Customer Reviews

Essential

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Mary Frances Penick ("Skeeter Davis") of Dry Ridge, Kentucky (pop. 1601) had 27 chart hits (according to Billboard) from 1958 to 1973. Her "Essentials" album captures the best of those RCA years. It includes an earlier #1song from 1953 when she sang with the late Betty Jack Davis as the Davis Sisters. High points are "Optimistic", "I'm Saving My Love", and "Fuel to the Flame". There are also two "answer" songs- "My Last Date With You" (to Floyd Cramer's "Our Last Date") and "I Can't Help You-I'm Falling Too"(to Hank Locklin's "Please Help Me I'm Fallin"). The Davis Sisters selection is "I Forgot More Than You'll Ever Know". 15 of the 20 tracks were Billboard hits, but the other 5 do not detract one iota from the overall quality. She is easy to listen to, so unobtrusive. One can listen to her and read a book at the same time. The music glides in softly and smoothly. If you prefer your country mellow, with perhaps a touch of pop, Skeeter is a fine choice, a low risk purchase. One question: Is it true that Skeeter insisted on performing barefoot? That makes such a good story.

Some of Skeeter Davis's mellow c&w/pop singles are among the best in country music, particularly a cover of Teresa Brewer's "Gonna Get Along Without You Now"(tough to get that one out of your head!)and the jaunty Carole King-penned "I Can't Stay Mad at You". Davis seemed to gravitate to songs about heartbreak, but she's not a shrieker, not a belter. She's more in tune with Dolly Parton's style of vocalizing, with a sad smile underneath her words. She makes these songs her own, and they're worth hearing again and again.

Wonderful!! This is one of the best music buys out on the market. 20 outstanding tracks from the best "girl singer" on the Grand Ole Opry, Miss Skeeter Davis. Includes her million-selling classic "End of the World" and the pop crossover hits "I Can't Stay Mad at You", "I'm Falling Too", and "My Last Date" as well as her very first hit "I Forgot More Than You'll Ever Know" with her beloved friend Betty Jack Davis, aka The Davis Sisters. Other favorite tracks include "Silver Threads and Golden Needles" and "Bus Fare to Kentucky". One's only quibble is that her Grammy nominated performances of "Sunglasses" and "One Tin Solider" are missing. You will play and play this disc. And you will wonder why Miss Davis is not yet in the Country Music Hall of Fame - this record proves she certainly deserves the honor!

After a few flops I experienced with Skeeter Davis compilations, I
finally got the one I always wanted to have. Good quality recordings
and above all the original ones. It holds her 9 Top 10 Hits + the other
11 best rated hits from 1959 till 1971. Very well presented with a 12
page booklet this certainly is the one to buy if you like and enjoy
Skeeter Davis' music.

This CD is to date the best compilation of Skeeter's work. The biggest hits are here and sound great on CD. Pop country at it's best - simply a superior produced group of songs. However, with Skeeter's extensive RCA catalog of albums and singles waiting for release on CD, I do feel a double CD anthology (at a minimum) is long overdue.

If anyone was ever in doubt that the Country Music Hall Of Fame is a euphemism for "Old Boy's Club" they need only look at the list of inductees since it was formed in 1961. To date, as far as I can determine, there are 105 in the Hall, both performers and non-performers, and of that total just 15 are women, or 14.3 %! Just 12 of that total were performers. Now, considering the fantastic female Country artists over the decades, that is simply ridiculous.

The performers honored so far are Mother Maybelle and Sara Carter, admitted as part of "The Original Carter Family," Patsy Cline, Minnie Pearl, Kitty Wells, Loretta Lynn, Patsy Montana, Brenda Lee, Cindy Walker, Tammy Wynette, Dolly Parton, and Emmylou Harris. In fact, unril Emmylou was inducted as part of the class of 2008, Dolly was the last female to be admitted, that coming in 1999.

Sound cases could be made for the admission of many many more, among them The Judds, Dottie West, Tanya Tucker, Connie Smith, Sammi Smith, Jean Shepard, Linda Rondstadt, Anne Murray, Barbara and Louise Mandrell, Crystal Gayle, and Donna Fargo. But none more so than Mary Frances Penick, better known as Skeeter Davis.

From her first in 1953 - (I Forgot More Than You'll Ever Know - # 1 C&W for EIGHT weeks and # 18 Pop late that summer) as part of The Davis Sisters with friend Betty Jack Davis (killed in an August 2, 1953 car crash that also seriously injured Skeeter, even as their song was climbing the charts) - to her last in 1976 (I Love Us - # 60 Country that fall), she racked up 41 hit Country singles, 20 of which were Top 20, had thirteen cross over to the Billboard Pop Top/Hot 100 or the "bubble under" charts, five Adult Contemporary (AC) hits, and even had one make the R&B listings. That was The End Of The World which # 1 AC/# 2 Country and Hot 100/# 4 R&B in the spring of 1963. Not many records can point to THAT accomp0lishment, i.e., making all 4 charts

Here you get 15 of those hits, with only tracks 4, 6 (which was the uncharted flip of track 5), 14 and 15 not being among her 41 hits. With the insert you get a partial discography of the contents along with seven pages of background notes written by noted music critic and author (Good Rockin' Tonight: Sun Records & the Birth of Rock & Roll) Colin Escott and a couple of nice photos of Skeeter.

Regarding one of the tracks, producer Paul Williams says "The song, I'm Saving My Love, has a slight drop-out on the left channel about three quarters of the way through. This is evident on the original multi-track, and on the original vinyl pressings of both the single and album. Unfortunately, it is not possible to repair the problem, even with today's restoration technology. Given its Top 10 success, it is essential to feature the song on this release." That was written in March 1995. Perhaps new technology will be able to correct the problem at some time in the future.

Even with those four non-hits (I would have replaced them with Lost To A Geisha Girl, her 1958 # 15 Country answer song to Hank Locklin's Geisha Girl), The Hand You're Holding Now - # 11 Country spring 1961, He Says The Same Things To Me - # 17 Country/# 47 Hot 100 early 1964, and There's A Fool Born Every Minute - # 16 Country summer 1968), this is still one of the best Skeeter Davis compilations around.

To paraphrase one of her hits, the message to the Hall Of Fame is What Does It Take (To Satisfy The Old Boy's Club?).

Skeeter Davis has one of the most affecting voices ever recorded. I was familiar with her two classic pop hits ("End of the World", "I Can't Stay Mad at You"), which alone are worth the price of admission. However, I had no idea how great her other material was until I heard this, which is now one of my favorite CD's. If you are at all interested in classic pop or country, you owe it to yourself to check out this collection.

A wonderful compilation of Skeeter's singles in glorious remastered sound. The CD offers a great cross section of her pop and country singles, but oddly enough omits the Top 40 hit "He Says the Same Things To Me." And I would have been thrilled if it had included "Sunglasses" where she best captures the "girl group sound".

Still, the song selection surpasses the one offered on the Japanese CD. It clearly leaves the listener wanting more. Highly recommended!

I AM A MAJOR FAN OF SKEETER DAVIS, SHE WAS ONE OF THE FEW COUNTY STARS TO GO FULL THROTTLE INTO THE ROCK/POP GENRE. I HAVE BEEN COLLECTING HER ROCK/POP MATERIAL FOR OVER A YEAR. SKEETER NEEDS TO HAVE A BOX SET ISSUED IN HER HONOR. THE ESSENTIAL SKEETER DAVIS IS A VERY GOOD START AT LISTENING TO HER TALENT. SKEETER WAS GREAT IN THE GIRL GROUP SOUND, SHE TACKLED THE SONGS OF CAROLE KING AND BURT BACARACH, JOHN LOUDERMELK ETC... I RECOMMEND TO START WITH THIS CD FOR THE BEGINNER. ONE SONG I WISH WAS REISSUED "HOW MUCH CAN A LONELY HEART STAND" THIS WAS ONE SONG THE WAS MISS ON THE TOP 40.. IT ONLY MADE TO 92 ON THE HOT 100. THIS SONG WAS PURE TEEN ANGST AND A TOUCH OF THE WALL OF SOUND. DOES ANYONE KNOW ABOUT THIS SONG, PLEASE LET ME KNOW.

Spectacular! The quality and range of Skeeter Davis' vocal talent and style are beyond my ability to praise or even describe adequately. Warm and potent as moonshine. This NYC boy has never been to Kentucky, but I'd walk a country mile to hear any track on this phenomenal CD.