Love You So

Ron Holden | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 6, 1995)
• Label: Del-Fi Records
• ASIN: B000001JK2
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #456,358 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Here I Come

2. Everything's Gonna Be Alright

3. Gee, But I'm Lonesome

4. Suzie Jane

5. Let No One Tell You

6. Love You So

7. My Babe

8. True Love Can Be

9. Seeing Double

10. Do I Have The Right

11. Your Line Is Busy

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Decent If Not Exactly Generous Compilation Of His Music, March 16, 2011

By 

AvidOldiesCollector (Ottawa, Ontario, Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Love You So (Audio CD)

Ron Holden (born Rolan Holden on August 7,1939 in Seattle, Washington) came by his love of music honestly as his father, Oscar, widely known as the patriarch of Seattle jazz, once played clarinet in the great Jelly Roll Morton band. Ron launched his recording career in 1959 in what can only be described, to use the title of a William Shatner TV show, as "weird or what?" After being linked to a local group known as Little Willie Bell & The Thunderbirds and Larry Nelson and Chuck Markulis , owners of the small local label Nite Owl, they went to the Acme Sound & Recording Studio, located in the North Seattle home of the owner, Fred Rasmussen to cut a song Holden had penned, Love You So, along with hopefully at least one other side to propose as a single.

The "studio" turned out to be the Rasmussen living room and, during the recording, there were around 14 people and a dog. According to an account related yrears later by Holden "Larry Nelson was playing the claves (two short, round wood sticks banged together to give a sharp "crack" sound) and Chuck Markulis was playing the tambourine. Little Willie Bell and I were in the alcove and the other guys were all in the other room. And every time the dog would bark, we'd have to start over! On "Love You So" it was up into the 90s on takes! It was ridiculous!"

Ridiculous or not, the song was finally completed, along with My Babe, at which point Nelson took it to Challenge Records with whom they had made a deal to release a single of a group propsed by the duo. Challenge, however, upon hearing it said no thanks, but to live up to their agreement, they pressed some 5,000 copies with blanks where the labels go. So Nelson and Markulis placed their Nite Owl label on it and released it as Nite Owl 10 in late 1959, billed to Ron Holden with The Thunderbirds.

It did well enough locally to attract the attention of big band leader Bob Keane who, after leaving Keen Records, had started Del-Fi in 1958 and, most recently, the Donna subsidiary, named after the Ritchie Valens smash Donna on Del-Fi in late 1958. He re-released early in 1960 on Donna 1315, and by April/May they had a smash of their own, hitting # 7 Billboard Pop Hot 100 and # 11 R&B. But, like so many in that period, that would essentially be it insofar as hits were concerned. eventually labeling him a One-Hit Wonder.

This CD release of his only Donna LP gives you both sides of the hit, along with the 1960 releases Gee, But I'm Lonesome b/w Suzie Jane (Donna 1324), Everything's Gonna Be Alright b/w True Love Can Be (Donna 1328), Your Line Is Busy b/w Who Says There Ain't No Santa Claus - not here and impossible to find in CD format) on Donna 1331 and, in 1961, Let No One Tell You b/w The Big Shoes (also omitted here) on Donna 1335. The missing B-side was also released that year b/w Rock And Roll Call on Donna 1335 as well, and that too is missing.

He also had a 1961 duet with Rosie Hamlin, So Dearly b/w Bring Me Happiness on Donna 1338 billed as Rose & Ron. He tried again that year with Eldo Records, releasing I'll Be Happy b/w I'll Always Have You (eldo 117), and again in 1962 with Baronet Records, pairing Things Don't Happen That Way with You Got That Lovin' Touch on Baronet 3. Remakes of Love You So for Lana and Oldies 45 in 1964 went nowhere, nor did cuts for Rampart in 1965 and Challenge in 1967. In fact, his next hit of sorts didn't come until early 1974 when Can You Talk? reached # 49 R&B on NOW 6.

Ron Holden passed away at age 57 on January 22, 1997. Your choices at the moment seem to be this Del-Fi release, no longer stocked but available used, or the one from Collectables which not only has slightly different tracks, but one less than this volume. Both are skimpy in that regard. The sound quality is, however, excellent.

4.0 out of 5 stars A nice CD from a forgotten artist, May 27, 2010

By 

New England Pat (Virginia, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Love You So (Audio CD)

The name of Ron Holden certainly falls into the category of "one and done" with his classic "Love You So" but this CD is an interesting throwback to another time. Although the artist's total body of work is unremarkable, the tracks here are nice to listen to. Side 1 is basically filler, okay but nothing special. Side 2, however, boasts several nice cuts including Holden's big hit, which peaked at No. 6 on the charts. "My Babe", the B side of "Love You So", has a jaunty New Orleans-flavored piano accompaniment often heard on records by artists like Ernie K. Doe, Clarence "Frogman" Henry, Lee Dorsey and Barbara George. "True Love Can Be", Holden's only other song of note, has that gritty R&B piano and chopsticks accompaniment that Holden used to great effect on his hit song. This CD may not be for everyone but it does represent a nostalgic slice of pop memories from 1960.

3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Memories!, November 17, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Love You So (Audio CD)

I've been looking for this record for 40 years, off and on, of course. Now it's out of stock. If anyone has a copy they'd like to sell please EMail me.

Ron