Customer Reviews

Collection

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
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There are plenty of Patti Page "Greatest/Golden Hits" collections. If you need one collection of her best Mercury recordings from 1949-1958, this is it. Being a Patti Page FAN I usually buy each new CD as it is released. This collection is certainly a better buy than Mercury's new "20th Century Master's" collection which sells for the same price or even a bit more and only includes 12 cuts.

It needs a lot more than eighteen tracks to do full justice to Patti's music but this British budget collection of her fifties music is the strongest available as I write this. Patti was born as Clara Ann Fowler in Oklahoma. Like those other great Oklahoma-born singers of her generation, the Dinning sisters, Patti was steeped in country music tradition but achieved success in pop music although she never forgot her roots.

Patti only had one hit in Britain (How much is that doggie in the window) but might have had more if charts had started earlier than November 1952. Of course, Patti had a lot more success in her homeland, eleven of her hits selling at least a million copies each. They were (in chronological order) With my eyes wide open I'm dreaming (not included on this set), All my love, Tennessee waltz, Would I love you love you love you, Mocking bird hill, Mister and Mississippi, Detour, I went to your wedding, How much is that doggie in the window, Changing partners and Cross over the bridge. So ten of the eleven songs are included and the one that didn't was the lowest-charting hit, peaking at eleven. Exactly how it sold a million without making the top ten is a mystery - it didn't have a long run in the charts.

Apart from those million sellers, Patti had plenty of other hits. Of those included here, Come what may, You belong to me, Why don't you believe me and Steam heat all made the top ten in the period to 1954. As the fifties progressed, Patti found it more difficult to compete against rock'n'roll but still had a few big hits including Let me go lover, Go on with the wedding, Allegheny moon and Old Cape Cod.

Chart students will know that several big hits are missing including I don't care if the sun don't shine, And so to sleep again, Once in awhile and Butterflies, all of which made the top ten, plus others that came close to the top ten. To include all these hits in one compilation would require a double CD.

Of the CD's available at the time of this review, this is the strongest compilation of Patti's music there is. One day, something better might come along but the wait could be a long one.

Perhaps the very best collection of hits by the unforgettable Patti Page.
Most of her greatest hits of the 1950's are in it like "In Old Cape Cod"(my favorite), "Tennessee Waltz", "Allegheny Moon" a great version of the latter the other one being Polly Bergen's version, "Let Me Go, Lover", "All My Love", "With My Eyes Wide Open I'm Dreaming, etc.
Every fan of Patti shouldn't miss this great compilation.

Patti's picture not the best, the the music is TOPS. A MUST buy for anyone who enjoys good listening.

Dolfanrene

I had most of the songs on this album, but was missing 3. My Patti Page collection has a way to go but I'm getting there.