Customer Reviews

Hello Stranger: Best of

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No singular adjective does justice to Barbara Lewis' voice. Her delivery was silky smooth. And while her sound was somewhat sweet, she had a soulfullness that always kept her recordings from getting sappy. Today, she is mostly forgotten by the general public, which is a huge shame. Lewis had her own niche, somewhere between the light pop sounds of Diana Ross and Dionne Warwick, and the fiery soul of Aretha Franklin and Gladys Knight.

Hello Stranger is easily the best compilation done on Lewis (it even carries Lewis' personal endorsement as such on the back of the CD and in the enclosed booklet). The twenty recordings cover Lewis' entire career with Atlantic Records (1962-1968). Its (for the most part) chronological order effectively captures her musical development as well.

The first five recordings are all Lewis compositions that were recorded in Chicago. The first three (including the minor hit "Puppy Love") are a bit juvenile but track number four "Hello Stranger" brought Lewis her biggest hit and a more mature sound.

Lewis really came into her own with her New York City recordings made during 1965-1966. "Baby I'm Yours," "Make Me Your Baby," and "Make Me Belong To You" were all sizeable hits that reveal an increased confidence in Lewis' voice.

By 1967, the lower regions of the charts were all Lewis could muster, but the shimmering "I'll Make Him Love Me" and the Carolina beach classic "I Remember The Feeling" show it wasn't due to the quality of the material and the collection ends on a high note with the glorious "Thankful For What I've Got."

The overall choice of recordings for this collection is strong, with Rhino wisely leaving off the cover versions found on other Lewis compilations such as James Brown's "Please Please Please" and Ben E. King's "Stand By Me." Rhino's remastering is typically superior, with "Don't Forget About Me" in particular coming to life like never before.

David Nathan's extensive liner notes are also a big delight as Lewis did very few interviews during her heyday. Perhaps that contributed to her "lost" status in the music world. Do yourself a favor by getting this collection and discovering or revisiting the special sound that is Barbara Lewis.

Barbara was a less dramatic singer than label mate Aretha Franklin, but she was a top quality soul singer with a wonderful, clear, soprano voice. She had three big American hits, these being Hello stranger, Baby I'm yours and Make me your baby. Although Hello stranger was the biggest hit, Baby I'm yours has spawned more cover versions and is probably the most familiar song.

Someday we're gonna love again failed to chart, but the Searchers covered it and had a British hit with it. Another chart failure, Don't forget about me, was covered by Dusty Springfield who had a minor American hit with it. The Shirelles influenced Barbara strongly, even to the extent that My mama told me (the second track here) owes a lot to the Shirelles song Mama said.

Barbara Lewis is one of many singers who have largely been forgotten. This collection proves that she had the talent to be a major star. If you enjoy sixties soul music and you want to look beyond the famous names, this is for you.

Barbara Lewis had a couple of unforgettable hits that no oldies station can do without: "Hello Stranger" and "Baby, I'm Yours." She is noteworthy just for those two songs, but she recorded a number of other pop/soul gems, and has become a legend in Beach Music circles. This collection is more extensive (and therefore, better) than the "Golden Classics" edition that is also available. Barbara's "Think A Little Sugar" is probably the most heralded B-side in the Carolinas. It was helped along by having "Hello Stranger" as its A-side, but stands as a unique performance in its own right. Barbara has an amazing ability to convey teen-age angst and innocence, and yet still seem womanly... even sultry! Her voice has a particular timbre that I haven't encountered anywhere else. Her diction and phrasing are superb. She also wrote many of these classics, and was certainly not afraid to inject "adult" themes into her songs! She actually got away with saying, "Please don't tease me like you did before!" (on Hello Stranger) and she makes it very clear on "Think A Little Sugar" that she's interested in renewing a more-than-friendly relationship! Not just any female singer from the sixties could have pulled that off! Barbara came along at a time when Black female singers were making the transition from the "girl group" sound to soul. So the early numbers on this collection ("My Heart Went Do Dat Da" "Puppy Love") have a decidedly different flavor from later numbers like "Sho Nuff" and "Make Me Belong To You." Barbara Lewis has often been confused with other female singers of the sixties. In addition to the songs above, she also recorded, "I'll Make Him Love Me" and "Make Me Your Baby." But she didn't record "Make Me Yours" (That was Bettye Swann). And she is not the one who recorded "Yes, I'm Ready." (That was Barbara Mason, who even toured with Barbara Lewis to celebrate their being confused with one another!) After these Atlantic recordings, Barbara and her producer (Ollie McLaughlin) landed at Stax Records. If you like Barbara Lewis, pick up "The Many Grooves Of Barbara Lewis" to hear her in a different and even more mature light. But if you want to know some of the reasons, why so many people had fun at their summer/winter homes in the Carolinas, listen and dance to this collection of Barbara Lewis at her best. And pay special attention to the words!

Barbara Lewis has a sweet voice, softer than velvet, and she shows her vocal skills in this collection, "My Mama Told Me" is as it is said in the liner notes a homage to The Shirelles ("Mama Said") a girl band that Barbara says she always admired; "Hello Stranger", one of her greatest hits gives the title to this collection. Of the twenty songs, my personal fave ones are from track 12 "Baby I'm Yours" (another hit for Barbara Lewis) to the twentieth track, "Make Me Your Baby" which reached number 11 in the Pop chart and number 9 in R&B chart, "Make Me Belong To You" written by Billy Vera and Chip Taylor, "Don't Forget About Me" written by Goffin/King, recorded by Barbara Lewis in 1965, this song would be later recorded twice by Dusty Springfield, the first time in UK for her album "Where Am I Going?", the second time in Memphis for her still today considered masterpiece album "Dusty in Memphis"; "Ill Make Him Love Me" written by Howard Greenfield and Helen Miller, once again Barbara Lewis picked a song by some of the reliable hitmakers of the Brill Building; "Baby What Do You Want Me To Do" was a minor hit for her, "Thankful For What I Got" was written by her and the last track ""Sho-Nuff (It's Got To Be Your Love" is very much in the Motown sound style. Her last recording session for Atlantic was in 1968, then she recorded "The Many Grooves of Barbara Lewis" (I have this CD too) for the Stax label with no success and she left music business. According to Nathan David's sleeve notes she's now looking at recording again, and I say that's a fact that will be very welcomed by all those who enjoy excellent voices and good music. Joining her voice with careful production and arrangements and a good choice of songs or songwriters, the result could be high quality music as well as a commercial success. Reading the dates of her time of success, I guess Barbara Lewis is another excellent singer, as Gene Pitney, Brenda Lee, Chuck Jackson among others, that became unfashionable since The Beatles' invaded the US charts. Some of those artists would later have come-backs but some others remain forgotten or even unknown by many people who are losing the opportunity of listening to high quality songs and voices. Those who enjoy that, will love this CD and will also have in their hands a piece of Rock'n'Roll history.

This CD is very good. I had almost forgotten how great Barbara Lewis sounded. You hear "Hello Stranger" a lot of the time on Oldies radio, but when I heard "Make Me Your Baby," I was taken back to my teen years. You rarely hear this gem played these days. I am thoroughly enjoying this CD. I highly recommend it.

This woman may have not gotten appreciation she deserved...Who knows why this happens. Producers? Managers? Perhaps reluctance a to be too famous, long hours, dislike for touring and performing. Maybe she raised a family instead.

Never mind, just appreciate what she DID do...mostly great productions, good songs, (love them strings, big pop sound) (thank you Phil Spector and the like)..if youre into the sixties top of the pop stuff, you need this album...

Soul singer Barbara Lewis is one the smooth Queens of Soul, this wonderful collection contains a great overview of Barbara's career, her big hits 'Hello Stranger', 'Baby I'm Yours', 'Make Me Your Baby' are included plus some wonderful smaller hits like 'Straighten Up Your Heart', most of Barbara's other singles should've been bigger hits like 'Thankful For What I Got' how this song got lost is a mystery! There are others on this set that will have you wondering why didn't these songs catch on?? well at least there are available on this cd for you to enjoy!

When discussing the best solo female vocalists to work for Atlantic Records in the 1950s and 1960s, the first names to jump to mind are Ruth Brown and Aretha Franklin. Then comes LaVern Baker. Seldom will anyone mention Barbara Lewis.

And that's too bad, because this lady from Detroit had ten Billboard Pop Hot 100 single hits for Atlantic between 1963 and 1967, and in this almost perfect package from Rhino, complete with extensive liner notes, you get ALL of them. Also included is her first record for producer Ollie McLaughlin, the regional 1961 hit My Heart Went Do Dat Da. If there is a quibble, it's the omission of six of the B-sides.

Barbara's voice, although not as powerful as the afore-mentioned three, was nevertheless distinctive, while at the same time suggesting a coyness and sophistication that her co-singers lacked. And it didn't matter if she was delivering a strong blues message or a romantic ballad, the quality was always there, as is readily apparent in the hauntingly sensual Hello Stranger which made it to # 1 R&B and # 3 Hot early in 1963 b/w Think A Little Sugar, and backed by The Dells.

Not a bad debut for a 20-year-old, which makes it hard to understand why the follow up Straighten Up Your Heart was shut out on the R&B charts, but did score a decent # 15 on the Adult Contemporary charts as well as reaching # 43 Hot 100 in late summer 1963. Late in 1963, and for all of 1964, Billboard suspended the R&B charts, and so whenever you see a R&B listing for any song for that period, it's a result added arbitrarily at a later date for "historical purposes" and always matches the Hot 100 Pop listing. As, for example, her next hit, Puppy Love, which shows as # 38 Hot 100/R&B in early 1964, along with its flipside Snap Your Fingers which also charted at # 71 Hot 100/R&B.

By 1965, however, the R&B charts had been restored and that summer Baby, I'm Yours went to # 5 R&B/# 11 Hot 100 b/w I Say Love, followed late that year by Make Me Your Baby (# 9 R&B/# 11 Hot 100) b/w Love To Be Loved. Yet another to miss out on the R&B charts was Don't Forget About Me which almost missed the Pop Hot 100 as it could only manage a # 91 in February 1966 b/w It's Magic. But just when it appeared the listening audience and record-buying public may indeed have forgotten about her, Make Me Belong To You climbed to # 28 Hot 100/# 36 R&B in late summer 1966 b/w Girls Need Loving Care.

But not only would that be her final R&B hit, it's hard to figure out why selections like Baby What Do You Want Me To Do? (# 74 Hot 100 in November 1966 b/w I Remember The Feeling) and I'll Make Him Love Me (# 72 in spring 1967 b/w Love Makes The World Go Round) did not fare better. The same holds true for her up-tempo version of Someday We're Gonna Love Again which, in my humble opinion, is better than the 1964 hit version by The Searchers, but which made no impact at all on any singles chart.

With the insert you get seven full pages of liner notes written by noted music historian David Nathan, a complete discography of the contents, a couple of more nice shots of the beautiful Barbara, and this forward she wrote herself: "What I like best about the Rhino package is that there are some songs on here that I'd Forgotten! I thought the selections were well chosen and include some of my better performances, and I think this collection will stand up more than some of the other packages that have been done before." Amen to that. Easily one of the best "best of" compilations on the market today. Not to be missed.

She had only a few big hits, but all of them are here in their original versions, as well as a wealth of other tracks.

not all tunes here are great, so don't expect that...but the decent stuff that is here is pretty doggone good.

when Barbara Lewis sings Hello Stranger or Baby, I'm Yours...she is, simply put, second to none.