Patsy Cline Album: “12 Greatest Hits”

There are many fans of music out there who consider Patsy Cline a country singer. Many forget that her first success was on the Pop charts. To me, she is simply one of the best singers of any genre - ever. Her vocal phrasing was almost perfect and the gut-wrenching emotion that she sang with further enhanced her performances. This CD is filled with hits, all recorded within a short period of time in her too short career. Producer Owen Bradley culled some of the finest performances from Cline heard here. The addition of the Jordanaires as backing vocalists (especially on "Walkin' After Midnight" and "I Fall To Pieces") is perfect. The musical accompaniment doesn't crowd Cline and allows her perfect voice to take center stage - as it should be. Before country/pop music was taken hostage by the plasticness of a talentless, substanceless Shania Twain, there was a true, real performer with a voice to match. A superb vocalist, Patsy Cline is still missed.

Well, yes. And I don't apologize. Don't get me wrong, I love Patsy Cline as much as anyone among the many 4- and 5-star reviewers so far, and I really regret breaking the string of assessments. But the fact is, there are many, many more superior compilations available now than this MCA release from 1988 which re-issues an earlier vinyl LP produced by Owen Bradley.

For a few dollars more you can pick up one which has all 19 of her Country hit singles registered between 1957 and 1982, the last ten posthumously following her death in that March 1963 plane crash.

Also, like far too many of the early compilations, they chose NOT to give us the original version of her first hit for Decca in 1957, Walkin' After Midnight. That version went for 2:30 and reached # 2 Country/# 12 Billboard Pop Top 100 in May. What they give you here was a re-recording done in August 1961, shorter by almost 30 seconds and performed at a slightly faster tempo.

The rest are all originals although, technically, tracks 7, 10, and 11 were not among her "12 greatest hits" which is, after all, the title of this album. Back In Baby's Arms was the uncharted B-side of Sweet Dreams (Of You), Why Can't He Be You? was the uncharted flip of Heartaches which, not included here, made it to # 73 Billboard Pop Hot 100 in 1962 (but failed to make the Country charts - go figure), and You're Stronger Than Me was the uncharted flip of So Wrong in 1962.

In addition to Heartaches, legitimate hits left off this volume were the B-side to Walkin' After Midnight - A Poor Man's Roses, Or A Rich Man's Gold [# 14 Country] - the double-sided 1962 hit When I Get Thru (You'll Love Me Too)/Imagine That which reached # 10 Country/# 53 Hot 100 and # 21 Country/# 90 Hot 100 respectively, When You Need A Laugh [# 47 Country in 1964], and He Called Me Baby [# 23 Country in December 1964 and her first immediate posthumous hit].

In 1969 her rendition of the old Eddy Arnold hit, Anytime, reached # 73 Country, followed nine years later by Life's Railway To Heaven which topped out at # 98. Two years after that, in 1980, a release of her cut of the old standard Always went all the way to # 18, followed in December by a re-mix of I Fall To Pieces [# 61]. In late 1981 her duet with Jim Reeves on Have You Ever Been Lonely (Have You Ever Been Blue?] soared all the way to # 5, and in 1982 yet another version of I Fall To Pieces, this time dubbing her voice with that of Jim Reeves, was a # 54.

With the insert you do get two pages of background notes written by Jay Orr and Don Roy, a chronology of Patsy's all-too-brief life, and a list of session personnel involved on each of the 12 tracks. But while these features and the AAD sound reproduction makes this a nice, inexpensive, sampling of Patsy, MCA can easily turn it into a 5-star offering by simply following the lead of others who re-released earlier 10- and 12-track CDs [Elvis, Donovan, Sarah Vaughan as examples] with bonus tracks.

Four years ago I had never heard of Patsy Cline till a friend played this CD for me. I was so fascinated I went right out and bought it. Since that time I have listend to it over and over and never tire of it. Patsy lives each song with her unbelievable , magnificant voice! There is not a weak moment on this CD. Patsy is catergorized as a country singer, but I think she is a world class singer with Country, jazz, blues and pop all fused into one glorius voice! This is the Greatest CD I own!

I have owned this CD for about 2 months and I am in love with it. The cd gives you the most powering songs of her short but great life. This CD in a way helps remembers her great strong singing talent. She has been remembered as the Number one selling Country artist of all times. Today there are some new comers but you still dont get the full effects of Patsy Cline's work. Her life was taken short and that is a shame. She would have had a great career making everyone fall in love with her uniqe voice. She will always be in all of our heart in the biggest way or even the smallest way doesnt matter. She will always be Patsy Cline..

Number one Madz

This hard living, hard loving, country diva had one of the most emotive voices in the history of country music. In her too short career, cut prematurely in a plane crash, she managed to put together a roster of musical hits.

This is an absolutely definitive CD. There is simply not one bad cut on it, with stand outs such as: "Crazy", "She's Got You", "Sweet Dreams", "Back in Baby's Arm's", and "Leaving on Your Mind". Ten of the cuts on this CD were top ten tunes on the pop charts of the time, while seven of them made the top ten on the country charts. Fans of Ms. Cline's, as well as those music lovers just wanting a great CD, would be well satisifed with it.