967-68”

Although this set only covers two years, it is an impressive collection showcasing the raw talent that this new Scottish lassie had to give. The listing is notably consistent in the mid-sixties style, but the remastering is fantastic, bringing out the best in the stereo original masters. It's a note of talent to compare these recordings to the current Lulu (see "Together" or "Greatest"). From this diminutive lady, comes a voice is overpowering. A great period piece.

I really took my time and studied hard for voice and performance,(SOLO SINGERS), to rank number one on my list as the best White Women's Voice from 1960 through 1970. Don't get me wrong, it was some list and not easy. But I have to go with Lulu for White and Mary Wells for Black, just beating Patti Drew. Hay, it's hard man, now I hope I didn't start a trend!

I always thought Lulu was English, but it turns out she is a Scottish lass born Marie McDonald McLaughlin Lawrie (at least until she married Maurice Gibb), and that she had been on the British charts for three years before the movie "To Sir, With Love" came out and the title song became a #1 hit on both sides of the pond. Lulu was not a one hit wonder, but was cursed, as it were, by having a signature song that blotted out pretty much everything else she ever did. So it is not suprising that " To Sir With Love: The Very Best of 1967-1968" embraces this fate in the title of this 19-track collection. The disadvantage to this particular collection is also found in the title, in that it is restricted to a two year period. In 1968, Lulu had some other chart successes with "Best of Both Worlds" (#32), "Me, The Peaceful Heart" (#53), and "Morning Dew" (#52).

But Lulu had her first Top 10 hit in Britain back in 1964 with "Shout," which made it to #94 in 1964 in the U.S. After this two year period she had minor chart success with "Hum a Song (From Your Heart)" (#54) and "Oh Me Oh My (I'm A Fool For You Baby)" (#22) from 1970, the latter being pretty much the only other Lulu song I could remember from way back when (Yes, I forgot she did the title song for the James Bond film "The Man With the Golden Gun"). With omissions like this, even given the right of this collection to narrow its focus as it sees fit, you have to know there are better Lulu collections out there.

Whichever collection you listen to I think the inevitable conclusion is that the problem was never with Lulu's singing, which is certainly solid in the grand tradition of Brenda Lee, but that except for one notable exception she never had great material to sing. Still, there are some decent efforts here. "You and I," another song written by Mark London, who wrote "To Sir With Love," is an interesting song, and the same can be said for her cover of "Day Tripper." You also have "The Boat That I Row," which is a Neil Diamond song most people have never heard of, and which was actually considered the A side of Lulu's "To Sir With Love" single in Britain.

Everything comes back to that song with Lulu: it is one of those songs that I stop and listen to every time I hear it on the radio (not that I do that anymore). I liked the duet version that Natalie Merchant and Michael Stipe did at Clinton's MTV inaugural ball, but there is something about the original version, which perfectly captured the emotional climax of the film version. For most people having "To Sir, With Love" is enough, but for fans of 1960s music this collection can help them find a few more Lulu songs to enjoy.

Lulu is in excellent voice, and this is one of the few stereo recordings from her during that era. Nonetheless, many of the songs are not commensurate with her abilities, making this CD less than it should have been. For true fans, only.