Customer Reviews

Georgia Gibbs - Greatest Hits

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Although not noted by other reviewers, this is a reissue of the early-60s Epic re-recordings of Her Nibs' Mercury hits from the 50s. Miss Gibbs was still in fine voice, but if you want the originals you must seek out the Mercury compilation (apparently out-of-print? How can this be?). The bonus tracks are singles in the early-60s girl group mould, and it is fascinating to hear how easily this veteran (25 years as a pro when these sides were cut!) adapted to a contemporary sound. Gibbs gets a bad rap for "stealing royalties" from R&B artists because she covered their songs, blah-blah-blah. Blame Mercury and her producers of the period; many, many white artists covered R&B in the mid-50s, but LaVern Baker made a "cause celebre" out of Gibbs' (excellent) cover of "Tweedle Dee," unfairly so.

This is a wonderful album featuring stereo remakes of some of Georgia's biggest hits, as well as a good deal of new material. While most the arrangements on the remakes aren't substantially from the originals, GG sounds great in stereo, and it's well worth the price for completists. The sound quality on this cd if superb. Some of these tracks appear on the out of print Great Balls of Fire cd, and the difference in clarity is staggering.

The remakes include her three biggest hits, Kiss of Fire, Tweedle Dee and Dance With Me Henry. The orchestration on Kiss doesn't quite have all the fire of the original, but it's pretty close (it seems to be missing the bass drums). Georgia's vocal is virtually indistinguishable from the original. The two proto-rock songs, Tweedle and Dance, are taken at a slightly faster pace than the originals (though you have to play the two versions alongside one another to notice). As on the originals, GG rocks 'em through the roof.

Baubles, Bangles and Beads is the only remake that breaks from the original, this time done in a swinging style.

But it's the new material that really makes this album: although I don't have access to a complete discography of Georgia's recordings, to the best of my knowledge, 9 of the 16 songs constitute brand new material. These represent a mix of genres, heavy on the rock 'n' roll side, but featuring one of her most beautiful ballads of all-time, How About Me. How About Me is the highlight of the album for me, and is a real must for GG afficionados.

Candy Kisses and Nobody's Asking Questions have a light country feel to them, and are a delightful surprise (GG hits some especially gorgeous notes in the latter). Her Candy Kisses is even better than the more familiar version by Dean Martin.

Her version of Kansas City is a decidedly more sexually frank version than the more famous, whitewash by Wilbert Harrison (she sneaks out on her sleeping lover to get some of the "crazy way of lovin'" there). As an added bonus, the orchestration features some nice wailing saxes. Her I Will Follow You is much more subdued than the Peggy March variant, and makes for a lovely rock-tinted ballad.

Tater Poon is an R&B/Soul rocker that can take even the biggest GG fan by surprise. Nine Girls Out of Ten is an early 60s go-go pop rock tune that, again, represents a very different style Georgia than most of us expect.

With only 16 tracks, the album is hardly the definitive representation of this versatile and extremely gifted artist -- but it's a great supplement to any collection and well worth the moderate price.

It's a pity that "Seven Lonely Days" and "Kiss Me Another" do not appear in this item. These two songs are best known in Thailand.

Her style and voice never vary. She just blasts out every song at the same pitch.
I get no feeling or emotion other than loudness. She lacks versatility despite what her strange fans say.
Her producers may have chosen her cover songs but did she not have any say
in the arrangement, trying to copy true rhythm & blues artists note for note but with the blandest, most saccharine outcome.If she were so great then the "cause celebre" would not have overshadowed her forever. And Theresa Brewer
was pretty pathetic too but didn't go around stealing from black artists on a regular basis.

I have always been a fan of "Her Nibs,Miss Georgia Gibbs."