Customer Reviews

Jimmy Dean - Greatest Hits

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

My Daddy used to cry each time I'd play "Sleeping Beauty" on this old LP that I had. I'd always threaten to have it played at my wedding reception, but he said he wouldn't be able to endure it. For anyone that loves the old "story" type songs, there is NONE better than Jimmy Dean. He paints such a vivid picture in "Big Bad John", that you can almost taste the soot and smoke from the bottom of the coal mine. This music brought back WONDERFUL memories for me from my childhood...YOU"LL LOVE IT!!

This reissue of a greatest hits package originally released in 1966 is an excellent CD featuring his biggest hits for Columbia on one CD, 12 songs in all. The 12th track on the CD, the top 10 hit "Dear Ivan", wasn't on the vinyl version of this compilation, but is on this 1998 reissue as a bonus track. The only top 40 hit on Columbia that has been omitted is his cover of Hank Williams's "Mind Your Own Business." A nice addition to this compilation is the original B side of "Big Bad John", which is the first track on the album, entitled "I Won't Go Huntin' With You Jake (But I'll Go Chasin' Wimmin)" which is the 11th track on the album. There are also great liner notes, great remastering and great sound.

"Everybody knew you didn't give no lip to Big John."
My parents had this LP when I was a little kid and I swear I wore the thing out!
I used to listen to the whole thing over and over again. The song "Big Bad John" is the grand- daddy of all story songs. No one tells a story like Jimmy Dean. (Makes a good sausage too!:-)
I also loved the song, "PT 109". Of course as a little guy I had no understanding of who JFK was but this story song helped.
If you like good old fashioned story songs this album is for you!

I bought this CD because my dad gave me the vinyl album when I was 12. He wanted me to have the song "To A Sleeping Beauty". I still cry when I listen to it. The other songs are so funny. Entire CD is very entertaining.

Not familiar with this man past his sausage? Well, have you got a treat. This compilation presents the perfect intro to his music as it includes just about all of his big hits. Or, if you're just a casual fan, this is certainly the place to go.

Superb sound quality, original liner notes and original cover art make for a 5-star recommendation!

Im a Fourtine Year Old Boy and I Love Classic Country Musid from
the 50's and 60's, The other day I was Listening To A radio Program And Heard the song "To A Sleeping Beuty" It was So Heart felt and Emotional I had Tears In my Eyes, I Have A record Player in My Bed Room And Recently Found This Song on an 45' At a Flea Market and I Love It So Much I Will Always Cherish It.

This item was bought as a Christmas gift for this year for my Father-In-Law. I'm certain he will love it.

Quick and speedy service, just what I wanted Thank you. Brought back some good memories

When they first released this CD version of an earlier 1966 vinyl LP (with one added track - Dear Ivan) it served an immediate purpose for those switching to the new format and who wanted CD versions of some of their favourite LPs. However, it's since been surpassed by other releases, including one from Sony titled The Best Of Jimmy Dean, most with 18 tracks and up and infinitely more in the way of liner notes (this contains only the original LP notes).

After scoring one C&W hit back in early 1953 for the 4 Star label with Bumming Around (# 5 and billed to Jimmie Dean), he next turned up on the charts with Columbia in 1957, taking Deep Blue Sea to # 67 Billboard Pop Top 100 in November b/w Love Me So I'll Know. In retrospect, that would have been a better inclusion in the original LP than, say, Sam Hill, which was never a hit for Jimmy (nor, for that matter, was The Farmer And The Lord). Another Columbia hit that year was the Christmas entry, Little Sandy Sleighfoot, which made it to # 32 Top 100 b/w When They Ring The Golden Bells. Both hits were backed by the Ray Ellis orchestra.

After a chart drought lasting four years, he returned with a bang in late 1961 with the smash Big Bad John that soared to # 1 Adult Contemporary (AC), where it stayed for TEN weeks, # 1 Billboard Pop Hot 100 (for FIVE weeks), and # 1 Country (two weeks). The comical flipside, I Won't Go Huntin' With You Jake (But I'll Go Chasin' Wimmin) got lost in the shuffle. Any follow-up was bound to suffer in comparison and that's what happened to Dear Ivan, although it did well enough, rising to # 6 AC/# 9 Country, and # 24 Hot 100 in January 1962, a narrated record using The Battle Hymn Of The republic as background music. The B-side was a cover of the old Tex Williams hit Smoke, Smoke, Smoke That Cigarette.

His next Columbia hit, coming in February 1962, was a two-sider as The Cajun Queen peaked at # 4 Country/# 16 AC/# 22 Hot 100, while the flipside, To A Sleeping Beauty (narrated to the background music of Memories) made it to # 6 Country/# 15 AC/# 26 Hot 100 (he would re-make this in 1976 for the Casino label and take it to # 85 Country). Another solid hit later that spring was P.T. 109, the story of the sinking of JFK's torpedo boat by the Japanese in 1943, which climbed to # 2 AC/# 3 Country/# 8 Hot 100 b/w Walk On Boy.

A busy year for Jimmy then continued with the release of Steel Men in June, which made it to # 12 Country/# 41 Hot 100 early that summer b/w Little Bitty Big John, and in the fall, Little Black Book hit # 10 on both the AC and Country charts, as well as # 29 Hot 100 b/w Please Pass The Biscuits. He then closed out a very successful year with Gonna Raise A Ruckus Tonight, a minor hit that made it to # 73 Hot 100 in December and which would have been better suited to this volume than that other non-hit mentioned above.

After being shut out in 1963, the following year (the year of the British Invasion) he only had one minor hit, Mind Your Own Business, which reached # 35 Country in March b/w I Really Don't Want To Know. Nor was 1965 much better, although he did return to # 1 on the Country charts with The First Thing Ev'ry Morning (And The Last Thing Ev'ry Night). It also made it to # 19 AC, but only # 91 on the more lucrative Hot 100 b/w Awkward Situation. In October, Harvest Of Sunshine topped out at # 35 Country b/w Under The Sun, while that Christmas he reached # 14 on the Billboard Christmas charts with Yes Patricia, There Is A Santa Claus b/w Blue Christmas. And that would be it for his Columbia hits until 1973 when he would have the minor (# 90) Country hit with Your Sweet Love (Keeps Me Homeward Bound).

In between he would have 11 Country hits on RCA Victor, return to the Hot 100 (# 35) in 1976 with I.O.U. (also # 9 Country and # 47 AC) for the Casino label.

Tom T. Hall may be the Story Teller, but Jimmy Dean has to be a close second. In fact, while Hall's story's most often make you laugh, Dean is the one who really gets to the "heart" of the matter. As the father of two little girls, "TO a Sleeping Beauty" has a very specail place in my heart and puts a lump in my throat. THe other songs are great too, but for a father of little girls, nothing hits me like that song.