Charlie Rich Album: “Once a Drifter”

Charlie Rich left Epic records in 1977 and went to United Artists. From 1978-1980 he made 3 albums there. They should be forgotten. He then went to Elektra records and made this very fine album. Buy it! You have to listen to the songs several times to hear how fine they are and how beautiful Charlie Rich sings them. "Are we dreaming the same dream?" should have been a number 1 hit. "Once a drifter", "Wonderful tonight" (Eric Clapton), "Marie", "Good time Charlie's got the blues". This is great. Thank you, American Beat, for this CD.

if a fan of Charlie Rich!! One tends to get repeats of most popular hits (which is fine with me); there are a few on here that are not repeats.

As others have noted, this album sort of slipped through the cracks and escaped the notice of most Charlie Rich fans, or they just plain forget about it because the album wasn't a huge hit when it was first released. Too bad, because the songs on here are consistently good and all powered by that "rich" voice. I was never a fan of Clapton's "Wonderful Tonight," but in Charlie's hands (or is "throat" a better term?) the song attains new clarity and beauty. I also love his version of "Good Time Charlie's Got The Blues" and Randy Newman's classic "Marie." Dare I say that Charlie's version is even better than Randy's? This is a short album, and I only regret that they didn't add any extra tracks to beef up the minutes, but what you have here is very good and typical of other Charlie Rich recordings: artistic excellence.

if your fan of charlie rich than i highly recommend this cd.too bad this album wasn't more popular ,best songs are we dreaming the same dream and marie,can't beat the line i'm drunk but i need to be.