Customer Reviews

Little Bitty Tear

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

 

 

As has been noted in other reviews, this is actually a review of the 5 CD box set released by Bear Family in Germany, not the MCA Specials single disc. This is a review of Little Bitty Tear(if you think you're on the wrong page, search Amazon for B0000282UX as the item number) and NOT A Little Bitty Tear. I am not sure why Amazon cannot distinguish between the 2, but please make sure you are looking at the box set and not the single CD release when considering this review.

What Bear Family has done is a proper restoration and remastering job via licensing the audio from MCA whom owns the original Decca recordings. If you hear a bit of missing audio or other anomaly it is due to the condition of the source material and Bear Family being unable to do anything to repair this. It seems they've spared no expense on this set and it shows.

For those audiophiles who squirm when you read "remastered," fear not. Bear Family showed the proper respect and properly remastered this. There is no dynamic range compression; I would say these recordings are as close to the original analog recordings as can be possible for CD. It helps that Burl's music is mainly vocals based; who buys Burl Ives music for the guitar work?

There are a total of 144 tracks in this set. There is no Christmas music included (there are plenty of Christmas CDs available with Burl however).

There is an instance of a duplicate track, Gater Hollow, however it's not really a duplicate as there seems to have been 2 unique versions of the track recorded by Burl and both are included here for completeness' sake.

There is some of Burl's "gospel" music included, mainly on Disc 2.


The book that comes with this set is really well written and is Vinyl LP sized. You have a capsule history of Burl (I'm sure there is a lot more to tell but space is limited) and includes a complete listing of all the original recordings the tracks on these CDs originated from, including the recording date and the studio in which they were recorded.

The set may be relatively expensive (it is an Import), however you can't find a better collection of Burl Ives anywhere else. You have a 4 year collection here (Nashville Years 1961-1965) and it does an amazing job of capturing the essence of Burl. If you never buy anything else from Burl, you still have a large portion of every "style" he ever had if you decide to purchase this top quality set.


Burl Ives - R.I.P

The reviews posted for this album are a bit confusing, so I'll begin with this brief disclaimer: Little Bitty Tear is a single disc, with 10 tracks, on the MCA label. It is an AAD recording, totally dependent on original analog recordings as its source material. Perhaps some of the negative comments on sound quality are due to that.

So far as the songs, Little Bitty Tear offers Burl Ives at his maudlin best. The top cuts are the title tune and Funny Way of Laughing, both soft country tear jerkers that stay oddly touching, despite their somewhat dated sound. The album also includes interesting renditions of Blue Tail Fly, Polly Wolly Doodle and Waltzing Matilda.

Burl Ives' singular voice and peculiar delivery appeal to a very select group of fans. If you are one of those, you will find this album very satisfying. However, if you are only familiar with the featured hits, the rest of the album will likely not have much impact.

Either way, this is a respectable little collection at a very good price. Well worth the investment.

I am so happy with this set of five cds of Burl Ives. It was very expensive I thought at first, but worth every penny and more after hearing the songs etc. GET IT if you can afford it and if you enjoy his singing. The Very Best there is

It's a pity the record label didn't take any more pride in their work than they did. I recommend the DECCA recording of Burl Ives Greatest Hits as a worthy susbsitute. I've yet to locate a CD with the one song of Burl Ives for which I am searching... Buckwheat Cakes (Buckwheat Cakes, along with crispy bacon. Yes it is your buckwheat cakes that sets my heart to achin')

BEAUTIFUL MEMORIES OF A TIME GONE BYE THAT WOULD SO MUCH BE WANTED NOW IN TODAYS WORLD!

I ordered this item for my father in law and he was so happy with the CD that he kept on playing it over and over again. He commented that it was well worth it and would like to receive more of Burl Ives.

This CD is subtitled "The Concert Collection" and is mostly live recordings. Unfortunately the quality of many of the tracks is very poor, especially "Funny Way of Laughing" which is my favorite Burl Ives Song. I do not recommend this CD

I became familiar with a BurlIves song back in the '70's and although I am not a perticular fan of the man as a singer I am still rather partial to the song "A Little Bitty Tear Let Me Down". When I first heard it, I had just gone through a rocky ending of a bad relatinship, and the words just seemed to say a lot of the things I was too inarticulate to put into words. Maybe, if I could have said what he said in that in that song, I could have salvaged a relationship that still haunts me as a dismal failure. Burls' songs are obviously mant to appeal to a wide audience and I am sure that if you give all of them a fair chance you will be somewhat surprised (and maybe even delighted) aat the things you hear. Above all, please try to remember that Burl Ives was an actor, not a singer. But he was still able to put forth a lot of entertainment as a singer also. (AT LEAST TO SOME OF US)