Charlie Rich Album: “Ultimate Collection”

Hip-O Records present one of the best "Ultimate Collections" to date. What can one say about Charlie Rich - "The Silver Fox", who mastered virtually every style and vernacular of American music from rock'n'roll to classic pop, from country to blues, from supper club jazz to soul.

A few stand outs - "LONELY WEEKENDS" (1959) clearly his first classic - "WHO WILL THE NEXT FOOL BE?" (1961) high octane on rhythm & blues, with perfect lyrics and arrangements - "RIVER STAY AWAY FROM MY DOOR" (1963) this rendition has to be one of the best ever, Rich completely throws himself into the mood and the rest is "perfection" - "A FIELD OF YELLOW DAISIES (1965) in top form, and working on all cylinders for this ballad - "YOU CAN HAVE HER" (1965) no other artist can top this performance, as Charlie's talent comes shining through - "BEHIND CLOSE DOORS" (1972) and "THE MOST BEAUTIFUL GIRL" (1973) both charted number one on the Country Charts.

Charlie Rich was one of the most talented artist ever to record, his voice and piano complemented each other. Rich painted his thoughts and feelings through music, as you will hear and see through the - "Ultimate Collection of Charlie Rich"!

Total Time: 48:54 on 18 Tracks/ Hip-O Records - 012 157 597 2 (2000)

While I did not purchase my CD of Ultimate Collection from Amazon, I did have some cocnerns over the sound of it and the photo on the back, so I turned to Amazon for some information on it which I mentioned in my comment to the first review which told me it really was Charile Rich's photo on the back and not Elvis Presley's. It had been so long since I heard Charle Rich singing two of his hits -- Behind Closed Doors and The Most Beautiful Girl -- I had forgotten what he sounded like. I had expected the first track and the rest to have the singing style I thought was his, a long, slow, romantic delivery of what could be viewed as caberet-type songs. The first track, Lonely Weekends, sounded as though it was sung by Elvis himself, not Rich. I was relieved to find out he merely sounded like Elvis, and certainly not the sort of music I thought Rich performend. This singer is a lot more versatile and rockin' than I thought he was. It made me understand the end to the liner notes about him that ended with a description of him in his obituary as a "country balladeer," and the end line "They didn't get it." Well, this CD allowed me to "get it," loud and clear.

Lots of good stuff from Charlie Rich here slanted to his earlier years, but lacking a lot of big charting hits including several number ones. ("Very Special Love Song","Rollin With the Flow","On My Knees"...many others) From Hip-O this is a little dissapointing seeing as how they are usually so comprehensive. Still a great listen at any rate.

This is a really great collection from a company that seems to have a track record of paying attention to the details. Judging from the dates on each of these charting hits, the folks over at Hip-O Records have taken great care to present a chronological picture of Charlie Rich's career. On top of that, and unlike some past "greatest hits" releases, there's NO filler! Charlie has always been considered a Country artist, and that's fair, since the familiar Country themes of heartbreak, hardship and hard living are ever present in his lyrics. However, many of these songs have a much broader appeal. Even if you don't usually pick up Country CDs, you might want to click on one or two of the Real Audio samples. You won't be sorry.

I did receive the CD quickly but it was defective, playing a couple bars of each song and immediately skipping to the next. This happened with the first 4 songs or so and I stopped checking, returned the CD. It was confirmed received beginning of month and it's now the end of the month and still no refund. I have e mailed the company twice and finally received a response saying when they received it and processed it I would get my refund. They received it over 3 weeks ago! I won't be purchasing from ImportCD again.