Customer Reviews

Golden Classics

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Even though she was nominally a "country" artist, the squeeky-voiced Sue Thompson was really much more in a teen pop and girl group singer, whose work in the early 1960s skirted the edges of rock'n'roll and pop, very much modeled after Brenda Lee and her highly successful crossover formula. For fans of the style, Thompson's early singles offer a swell "new" set of teenpop tunes outside the usual Brill Building standards by Carole King and her pals. John D. Loudermilk wrote most of these tunes, which were recorded for the independent Hickory label, and they are actually pretty fun to listen to. This 18-song CD is more generously programmed than other Thompson best-ofs, and sticks more strictly to her early work. It's not very country, but it is a lot of fun!

THIS GAL RELEASED SOME GREAT SONGS. SHE FELL ON THE SAME STYLE AS WANDA JACKSON, JO ANN CAMPBELL,ETC. SHE FELL ON THE POP MUSIC CHARTS WITH SONGS LIKE "NORMAN", "JAMES, HOLD THE LADDER STEADY", "PAPER TIGER" AND "SAD MOVIES MAKE ME CRY" WHICH ARE FINALLY OURS, THANKS TO THIS C.D.!!! YOU'LL LOVE SUE THOMPSON'S STYLE AND THIS C.D. BRINGS BACK SOME GREAT TUNES AND MEMORIES.SUE THOMPSON FALLS IN THE 60'S GIRLS CATEGORY.DON'T MISS THIS LONG AWAITED GEM!!

I wanted a Sue Thompson music CD with the songs: Sad Movies, Paper Tiger, Have A Good Time, Two Of A Kind, and If A Boy Only Knew. It's a pleasure to listen to her girlish voice.

Sue Thompson was one of the finest singers who produced many very popular songs. Very nice.

When Sue Thompson hit it big on the Hickory label in 1961 with Sad Movies (Make Me Cry)- # 1 on the new Adult Contemporary (AC) charts and # 5 Billboard Hot 100 in October b/w Nine Little Teardrops - she was no spring chicken. In fact, born Eva Sue McKee on July 19, 1926, she got her start in music with the Dude Martin western swing band in 1949, operating in the San Francisco area, and in that period Martin became her second husband.

A recording contract with Mercury then produced some local hits like Tadpole, You Belong To Me, and If You Want Some Lovin'. In 1953 Sue then dumped Martin and married a newcomer to the band, Hank Penny, and in 1955 she and her new husband recorded some singles for the Decca label, again without any national chart success. But a fortuitous contract with Hickory and a linking up with some John D. Loudermilk songs (Sad Movies being one of them) changed everything.

Following her initial hit, she had a banner year in 1962 with Norman (# 3 Hot 100 in February b/w Mever Love Again); Two Of A Kind - # 8 AC/# 42 Hot 100 in April b/w It Has To Be); Have A Good Time (# 9 AC/# 31 Hot 100 in August b/w If The Boy Only Knew (which made the Hot 100 "bubble under" charts at # 112); and James (Hold The Ladder Steady) - # 17 Hot 100 in November and another Loudermilk tune b/w My Hero.

In 1963, Willie Can struggled to a # 78 Hot 100 in February b/w Too Much In Love and, after being blanked in 1964 (thanks in no small part to the arrival of The Beatles and a host others from the U.K.), she came back the next year with tet another Loudermilk offering, Paper Tiger, a # 23 Hot 100 in March b/w Mama, Don't Cry At My Wedding. Still sounding like a 14-year-old in spite of the fact she was pushing 40.

But that was it insofar as the Billboard Pop charts were concerned. However, following a 6-year absence from the charts, she resurfaced in 1971, still with Hickory and. over the new two years, went back to her Country roots by cutting a number of sides in a duet with Country great Don Gibson, producing four hit singles: The Two Of Us Together (# 50 in 1971); Did You Ever Think? (# 71 in 1972); I Think They Call It Love (# 37 in 1972), and Candy And Roses (# 72 in 1971).

From late 1972 to 1976 Sue added 8 more Country charters, the best of which were Good Old Fashioned Country Love (# 31 in 1974), and Oh, How Love Changes (# 36 in 1975), and saw the funny Big Mabel Murphy hit # 40 on the Adult Contemporary charts as well as # 50 Country in October 1975. Still sounding like she was 14.

Although these Country sides are not on this CD, this is still a great compilation, giving you all seven of her early Pop hits and all the flipsides except the last two.

IT WAS A GREAT CD! SO HAPPY I AM ABLE TO RETURN TO THOSE MEMORIES WHEN EVER I WANT NOW.