Customer Reviews

Best of Crystal Gayle

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Crystal Gayle's sophisticated pop stylings were the antithesis of big sister Loretta Lynn's rural melodramas. While not as celebrated as her legendary sibling, Gayle impressively became a fixture on the country charts for 20 years.

This nineteen track Best Of leads off with a single sampling of Gayle's stints at United Artists (her signature hit "Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue") and Columbia (the poignant "If You Ever Change Your Mind"). After that, the set concentrates on her tenure at Warner Brothers, capturing all of Gayle's top ten hits there as well as a few choice album cuts. It easily surpasses Warner Brothers' 1986 ten-track Greatest Hits, anthologizing for the first time her collaborations with Eddie Rabbitt ("You And I") and Gary Morris ("Making Up For Lost Time," "Another World").

Like the Judds in their heyday, Gayle's best Warner Brothers recordings concentrate on love in its various stages, be it rock solid ("A Love And Lasting Love"), fragile ("Our Love Is On The Faultline"), lost ("The Sound Of Goodbye"), or recovery ("Til I Gain Control Again"). While her '70s United Artists' material is more thematically varied and held in higher esteem, these '80s Warner Brothers' efforts showcase Gayle at her most vocally confident. Kudos to Rhino for attractively repackaging this neglected phase of her recording career.

This cd I recently purchased but listened to these songs from the album many years ago. Thanks Crystal for the memories. My favorites: The Sound Of Goodbye, Baby What About you, Another World and I Dont Wanna Lose Your Love . Fond memories!

It's a shame that most people remember Crystal for two things: Don't it Make My Brown Eyes Blue and her hair. There is much more to this lady and her career than just those two things.

This collection brings together the bulk of her 80s hits on Warner Brothers. A few of the songs on this cd had yet appeared on a Crystal hits package, so it's nice to have them here.

Standouts include I Don't Wanna Lose Your Love, Our Love is on the Fault Line, Me Against the Night, Making Up for Lost Time, Sound of Goodbye, and the incredible Cry.

I wish all of her albums would be digitally remastered on cd, but at least we have a great sampling of her great 80s hits. True Love, Cage the Songbird, and Straight to the Heart were three of my favorite Crystal albums and are well-represented here.

I've been a fan of Crystal's ever since the late 70's. As I own many of her 'best of' CDs from before I didn't get myself a copy of this CD until now, three years after it's release. Contrary to many of the 'best of' compilations, this is one that actually could be called that. Listening to it got me remembering why I loved her madly in the 80's! Here you'll find some of the pearls from the fabulous Cage the Songbird and Nobody Wants to Be Alone albums. Wow, could Jimmy Bowen and Michael Masser do a good job with her! And wow, does she sound great! I personally would have skipped all the songs from the True Love album and replaced them with some from her also great Columbia years or with a few more songs from her later albums produced by WB boss Jim Ed Norman, who mostly managed worse to get the best out of Crystal. The duets on this compilation are fabulous as well. As much as I love her older songs, I'm glad they now have highlighted her adult contemporary years. The booklet contains some nice photos of Crystal. Well worth it's price!

While many of the songs on this obviously redundant compilation were hits for CRYSTAL GAYLE, too many of her most classic MEGA-hit singles have been omitted here! RHINO did a very good job on the CARLY SIMON Anthology type compilation, so WHY(?) misrepresent one of America's most popular song stylists on Cd reissues with a mostly "filler" type hits Cd with way too many "covers"? CRYSTAL GAYLE recorded and put too many MEMORABLE hit songs on the map and charts, not to mention instilling them in music lovers' and the public's minds forever, to be so dishonored on Cd as she has been here. Let's be REALISTIC: Rhino has a knack for obtaining "masters" for REISSUES evrytime, but, this time, they have totally dropped the ball on CRYSTAL GAYLE! Where are the FUNDAMENTAL HITS such as: I'LL GET OVER YOU/ SOMEBODY LOVES YOU/I WANNA COME BACK TO YOU/ HELLO, I LOVE YOU/ TALKING IN YOUR SLEEP/ HALF THE WAY/ IF YOU EVER CHANGE YOUR MIND/ YOU NEVER GAVE UP ON ME/ IT'S LIKE WE NEVER SAID GOODBYE/ WRONG ROAD AGAIN/ WHEN I DREAM/ I'LL DO IT ALL OVER AGAIN/ WHY HAVE YOU LEFT THE ONE YOU LEFT ME FOR?/ YOU NEVER MISS A REAL GOOD THING/ READY FOR THE TIMES TO GET BETTER, as well as many other huge hits that made this woman a household name for two decades? CRYSTAL GAYLE ran neck to neck with RONSTADT & STREISAND in the hit singles category throughout the second half of the 70's and all through the 80's...honestly, CRYSTAL's singles were more consistent on the radio playlists and singles charts. Like the other two divas, she had a very distinct sound of her own and a long string of hits as well as gold/platinum singles & albums. CRYSTAL GAYLE successfully crossed the boundaries between Pop-Country-Jazz to be so generically compiled. A BOX SET is long over due!

The first Album I ever bought was "True Love" back in the early 80's. I have been in love with Crystal's voice ever since she released the song "Baby What About You." This is a song few people know about and it is hard to find. This CD has most of the "True Love" songs. Every song is awesome. It shows the incredible range this lady posseses. I love all Country, but especially the folks that have a rock edge to them (for, example, my current fave is Hal Ketchum). If you like that type of artist you have to love these Crystal gems like "Our Love Is On the Faultline" and "Baby What About You." Crystal could sing the phone book though and I would love it. If you are a Crystal fan and have not heard this song, getting this CD is worth the Price just for "Baby What About You."

An imaginative and lovingly put together showcase for one of the finest entertainers, complete with never-before-seen photos and well-written liner notes. A sample: "Ultimately, Gayle is about things that last. As she enters her fourth decade in the music business, she's about quality and dignity and music that moves her." A real treat here is the thoughtful sequencing of the songs, a few of which weren't technically released as singles but nonetheless really enrich the project. There's a real flow to the lineup: a crisp "Brown Eyes" segues to "If You Ever Change Your Mind", piano note to piano note, duets "You and I" and "Makin' Up for Lost Time" show up as delightful surprises. "Baby What About You" segues to "Everything I Own" then "The Sound of Goodbye"; "Me Against The Night" has an added kick placed just before "Nobody Wants To Be Alone"---it's as if a true fan put together their favorite mix of Crystal songs, the expected and a few unexpected, and then said Sit back, relax and enjoy. A compilation truly befitting this magical artist, and a must for her fans.

For those into soap opera themes, or just more range than Ms. Gayle's traditional country hits, buy this album!!!! One of Crystal's rare releases that contains the theme used between 1987 and 1996 on the classic daytime drama, "Another World". The track on this album isn't the quick opening on the show, but the full version that was a country hit and was used sometimes during "Another World"'s closing credits. If you search on YouTube, you can also find scenes of Crystal during her week-long cameo as herself on "Another World". If you can still find one, the coffee-table book about AW, Another World 35th Anniversary: The 35th Anniversary Celebration, contains info and pix about Ms. Gayle's time on the show.

THX Amazon.com for another great product shipped......my " Mum " said she loves her new Muscial CD.......it was just what she was lookin' for ! Bless you all there ! OMODY

Crystal Gayle is soooo good on certain songs.. she tears my soul out !
Other songs.. well, not my cup of tea..
However, one great song coming from an album is worth the price..
this album has lots of good ones :)