Customer Reviews

American Quilt 1967-1974

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The sound quality may not as good as it was on 45 (25-35 years ago), but to these ears it all sounds fine. Since Bobbie Gentry albums are about as scarce as the artist herself, AMERICAN QUILT serves as the perfect introduction. Audiophiles & rabid fans are certain to be disappointed. They always are. But if you love "Ode To Billie Joe" & want more, the body of work represented here is likely to surpise you.

What's particularly commendable about this collection is it's focus on Gentry's originals. Needless to say, she has a lot more to offer than a pretty voice. Despite some rather dated production, Bobbie Gentry was a first rate songwriter. Lyrically she has the subtlety of Joni Mitchchell & the Gothic appeal of Johnny Cash. As for being a Country Artist, there's far too much diversity here to catergorize her so easily. Vintage late 60's Pop, Blue Eyed Soul, Backwoods Funk & a touch of Psychedelica---it's all there. Vocally, I'd say she has more in common with Dusty Springfield than Loretta Lynn.

For fans of "Billie Joe"'s seductive grooves, tunes like "Mississippi Delta" & "Okolona River..." are sure to please. "Sermon" takes all the fire & brimestone of a Baptist minister & sets it to a sultry beat Elvis would envy. On "Morning Glory" she sounds like she just woke up beside you, whispering in your ear. Southern gentility meets English Psychedelica on numbers like "Penduli Pendulum", "Jessye' Lisabeth" & "Refractions". "Courtyard" & "I Saw An Angel Die" capture Gentry at her most haunting & desolate.

There's a sense of the macabre lurking beneath many of her songs which may have accounted for her lack of chart topping power after "Billie Joe". Pretty as they are, ballads like "Fancy" & "Apartment 21" allude to a sordiness worthy of early Lou Reed. Gentry's black sense of humor is more than evident on "Casket Vignette". Despite it's cheery demeanor, the lyrics sound straight out of Flannery O'Connor.

At the moment, Gentry's albums are out of print on CD. The current resurgence of interest in the music press might change that. Until then, AMERICAN QUILT is probably your best bet to check out this unique & crimminally neglected artist.

I have been a die-hard Bobbie Gentry fan since the first time I heard "Ode to Billie Joe". That raspy voice reached out and grabbed me; never mind trying to figure out what the mystery was behind the song. We all had our own explaination about that.
The movie's version was not what we had in mind...but never mind about that. When I first heard that a new complation CD "Bobbie Gentry: An American Quilt 1967-1974" was to be released I thought, it's about time. Now maybe we would get some of the old recordings re-mastered to digital quality and maybe some gems we haven't heard in the past. Well, I'm sorry to say that this CD falls short on both of those issues; particularly in the sound quality area! Most of the titles on this CD have appeared on other CDs already. The few that appear here for the first time on CD, namely,"Benjamin","Marigolds and Tangerines", "Billy the Kid", and a few others from the underappreciated "Patchwork" album, are a welcome addition to the fans CD library. The problem is the sound quality! I had earphones on and it was hard to tell if these were mono recordings or if I was slightly deaf in one ear. Particularly poor was "Another Place, Another Time". It sounded as if someone had a microphone next to the television speaker and recorded it when "Macon County Line" was playing on TNT. I pulled out my 45 of this on the Brunswick label to see if it was as poor as that. No way. The stereo and production quality was superb on this cut. Same problem with "Touch Em With Love". My 45 sounds infinitely better and it is stereo! If this is a definitive collection, why not include the lesser known "You and Me Together", "Crawdads", "Away In A Manger", "No Me Quiero Enamorar", and "En Todas Partes"? A great big THANK YOU to Raven Records for trying but I think I'll burn my 45s onto a CD if I want quality and selection.

Whatever it was that suicidal Billy Joe McAllister threw off the Tallahatchie bridge, Bobbie Gentry's "Ode To Billy Joe" earned a permanent place among music's enigmas. Backed with six violins, two cellos and Gentry's acoustic guitar, the folk-noir ballad hit #1 on 1967's pop chart. The album Ode To Billy Joe topped both pop and country charts.

Remastered from her 1967-74 Capitol singles and LPs (but skipping her hit duets with Glen Campbell), the well-annotated, 26-song An American Quilt presents the everyone's favorite swamp chick vacillating from country pop, baroque pop and white soul to lackluster pop that pushes her down in the mix as her natural throaty alto turns into a thin soprano, as on Bachrach and David's "I'll Never Fall In Love Again" (a British #1).

Sometimes these tracks are funny. A sunny bubble-pop arrangement comically enhances the Randy Newman-like "Casket Vignette." "Fancy" (a bigger hit when remade by Reba McEntire in 1990) has lightly scurrying guitar notes when a cockroach skitters across the upwardly mobile heroine's high-heeled shoe. And "Mississippi Delta" shows that Miss Gentry is a darn good speller!

I would have liked to have seen some of the Campbell duets included here. You can get the best of them ("Let It Be Me," "All I Have To Do Is Dream") on Glenn's new "All The Best" Capitol retrospective.

I was disappointed by the sound/recording flaws on
five tracks, rather, I was surprised. The liner notes
and pics are excellent!! There does need to be a box
set with ALL the contents of lps Fancy, Patchwork, and
the ones missed off of the Delta Sweete, and Local Gentry.
The most disappointing was "Another Place, Another Time",
the sound quality is very Poor, and cheats the listener
of the whole song. I'm grateful for the effort put forth
in getting a compilation of her songs out, but there needs'
to be control in the QUALITY of SOUND. Gentryman1967

While it is great to have selections from the Delta Sweete, Local Gentry, and Patchwork albums, I was dissapointed that Gentry gems such as But, I Can't Get Back, Belinda, Seasons Come, Seasons Go, and some of the excellent covers from the Touch 'Em With Love and Fancy albums were not included. Especially disapointing is Another Place, Another Time. The quality is poor and it fades out at the beginning of the third verse. And so this Bobbie Gentry fan is still waiting for a definitive Bobbie Gentry CD. Why no box set for this artist? Bobbie, are you out there?

This is the next best thing to a re-issue of Bobbie's brilliant final album "Patchwork." ...This CD sounds fine, so let's not quibble about the wonderful gift of music it provides. I'd pay an extra $50 if it included the "Patchwork" cut "But I Can't Get Back" which is one of the sweetest, most haunting recordings of my remote youth, but as is, this is a terrific collection. A fitting tribute to a wonderful artist, a magnificent woman, and one of the most tragically complete disappearing acts in show biz history.

Serious Bobbie Gentry fans will no doubt want all her original albums. But for casual fans trying to avoid the endless repeats that come from owning too many of those carelessly assembled compilations in the market, I would recommend Australian label Raven's "American Quilt 1967 -1974" because it is a thoughtfully put together package comprising mostly her own compositions, many of which are not available anywhere other than the original albums from which they are extracted.

This compilation focuses on Bobbie Gentry the singer-songwriter and includes some quite excellent but seldom heard tracks from her early albums, "Delta Sweete" and `Local Gentry". Raven has sensibly adopted a chronological approach and even preserved the original running order of some of these tracks so that they segue nicely into one another. The inclusion of several songs from `Patchwork" is a particular rare treat - they are simply delightful, showcasing Bobbie's lighter pop side in this later stage of her recording career.

The audio quality could be better - some of it sounds a little flat - and if only they dared leave out non self composed tracks like the UK No. 1 hit "I'll Never Fall In Love Again" which belong elsewhere, this compilation would have been pretty special in claiming its place among the many compilations available in the market.

I'm not complaining - "American Quilt 1967 - 1974" is a great product and the perfect companion piece for "Capitol Years - Ode to Bobbie", for my money the best compilation of Bobbie's pop sides.