Petula Clark – Ultimate Petula Clark

Despite being the most commercially successful British female singer of the post-war era with numerous charting singles under her belt, Petula Clark's stature in the post-modern musical landscape is largely built on her crowning achievement, the Ivor Novello-winning U.S. number one "Downtown", which admittedly still wields the power to enthral and stir souls, but should not be considered her only masterpiece. After starting out as a child star, Clark shed her '50s teen pop image and rode the British Invasion wave in America, where she achieved huge success in the mid-'60s, racking up several Top Ten hits courtesy of the extremely competent songwriting team Tony Hatch and his wife Jackie Trent, most notably "I Know a Place," "Color My World," "Call Me," "I Couldn't Live Without Your Love," and "My Love". "Ultimate Petula Clark" contains all of the aforementioned ecstatic post-"Downtown" singles alongside a clutch of equally sophisticated and well-arranged sides drawn from her edgier light pop period, giving casual fans of the crystalline-voiced international chart-topper all they could ever want from a single-disc collection of her career highlights, minus any superfluous remixing or heavy-handed remastering to ruin what should be (and thankfully is!) a very satisfying and stimulating nostalgia trip.

RATING: 4.5/5