Enlightnin'ment: The Best of Lou Christie

Lou Christie | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 25, 1990)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Rhino
• ASIN: B0000032CW
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (31 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #20,317 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #43 in Music > Pop > Oldies > Bubblegum

Track Listings

1. Gypsy Cried

2. Two Faces Have I

3. Summer Snow

4. Mr. Tenor Man

5. Self Expression (The Kids on the Street Will Never Give In)

6. Outside the Gates of Heaven

7. How Many Tear Drops

8. Shy Boy

9. Trapeze

10. Lightnin' Strikes

11. Cryin' in the Streets

12. Rhapsody in the Rain

13. Du Ronda

14. Watch Your Heart After Dark

15. If My Car Could Only Talk

16. Shake Hands and Walk Away Crying

17. Back to the Days of the Romans

18. I'm Gonna Make You Mine

Editorial Reviews

No Description Available
No Track Information Available
Media Type: CD
Artist: CHRISTIE,LOU
Title: ENLIGHTMENT-THE BEST OF LOU C
Street Release Date: 05/31/1992
Domestic
Genre: OLDIES

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

49 of 50 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Lightning Strikes Again And Again, May 26, 2000

By 

Steve Vrana (Aurora, NE) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Enlightnin'ment: The Best of Lou Christie (Audio CD)

Lou Christie predates the Beatles (at least in terms of initial popularity in the U.S.) and his soaring falsetto on "Two Faces Have I" in the spring of 1963 is one of my earliest pop music memories as an adolescent.

His first single earlier that year was "The Gypsy Cried," and like all of Christie's compositions was co-written with Twyla Herbert, a woman twice Christie's age when they first met when he was fifteen. [The liner notes refer to her a "psychic former concert pianist."] At any rate they were responsible for all but three of the songs on this collection, including the chart-topping million-seller "Lightnin' Strikes" and the follow-up "Rhapsody in the Rain." "Rhapsody" stalled at No. 16 when it was banned by a number of radio stations for its suggestive lyrics. Sample: "Because on our first date/ We were makin' out in the rain/ And in this car/ Our love went much too far." Tame, perhaps, by today's standards, but conservatism won out and it would be three years before Christie would crack the Top 40 one last time in 1969 with "I'm Gonna Make You Mine."

Along with Frankie Valli, Christie has one of the most recognizable falsetto voices of the Sixties and it's used to marvelous effect on this collection. Additional highlights include the never-before-released "Summer Snow," which was originally slated as Christie's third single.

If you enjoyed the hits, the rest of the material here will not disappoint. RECOMMENDED

21 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Still an incredible talent, September 19, 1999

By 

J. B Brent (Oak Ridge, Tennessee USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Enlightnin'ment: The Best of Lou Christie (Audio CD)

This set of Lou Christie's tunes is a must for any music fan. All the hits are there, except "Are You Getting any Sunshine." My favorite track is "If My Car Could Only Talk." I was fortunate to catch Lou live in the summer of '98 at the Tennessee Valley Fair in Knoxville. His multi-octave range is still in top shape. He carried the whole show without any back-up singers, and was gracious to hang around to sign autographs and chat with fans. You can't go wrong with this collection.

22 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Admit It., May 22, 2002

By 

David Bradley "David Bradley" (Sterling, VA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Enlightnin'ment: The Best of Lou Christie (Audio CD)

How did he do it?

How did Lou Christie take a format which could so easily have slipped into the absurd--the 1950's arrangements, the adolescent lyrics, the falsetto--and turn out so many Pop classics?

"The Gypsy Cried," "Two Faces Have I," "Summer Snow," "Outside The Gates of Heaven," and "Trapeze" are all great; "Lightnin' Strikes" would have been a tight fit on a Ronettes LP, and "Shy Boy" out Beach-Boys the Beach Boys.

But there's still some junk here. "Self Expression" sounds like a bad Saturday morning cartoon theme. "Back to The Days of The Romans" is so bad it hurts, and I could do without the self-referential "Mr. Tenor Man" too.

The bad stuff tends to come from the last days of Christie's recording career, the mid to late 1960s, but one of my favorite Christie singles, "I'm Gonna Make You Mine," was actually recorded in 1969. It was a classic, CLASSIC 45, and it sounds even better all these years later on a clean CD. It was the perfect blend that Christie had seemed to strive for all during the 1960s, sounding like Franki Valli backed by the Ronettes; a catchy melody and a decent backing band.

Anyway, everyone should own this CD, because EVERYBODY secretly loves to sing along with the falsetto on "The Gypsy Cried" when they hear it in their car.

Admit it.