Customer Reviews

Essential

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I have owned this CD compilation for exactly two years and it is still one of my family's all time favorites. What can you say about "Gentleman Jim Reeves" that has not already been said? No male country singer before or since could stroke a lyric with his great mellow baritone voice like Jim Reeves. It is a misnomer to call him just a "country singer" as he crossed over into the pop area time and time again with his inimitable versions of current hit songs and older classics. It is truly a shame that there is no one in the country genre today who even comes close to the Reeves style and presentation. If you can listen to one of Jim's ballads and not become emotional then I question whether you have blood coursing through your veins.

The sound quality is excellent due to a great remastering job. A major portion of the credit for the beauty, musicality and richness of this compilation is due to the beautiful arrangements many of them done by the legendary backup quartet, the Anita Kerr Singers. There has never been a classier, more gorgeous blend of voices in the history of recorded music and they, in combination with Jim Reeves, are unbeatable. My particular favorite cuts on this CD are "He'll Have To Go", "Am I Losing You?", I Guess I'm Crazy" and "Is It Really Over?". They are not writing beautiful songs like that anymore either, sad to say.

When the weather drops below -20 degree celsius over here it's nice to have the music of Jim Reeves around. A true country great and a friend of Scandinavia. He came over here three times in the early sixties, when he had big hits with "Adios Amigo" and "Welcome to my world". This is country music done with style!

What an amazing, soothing voice this man had! I grew up listening to his records and was saddened to learn of his passing when he was just 40. Still, he left quite a body of work behind for everyone to catch up on. Until I get around to buying the boxed set, this collection will do just fine. Highly recommended for fans of the original, true blue country & western music.

this cd contains a rare take of welcome to my world which was released by bear family on their welcome to my world box set, great quality and great songs make for a wonderful cd

To me, Jim Reeves voice is a one-of-a-kind velvety baritone. He had such an easy, mellow and sweet way of singing a song that is so relaxing. His voice made it seem like it was sung just for you. Not many people can reach so deep in such a soft way. Too bad the world lost him when he was only 40, and really at his peak. Get this album of 20 great songs. You won't be sorry.

Gentleman Jim Reeves was THE epitome of country singers, past or present. With this CD, Jim gives it his all. He is second to none. I highly recommend this recording to anyone.

After Jim Reeves died tragically in a plane crash on July 31, 1964 at age 39, his legion of fans simply refused to let go. From that point to 1984 no less than 34 of his RCA single releases would make the Country charts, seven of them crossing over to the Billboard Pop Hot 100. Not even the late, great Hank Williams or Elvis Presley received that ultimate honour.

I can therefore well understand the difficulty faced by producer Paul Williams in putting this 20-selection compilation together under the title "The Essential Jim Reeves." To please everyone would be nigh on impossible considering the fact he had 80 Country hit singles between 1953 and 1984, 27 of which crossed over to the Hot 100, six to the Adult Contemporary charts (which didn't begin until 1961), and one to the R&B charts. Never mind the hundreds of equally-wonderful selections from his many EPs and LPs.

All in all, however, I'd say he did a fairly credible job, augmented by five pages of liner notes by Colin Escott and three more photos of Jim, including one with wife Mary at an Awards ceremony. A partial discography of the contents is also included, but without any chart details.

All but track 20 [recorded in 1958 and included on an early LP] were hits for Jim, 18 of them pop crossovers [only track 4 made only the Country list, going to # 2 early in 1959]. His version of the old standard, I Love You Because, was recorded in 1962 and was first released on the RCA Victor LP Gentleman Jim and, in 1976, became a # 54 Country hit as a single.

Note, too, that the version of Am I Losing You was the one cut in 1960 and released on RCA Victor 7800, going to # 8 Country/# 31 Hot 100 as the flipside of I Missed Me [# 3 Country/# 44 Hot 100 and not included here], The first version, done in 1957 [# 3 Country], remains a bit difficult to find.

The earliest hit represented here, and the one that leads off the disc, is Four Walls [# 1 Country for EIGHT weeks in 1957] which was his initial pop crossover [# 11]. However, this came after 13 Country hits beginning in 1953 with Mexican Joe [# 1 for NINE weeks credited to Jim Reeves And The Circle O Ranch Boys].

So I tend to agree with another reviewer who says that at least one of those should have been included in an "essential" CD. Not counting the first six, five of which were for the Abbott label and one, I Love You, a # 3 duet with Ginny Wright on the Fabor label, there were seven RCA cuts to choose from. The best of these included the afore-mentioned Am I Losing You, as well as Yonder Comes A Sucker and According To My Heart, both # 4s.

Still, it's hard to be critical of this fine effort which richly deserves every one of the maximum 5 stars.

Recommending Jim Reeves is like recommending air, water, food. Of course everyone needs to breathe! And it seems as fundamental that any music lover should own at least one Jim Reeves CD. He was unmatched not only because he possessed a lovely, smooth baritone, but also because he delivered all of his songs with absolute respect for them.

I grew up with Reeves as part of the background music--but some songs were also in the foreground. One of those is the lovely "I Love You Because"--a song as innocent as dew. I can't think of anyone who could have delivered it the way Reeves delivered it: he invested it with more depth than it would otherwise bear and made it a lovely example of pure, unconditional love.

Reeves also delivered songs of surprising emotional complexity. Two of the best known, "Four Walls" and "He'll Have to Go," are deceptively simple. In fact, each is a testament to tortured relationships, to love that perseveres in spite of betrayal. And, amazingly, Reeves (or the "narrator" of those songs--the "I") does not appear at all diminished. The jaunty "Blue Boy" is another great example: Reeves bears his sad state with more than equanimity. Even "The Blizzard"--which could have been pure hokum--becomes a thoughtful song in Reeves' rendition.

One of the telling facts is that Reeves made songs his own: earlier or later versions have never obscured the brilliance of his own renderings. Who wants their work compared with these great originals?

This particular collection brings together a reasonably wide array of Reeves' music. The CD has strong production qualities, and the order of the selections is good--beginning with the iconic "Four Walls" and ending with the lovely gospel song "Suppertime." It's hard to go wrong with Reeves, who could have sung a McDonald's drive-through menu to good effect--but this is an especially good collection, with a good insert that does justice to this great gentleman.

Here is a fine collection from the smoothest voice in Country Music (well, besides Roy Drusky). 20 numbers here, and all original recordings, sung by the only voice that could sing them. There are the expected songs "Four Walls", "He'll Have to Go", and "Am I Losing You", and there are the less popular, but still worthy, "This is It", "I Love You Because", and "Suppertime". Also includes a small, but fine, booklet of info regarding the late Jim Reeves. I do wish some of his older work would've been included (ie "Bimbo", and "Snowflake"), but I'm very satisfied with the 20 numbers included here......and so will you.

If you can only have one c.d. by Jim Reeves, this would be the one to own. It contains all the good ones, and a couple of enhanced arrangements, i.e. Am I Losing You and Welcome To My World. Has to be one of my favorite c.d.'s.