Born to Sing [Box set, Import]

Connie Smith | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (March 6, 2001)
• Original Release Date: 1964
• Number of Discs: 4
• Format: Box set, Import
• Note on Boxed Sets: During shipping, discs in boxed sets occasionally become dislodged without damage. Please examine and play these discs. If you are not completely satisfied, we'll refund or replace your purchase.
• Label: Bear Family
• ASIN: B000059O7Z
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Vinyl
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #217,210 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

Disc: 1

1. I'm Ashamed of You

2. The Threshold

3. Once a Day

4. Darling, Are You Ever Coming Home

5. I Don't Love You Anymore

See all 32 tracks on this disc

Disc: 2

1. Nobody But a Fool (Would Love You)

2. I'll Never Get Over Loving You

3. Go Ahead and Make Me Cry

4. In My Baby's Arms Again

5. For Better or for Worse

See all 31 tracks on this disc

Disc: 3

1. I Will

2. Gone

3. My Little Corner of the World

4. Pas Souvent

5. J'Imaginais Autrement l'Amour

See all 32 tracks on this disc

Disc: 4

1. On and on and On

2. Everybody Loves Somebody

3. That's What It's Like to Be Lonesome

4. In Case You Ever Change Your Mind

5. It Comes and Goes

See all 32 tracks on this disc

Editorial Reviews

(4-CD LP-sized box set with 56-page book) All of country singer's RCA recordings from July 1964 to Sept. 1967. It not only includes Once A Day, but all the great early hits like Then & Only Then, Tiny Blue Transistor Radio & others. Her French sessions are also included. The cream of Nashville's songwriters wanted their songs interpreted by Connie, and here are some of the greatest early work by Bill Anderson, Dallas Frazier, Harlan Howard, Willie Nelson, as well as guitarists Weldon Myrick & Jerry Reed.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Connie Smith's voice is beautiful, but that is not all., December 5, 2001

By 

"hms54" (Oakland, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Born to Sing (Audio CD)

Connie Smith has a beautiful voice, but there is much more which makes her voice the best female voice ever recorded, such as a wider vocal range and greater richness than any other female singer, not to mention her own individual sound and super intensity. However, what makes her voice really stand out is that she has a wide range of vocalizations. That makes her voice THRILLING! One never knows what she will sound like when she sings. In at least one song in this collection she sounds extremely like Patsy Cline, and in another one can hear Connie Francis inside her voice. The other CD of Smith's recordings called "Connie Smith & Miss Smith Goes to Nashville" are of her first and third albums, not first and second. This four CD set has the first few years of Smith's album recordings, but not nearly all of her RCA recordings. It consists of about a dozen of her first albums, a little less than one third of all her recordings. It is a shame country music radio is now owned by giant corporations who will only air recordings by young singers. Connie Smith if aired would show up today's singers as rank amateurs. After listening to this collection one can only scream for MORE! PLEASE TURN ALL HER RECORDS INTO CD'S AS SOON AS POSSIBLE!

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Connie's first nine albums, plus extra tracks, January 28, 2003

By 

Peter Durward Harris "Pete the music fan" (Leicester England) - See all my reviews
(TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Born to Sing (Audio CD)

This boxed set contains everything Connie recorded from 1964 to 1967. Bear Family sets sometimes include lots of alternate takes, these are limited in this box to two alternative versions of I'll come running and one alternate version of Burning a hole in my mind, although it does include four French language tracks, which are versions of her American country hits. Because this set stops at 1967 and there is no certainty of a sequel, it does not replace your hits collection, although this was Connie's most successful period so a lot of her own hits are here, including Once a day, Ain't had no lovin' and Cincinnati Ohio.

Of the nine albums whose tracks are included here, the first and third are available separately as a twofer. That twofer was released only a few months before this box. I've already reviewed that, and as I explained, those are Connie's two best albums from this period - but the others are also of a very high standard, but they contain plenty of covers. I enjoy listening to covers but not everybody gets the same pleasure as I do.

There are some gospel songs, including Wings of a dove, Farther along and When God dips his love in my heart. There are pop songs, including Downtown (Petula), Born a woman (Sandy Posey), The night has a thousand eyes (Bobby Vee) and It's now or never (Elvis). But mostly, there are country songs, many written by Bill Anderson and Dallas Frazier. Among the many country covers here are You ain't woman enough (Loretta Lynn), Ride ride ride (Lynn Anderson) and There goes my everything (Jack Greene, Engelbert Humperdinck and Elvis). Connie also covered Po' folks and I love you drops, both hits for Bill Anderson. Although Bill wrote songs that he allowed others to have hits with, he kept some for himself. Connie loved them so much that she recorded them anyway.

This is a well-presented set, as anybody familiar with Bear Family would expect. If you are already familiar with Connie's music, you will know what to expect. If not, I recommend that you start with The Essential, which I've also reviewed.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Country Legend Connie Smith's RCA Recordings, March 14, 2001

By 

Ron Frankl (North Carolina) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Born to Sing (Audio CD)

For anyone who ever said "I could listen to Connie Smith sing all night," well, here's your chance. Those wonderful obsessives at Bear Family Records have reissued the country great's complete recordings from her heyday in the mid-Sixties, when the singer was tearing up the charts.

Connie Smith was a housewife with two children when she began her recording career under the patronage of singer/songwriter Bill Anderson. Her first single, "Once A Day," was a smash hit, and for the next three years she was one of Nashville's biggest female stars. Smith had a perfect voice for country music, with the tell-tale "sob" in her voice that made many of her songs almost heartbreakingly beautiful. Most tellingly, Smith was even more admired by her peers than her fans. She walked away from a successful career in the Seventies to raise her children and because she grew increasingly uncomfortable with the nature of the music business.

Connie Smith fans once had to search far and wide for her RCA recordings, but they have been more accessible in recent times. RCA released a solid one disc "best of" four years ago and her first two albums were reissued in their entirety in 2000. "Born To Sing" is a four CD box and contains everything she recorded for the label. Its a wonderful package, with first-class sound, and which includes Bear Family's usual comprehensive booklet. Although there is a lot of terrific music here, this boxed set is probably best for Smith's hardcore fans; casual fans should probably stick to the single disc compilation. Still, this is a superior package. Its nice to have all of Connie's RCA classics and rarties available, and to see her receive the recognition she deserves.

Incidentally, Connie Smith is still going strong as of this writing (March 2001). She performs regularly at the Grand Ole Opry, and she recorded a fine CD for Warner Brothers in 1998, produced by her current husband, Marty Stuart