Quote of the Day

. . . [This year's Oscars] belonged to Shirley Bassey – to Adele, too, and, at a lesser volume, to Barbra Streisand – but mainly to Dame Shirley. These women know how to catch an audience, hold it tight, hit their marks, storm their high notes, and put on a damn fine show.

. . . Goldfinger, whose title track [Bassey] delivered last night, came out in 1964, a date recalled by Emmanuelle Riva, Alan Arkin, William Shatner, Quvenzhané Wallis’s grandparents, and nobody else. Short of importing Mary Poppins, or the Audrey Hepburn of My Fair Lady, there could be no swifter way of spiriting us back to that candy-colorful year. Here was the Bond song, all a-glitter, not merely repeated but refreshed for our delight. And our lady, at the gilded age of seventy-six, was no less fair. The spider-like pause, on “It’s the kiss of death,” was left to hang far longer, and more luxuriously, than it was in the original recording; the climactic growl on “only gold” would have sent Richard Parker packing; and, as for the knowing, hands-on-hips mini-shimmer at the words “pretty girls,” even the girlish Jennifer Lawrence must have been left pondering what it yet might take, in the long haul of stardom, to own the town. The assembled throng rose before Bassey had even signed off; these folk know royalty when they see it. Whatever you think about Quentin Tarantino, the man loves the pantheon, and he was up on his hind paws and clapping like a kid who didn’t realize that Santa Claus could show up in the middle of Lent. For an instant, we could all party like it was 1964. . . .

– Anthony Lane
"The Oscars: Pleasant Shocks"
The New Yorker
February 25, 2013

To watch Shirley Bassey's performance at the 2013 Oscars,

click here.

See also the previous Wild Reed post:
Oscar Highlights

For more of Shirley Bassey at The Wild Reed, see:
Time of the Tigress
The Rhythm Divine
The Living Tree
History Repeating

Recommended Off-site Links:
Shirley Bassey Leads Oscars 50th Birthday Tribute to James Bond – Piya Sinha-Roy and Tim Reid (Reuters, February 25, 2013).
Shirley Bassey Makes Splash at Oscars 2013 with 'Goldfinger' Theme – Associated Press (February 26, 2013).
Oscars 2013: Shirley Bassey Wins Rave Reviews for James Bond Tribute Song – Ann Lee (Metro, February 25, 2013).
Oscars 2013: Adele, Shirley Bassey Save the Oscars – Todd Martens (Los Angeles Times, February 24, 2013).
The Best of Shirley Bassey – The Daily Beast (February 25, 2013).