Anthony Newley Discography
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Albums | Compilations
 Anthony NewleyPure Imagination Release Date 1971 Label Rating:  With the arrival in theaters of Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, the children's movie musical for which he and partner Leslie Bricusse wrote the songs, Anthony Newley signed to MGM Records for Pure Imagination, his first solo album in four years (that's not including the soundtrack to the 1969 film Can Hieronymous Merkin Ever Forget Mercy Humppe and Find True Happiness, which Newley wrote, directed, scored, and starred in, and 1970s For You, an album containing Newley's readings from a book by Jennings Cobb). The idea of the album was to present Newley's versions of four songs from the movie -- &"The Candy Man" (not yet a hit for Sammy Davis, Jr.), &"Pure Imagination," &"Cheer Up, Charlie," and &"I've Got a Golden Ticket" -- along with other material from Newley's repertoire. &"Little Golden Crown," &"Pop Goes the Weasel," and &"There's No Such Thing as Love" were all songs he had recorded previously for Decca (London Records in the U.S.) in the early '60s. &"The Beautiful Land" derived from his '60s musical The Roar of the Greasepaint -- The Smell of the Crowd. &"Best of All Worlds," with its reference to chocolate, must have been a cut song intended for Willy Wonka. And &"I'll Begin Again" came from Bricusse's score for the 1970 movie musical Scrooge. The quality of Newley's performances depended on his interest in the material. He gave evenhanded treatments to the Wonka songs and, although he had not been involved in its composition, handled &"I'll Begin Again" like one of his personal anthems, giving the album a stirring conclusion. But revisiting his old material did not intrigue him, a point he made deliberately as he ran through the novelty tune &"Pop Goes the Weasel," even injecting a loud snore at one point. William Ruhlmann, Rovi |
Tracks:
| Title | Composer | Time | |
| 1 | Candy Man | Bricusse, Newley | 2:57 |
| 2 | Pure Imagination | Bricusse, Newley | 2:56 |
| 3 | Little Golden Clown | Bricusse, Newley | 2:31 |
| 4 | Pop Goes the Weasel | Traditional | 2:42 |
| 5 | Cheer Up, Charlie | Bricusse, Newley | 2:33 |
| 6 | There's No Such Thing as Love | Fraser, Newley | 2:57 |
| 7 | Beautiful Land | Bricusse, Newley | 2:18 |
| 8 | Best of All Worlds | Bricusse, Newley | 2:02 |
| 9 | I've Got a Golden Ticket | Bricusse, Newley | 2:31 |
| 10 | I'll Begin Again | Bricusse | 2:45 |
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