Customer Reviews

Definitive Collection

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Brenda Lee was a torch singer who could somehow project emotions she was too young to have ever really experienced. She represented music for and by teenagers and eventually gained a sophistication that allowed her to seque into a popular adult performer.

With 1957's "Dynamite," pint-sized 12-year-old Brenda Lee earned her nickname Little Miss Dynamite. Her first top-tenner, 1960's "Sweet Nothin's" - with confidential-sounding whispered intro, Boots Randolph's yakkety sax solo, and Lee's vocals shifting from gutsy to kittenish - set the stage for her becoming that decade's top-charting solo female singer.

As he did with her Decca labelmate Patsy Cline, producer Owen Bradley soon moved her music uptown with the sweet string sections on "I'm Sorry," Italian-based "I Want to Be Wanted" (her two pop chart toppers) and "Emotions" These recordings helped to establish the Countrypolitan/Nashville Sound.

Clear sounding and generous with 28 (mostly) chronologically sequenced 1957-79 tracks, The Definitive Collection pays more attention to Lee's country-flavored pop hits than to her early rockabilly sides. Only "Nobody Wins," "Big Four Poster Bed" and "Tell Me What It's Like" come from her roster of country hits. It also includes "Dum Dum," "Fool #1" and nursery-rhyme-inspired "My Whole World Is Falling Down." From 1964, "Is It True?" features a pre-Led Zeppelin Jimmy Page on electric guitar. We also get "Anybody But Me" and the bouncy "Your Used To Be" which weren't on her more thoroughly annotated 1991 two-volume Anthology (which is still the best domestic Lee set).

The definitive collection of Brenda Lee,is a great album featuring,the best of her top 10 hits.The sound is terific.and as fresh as when her music was first released...You will love this album,and i highly recommend it..Thank you universal for all the great gold series releases...Now if you could speed up the release of many of your vhs movies to dvd in your vaults,you would make your customers even happier...Thank you Stewart L.

It's very clear that a lot of time, effort and money went in to this very upscale re-package of Brenda Lee's classic hit songs. It's truly a nostalgic journey from the fifties through the eighties. The often used expression, the "soundtrack of our lives," aptly describes the content. The excellent re-mastering of the tracks, the liner notes and great photos...well worth the purchase price. Looks like someone at Universal/MCA/Decca discovered their most valuable treasure - Brenda Lee. Maybe we'll start to see some re-issues of a veritable goldmine of unreleased material. This is truly a "DEFINITIVE COLLECTION."

In general, the quality is good and the original/remastered sound retains the feel of the original recordings. However, there are infrequent clicks that sound like lips opening before singing. These should have been removed in the remastering process. They are difficult to remove by editing on a computer.

This CD has all Brenda's major pop hits listed on allmusic except for "Jingle Bell Rock" (1967)which is overshadowed anyway by Bobby Helms' 1957 version.

FYI, I've been a record collector and sometimes deejay since the 1950s.

The 2-CD Anthology of Brenda Lee contains everything here except I'm Learning About Love, Anybody But Me, and Your Used To Be, plus it also has a bunch of songs not on this disc. Unless the three omissions are favorites, it seems the Anthology will be the better buy.

I didn't know ther was a cd out for Brenda Lee. Love the songs on it. Never saw any in stores. So glad there is Amazon. Now I can find just about any cd I'm looking for.

If you looking for great songs by Brenda, this the CD you want. The songs are her greatest hits, they ARE the originals.

I searched far and wide to find the original recording of "Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree", but only found re-recordings. Well, this CD has the original song !!

Brenda Lee and I grew up together in the 60's .At least that is how it seems. This is by far one of my favorite albums because it has all of her greatest hits.

I used to collect all of Brenda's albums and have lost them and now we have CD's and not the old 45's or 33's. I was so happy to find we could get her on CD's. Love her music and this was shipped so fast by Amazon, I will be sure to buy from them again. The price was right and the music is great, time to look for more of the oldies.

Brenda Lee enjoyed great popularity back in her heyday; and this is a fine single CD compilation for her fans. This is also a good starter CD for people just discovering Brenda Lee. Brenda always delved deep into each ballad to make everything she ever sang shine bright; and you can tell it's true by the way she sings on this album.

"Dynamite" starts the CD off with an early Brenda Lee tune that has her squarely front and center. Brenda gets fine backup, too--not that she ever really needed backup but they do sound pretty good anyway. "Sweet Nothin's" made the airwaves sizzle; Brenda delivers this with energy and the music fits perfectly with her vocals. Her excellent diction bolsters her singing all the more, too. "I'm Sorry" is an excellent song even if the lyrics aren't all that happy; the melody is easy on the ear and it's memorable, to say the least. "That's All You Gotta Do" is very well done; and I really like the poignant "I Want to Be Wanted (Per Tutta La Vita)." "I Want to Be Wanted (Per Tutta La Vita)" is certainly a stand-out number on this CD; Brenda sings this with all her heart and soul. It's easily a major highlight of this album.

"I'm Learning about Love" is another great tune that has Brenda in the spotlight; she does this one magnificently and the backup vocalists harmonize to perfection. "I'm Learning about Love" certainly holds its own very well. "You Can Depend on Me" is so touching I could never forget this tune; wow, how Brenda sings this wonderfully! "Fool #1" is another great song; and listen for Brenda to outdo even herself on "Anybody but Me." "Break It to Me Gently" is a huge Brenda Lee number; Brenda makes this so very special with her sophisticated phrasing--what a masterful performance she gives of this song! "All Alone Am I" stuns me with its beauty; Brenda performs this torch song with panache and I'm very impressed.

"Your Used to Be" is terrific; and there's yet another gem in "Losing You" which gets the royal treatment from Brenda Lee. "My Whole World Is Falling Down" and "I Wonder" are fine torch songs as well; and I always enjoy hearing the great Brenda Lee perform "As Usual" with that extra-special country flavor to it that works so well for this ballad. "Is It True" has a rockin' feel to it that I love but the track set takes a turn back into a slower tempo song with "Too Many Rivers." "Too Many Rivers" lacks nothing in Brenda's capable hands--this is all THAT good.

"Nobody Wins" touches me with its beauty and its sad message; "Big Four Poster Bed" is an excellent number, too. "Tell Me What It's Like" has a very sensitive treatment; and the CD ends strong with Brenda Lee joyfully singing her big Christmastime hit "Rockin' around the Christmas Tree." It amazes me now as it did the very first time I ever heard it.

Brenda Lee fans would do well to add this to their collections. If you want an even more comprehensive retrospective there's the Brenda Lee two CD set entitled Anthology (1956-1980). Unfortunately, however, not every song on this CD is on the two CD set Anthology (1956-1980). If you can only choose just one, choose Anthology (1956-1980). If at all possible, get this CD and also add Anthology (1956-1980) to your collection. You won't be disappointed.