Customer Reviews

Lavender Blue / Very Best Of

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I had never heard of Sammy Turner until I recently bought a CD of east coast beach music (Grand Strand Gold), but Sammy Turner has quickly turned into one of my absolute favourites. I am highly impressed with not only his vocal talents, but also with the ambitious and complex string and horn arrangements on this CD. For the 50s, this must have been very daring. Listen to the complex chord progression on Always; it's amazing. I highly recommend this cd.

Listening to Sammy's sinuous, smoky tenor one can't help but wonder why he never went on to greater things. As it was, he managed to put five singles onto the Billboard Pop Hot 100 in 1959/60 for the Big Top label (which picked up his first few cuts from Pacific), backed by the saxophone of King Curtis and a smattering of violins and cellos. His first, billed to Sammy Turner and The Twisters, was Sweet Annie Laurie, and it was hardly what you could call an auspicious debut, only reaching # 100 Billboard Pop Hot 100 in March 1959 b/w Thunderbolt.

He made up for that, however, with Lavender-Blue which, b/w Wrapped Up In A Dream, made it to # 3 Hot 100 and # 14 R&B in the summer of 1959. His follow-up disc then saw both sides chart, with Always peaking at # 2 R&B/# 19 Hot 100 and the flipside, Symphony, reaching # 82 Hot 100 in December of 1959.

His last hit came in early 1960 when the lilting Paradise reached # 13 R&B and # 46 Hot 100 b/w I'd Be A Fool Again. With the exception of that first minor hit (this IS Collectables after all and par for the course), all are masterfully reproduced in this collection, along with the equally wonderful Raincoat In The River which, for some reason known only to the record-buying public [as you will see when you listen to it] failed to chart.

Born Samuel Black in New Jersey on June 2, 1932, Sammy would go on to record for a multitude of labels - including Motown, Verve, and SSInt'l - without any further chart success. And that is a mystery.

I loved this record as a child. It was hard to find until I looked on Amazon. Thank you for this record which brings back good memories for me.

Excellent CD. Bought this for a friend who likes lavender things and this CD worked just perfect.