Customer Reviews

Country Croonin'

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4 star:		(2)
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Country Croonin' ranks with Anne Murray's self-titled album of 1996 as the best she's ever done. The musicians are clearly having a ball with the material - wait 'til you hear the laughing clarinet echoing the sentiments of the lyric on the second track, 'Someday.' It gets better with every song, and there's 30 of them (for the price of a single CD)! Murray still delivers her trademark understated reading of the lyrics with perfect pitch, but the voice is grittier, and well suited to some of the more uptempo rockabilly numbers here - 'Oh Lonesome Me,' 'Singing the Blues,' 'Bye Bye Love,' and 'Blue Blue Day.' Some of the midtempo numbers stand out as well - 'A Fool Such as I,' and 'Anytime,' but the showstopper on the album is the honky tonk, 'Take These Chains.' And once you've heard her update of 'I Fall to Pieces,' you'll no longer want to call it a Patsy Cline song. Anne Murray has always been a fine singer, but since she took control of her career and moved her production back to Canada, the integrity of her music has improved consistently, and she has never sounded better. While Nashville tries to figure out where country music has gone, Murray has created a wonderful archive of its early days, and she has made it sound so simple, so effortlessly.

Anne's hitmaking days are over and she now seems content to record covers. I don't mind that, because Anne has a lovely, warm voice which is well suited to these classics. This time, Anne has covered a great selection of songs, mostly from the fifties and sixties although there are songs from other periods too.

It has always been difficult to classify Anne's music and this album confirms that difficulty, since many of the original artists were country singers who went pop, or pop singers who sang country. Most of the songs are covers of songs associated with Eddy Arnold, the Everly brothers, Don Gibson, Kris Kristofferson, Elvis. Les Paul and Mary Ford, Ray Charles and Patsy Cline, as I showed on one of my Listmania lists.

This is not the first time Anne has covered the Everly brothers as she recorded a brilliant version of Walk right back in the late seventies. Anne clearly loves Tennessee waltz (which was a huge hit for Patti Page and also a big hit for Les Paul and Mary Ford), having previously recorded it for the same album (Let's keep it that way) that included Walk right back.

I don't have any particular favorites, perhaps because I got exactly what I expected. Some people complain that Anne is too predictable, but that's exactly why I love about her music. It won't win any new fans for her, but if you enjoy Anne's previous music, you will enjoy this, because Anne's voice is as good as ever.

We had the pleasure of hearing Anne Murray in person last fall in Nashville, backed up by the Symphony Orchestra. To our delight, in her late 50's, Anne's voice is just as sultry and clean as it was 25 years ago! She took the opportunity in this concert to showcase quite a few of the tracks on this CD, a 30-song (!!) collection of early country music powerhouse hits. We bought the CD just days later after being thrilled with what we heard. Anne's classic country band -- drums, acoustic and electric guitar, piano, bass, with an occasional light sax or Dixieland clarinet -- coupled with judicious use of string sections and background singers, makes for a most harmonious background to her strong alto vocals. Even though the theme throughout is hits from the 40's and 50's, such classics as "For The Good Times", "I Fall To Pieces", and the "Tennessee Waltz" are complemented with early "cross-over" hits like "End of the World" and the Everly Brothers' "'Til I Kissed You" and "All I Have To Do Is Dream". For variety, Anne lays down catchy and upbeat covers of "Oh Lonesome Me", "Anytime", and "Blue, Blue Day." There's also plenty of lush ballads to choose from, including "Let It Be Me", featuring duet-meister Vince Gill.

For like three albums for the price of one, this dual CD is sure to please and entertain for a couple of hours. With lovely arrangements and clear straightforward vocals, this is one for everybody's country collection, featuring the enchanting Anne Murray at her finest!

Having once been a fan of Ms. Murray early on in her career, I had, with the exception of buying an occasional album now & then, pretty much lost track of her. However, a couple of years ago, after being given a "What A Wonderful World" CD as a gift, I immediately became a "born-again" fan. I remember thinking that, this is it - she will never sound - or make another album -any better than this. I was wrong. With "Country Croonin'", that once stunningly pure voice has matured, warmed, & ripened into absolute gold! One need not be a fan of country music - or of Anne Murray for that matter - to thoroughly fall in love with this beautifully made - in every aspect - album.

Country Croonin' is probably the best album Murray has ever done! This is a double cd album with 30 songs total. They are all classed as country songs that became pop hits. Murray and her co-producer, Tommy West, had the daunting task of narrowing a list of 100 songs down to 30 and their selection was terrific in my opinion. My personal favorites are; "Always On My Mind", "Sea Of Heartbreak", "She'll Have To Go", and "For The Good Times". This album should satisfy the musical ear of many, many people. Anne Murray's voice has matured and has an even more mellow, warm quality to it. So, whether you are a country music fan, a pop music fan, or only class yourself as an Anne Murray fan, you will NOT be disappointed with this album......it's well worth the listening and the keeping.
By the way, the arrangements are wonderfully done and having strings for backup on many of the songs is an extra bonus as they compliment her voice so well. Enjoy!

Anne Murray you ROCK!!! Best CD of hers that I've heard. And I love all her CD's. What an awesome choice of songs. I just love familiar songs sung by my favorite artists as this CD does. And a 2 CD set as this one is is great. My favorites are Help Me Make It Through The Night, You Don't Know Me, Bye Bye Love, All I Have To Do Is Dream, Oh Lonesome Me. I don't know if I could of done better in picking these songs. But, I would of loved to pick some songs for her to sing like "Guess Who" written by J. Belvin, or a few songs written by the Osmonds like " Do You Want Me?", "Tears On My Pillow" or "Who Can I Turn To (When Nobody Needs Me) written by L. Bricusse, or "Other Side Of Me" by Neil Sedaka. They may not be country songs but they fall into her category of songs to sing. Keep it up Anne, your voice is still as beautiful as ever. And hopefully some of the songs I listed above will be on your next CD.....

With this album Annie unexpectedly saunters off into new territory. She's a much grittier and invested vocalist than ever before, the smooth perfection and perfectly controlled approach of her earlier albums wandered away from for remarkable results. Every song in this 31-song album is a highlight, creatively arranged with numerous surprising touches and sung the Hell out of. Forget the Snowbird. Now she's a Night Hawk. She says it's the best thing she's ever done. I prefer to think of it as good as anything she's ever done because it's impossible to dismiss albums such as "Annie," "Croonin'" and virtually everything she's ever done as second best to anything else. But you have to give her credit. Most veteran lady singers invariably begin repeating themselves or become parodies of themselves but this veteran lady singer has wandered off someplace new. Not so new she's not still herself and pretending to be somebody else, but new enough you notice right away something is musically afoot. That said, the songs as usual are perfectly chosen, the singing as usual is glorious, the interpretation and phrasing glisteningly intelligent, the musicality unassailable. She's always on key, her intonation is impeccable and she sings each song as written, which is so much harder than playing around with it. Above all, we always get the real person coming through the song, not some grand performer. No wonder she's a living legend but, as this album proves, she's not yet ready to become a golden oldie.
P.S. Please note. This album is a BIG hit on the country charts from a lady who has been recording more than 30 years!

There is no doubt about it - Anne Murray continues to have one of the most unique and best voices in contemporary music today. Her warm voice has gotten warmer, deeper and more affecting than it ever has in the past three decades. Matching superbly written songs with a great voice, this CD doesn't disappoint. Especially with songs like "Bye Bye Love", "Let It Be Me", "Tennessee Waltz" and "She'll Have To Go", Murray recreates these and other songs to lend new life to a genre of music long forgotten.
After a long, long dry spell of missed opportunities, virtual anonymity and questionable music decisions, Murray has regained the audience's attention and commercial appeal she had lost almost 20 years ago. To do that in a music business consumed with younger, talentless performers 20 and 30 years younger than her is an amazing triumph of will and affirmation that true talent always rises to the top. In Murray's case, she has risen to the top - again. Incredible.

...Anne Murray can simply take any song and make it her own and masterfully deliver it. This album takes classic country songs from the 40's up through today and has the listener reflect back in time and take the journey with Anne....her takes on HELP ME MAKE IT THROUGH THE NIGHT, OH LONESOME ME, LET IT BE ME (WITH VINCE GILL), END OF THE WORLD, ME AND BOBBY MCGEE, ALWAYS ON MY MIND, TIL I KISSED YOU, LOVING ARMS, I CAN'T STOP LOVING YOU, I FALL TO PIECES and ALL I HAVE TO DO IS DREAM are the standout tracks! However, every song is so well done! Her alto is so clear...you can understand every word and be swept into the easy listening world of Anne Murray....anyone who likes good ole music...go get this now! 30 tracks of pure bliss by one of the best female artists to grace the world!

I am so happy I bought this CD. I just loved it!