Charlie Rich Album: “All American Country”

Um, Max, if you're reading this, I have to ask you, is all you want to talk about here Tomorrow Night? Admittably, it's a great song. Then again, virtually every Charlie Rich song is at least great! There's only one song of his I don't really enjoy: Spanish Eyes. (Thankfully, it's omitted from this CD.) Here's a track listing for reminder. 1. Big Boss Man. 2. There Won't Be Anymore. 3. It's All Over Now. 4. Tomorrow Night. 5. Mountain Dew (misspelled My Mountain Dew). 6. Turn Around And Face Me. 7. Tragedy. 8. Nice N' Easy (original). 9. Are You Still My Baby? 10. Now Everybody Knows. Oh, and another question for the others. Should there be a 2 CD set covering ALL of his recordings for the Groove subsidiary of RCA???

This is another one of various All American Country compilations. Like the others, this one contains various RCA recordings. However, All American this is, calling this CD 'country' isn't exactly the way to go. Charlie Rich is impossible to properly pigeonhole; he also did blues, rock, pop, gospel, jazz, soul, and R&B. I'll quote Margaret Ann (Charlie's wife of 40+ years, whom's still living) here if noone minds: "Don't you dare call him 'country'!" So I think they should've left Charlie out of the series and titled this a different way in a manner that it doesn't sound like they're trying to classify him; no correct answer as to what music genre he was. Why don't you just call him 'unclassifiable'? Excellent 10 track CD, okay overall titling. Next time, don't try to pigeonhole him. Here's a track listing for help. Okay? 1. Big Boss Man-Various other music artists, including Elvis Presley and Jimmy Reed did this song. Charlie's version, bluesy, was a minor hit, but great, and goofy too! Also available on a few other compilations, including Feel Like Going Home and Groove Recordings. 2. There Won't Be Anymore-One of Charlie's 9 Country #1s, this was originally a commercial flop on 1965 and was the second recording, the first being bluesier, but on the success of Behind Closed Doors, RCA decided to rerelease it,but this time, it went #1, becoming one of few charttoppers RCA released, as well as being the only strong Charlie Rich crossover RCA released, going Pop #18 and AC #11. It was also on the Pop Top 40 at the same time as A Very Special Love Song! Great tune, nonetheless. 3. It's All Over Now-Another good track that peaked at #23 on the Country charts. Although not country, it earned better! 4. Turn Around And Face Me-Impressive, same with everything else on here; it's what they all have in common, well that and Charlie's vocals, as well as his piano playing! Probably a cliche, it's also found on Youtube. 5. Mountain Dew-Another drinking song, like a more smile-evident version of Sittin' And Thinkin', it has been mistitled as My Mountain Dew. This peaked at #24 on the usual Country charts. I don't particularly care too much for drinking songs, but exceptional melody anyway. 6. Nice N' Easy-This was originally done by Frank Sinatra, I think, but Charlie does this song best on his original recording alone. Try to imagine the rerecording, which went Country #37, AC #34 (should've been bigger)! 7. Tragedy-The storyline's what the title suggests, but the song's the opposite. 8. Tomorrow Night-According to one source, this peaked at #29 on the typical suspect. Guess what? That's right, the Country charts! I don't know for sure if it's true, but pretty good nevertheless. 9. Are You Still My Baby-This is Charlie Rich being as usual as can be; what more has to be said? 10. Now Everybody Nows-Unfortunately, not everybody knows; think of how many other people still have never heard of Charlie Rich. Still, great mellow performance, should've done better than Country #56. All recommended! P.S. I got the track order mixed up speaking of tragedy from earlier; Track 4 is Tomorrow Night, #6 is Turn Around And Face Me, 8 Nice N' Easy.