Customer Reviews

Pat's 40 Big Ones

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During the second half of The Fifties, the only artist to spend more weeks on the Top 40 than Pat Boone was Elvis. Beginning with his first single "Two Hearts" in 1955 until 1962 when he charted with the novelty tune "Speedy Gonzales," Boone placed 38 songs on the singles chart.

The big knock on Boone is that he was a homogenized version of real rock 'n' rollers like Little Richard or Fats Domino, whose songs Boone covered and in many cases outperformed on the charts. I'll admit, Boone's feeble stabs at rock 'n' roll numbers like "Ain't That a Shame" or "Tutti Frutti" are pretty limp, but that was never his strong suit. After he took "Long Tall Sally" to No. 8, Boone focused on what he did best--romantic ballads. He hit the top of the charts with "I Almost Lost My Mind," "Don't Forbid Me," "Love Letters in the Sand," "April Love" and "Moody River." He never considered himself a rocker. [Yeah, I know he released In a Metal Mood a few years ago doing covers of Deep Purple and Metallica, but he wasn't taking himself seriously. He was merely spoofing his image as part of a huge self-promotion campaign.]

There's always been a market for artists like Pat Boone. The Sixties had Bobby Vinton. The Seventies had Barry Manilow. The Eighties had Air Supply. Let's face it, how romantic is it to listen to Rage Against the Machine or Offspring? Pat Boone may be a throwback to an earlier era, but his type of pop balladry is evident today in artists like Celine Dion, Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey, to name just a few. Give the man his due. He recorded numerous memorable hits and all but a few of his minor hits are included on this moderately priced UK import. Here's exactly what you get:

Disc 1: Two Hearts / Ain't That a Shame / At My Front Door (Crazy Little Mama) / Gee Whittakers! / I'll Be Home / Tutti Frutti / Long Tall Sally / I Almost Lost My Mind / Friendly Persuasion (Thee I Love) / Chains of Love / Don't Forbid Me / Why Baby Why / Love Letters In the Sand / Bernadine / Remember You're Mine / There's a Gold Mine In the Sky / April Love / A Wonderful Time Up There / It's Too Soon To Know / Sugar Moon

Disc 2: If Dreams Came True / Gee, But It's Lonely / I'll Remember Tonight / With the Wind and the Rain In Your Hair / Good Rockin' Tonight / For a Penny / Twixt Twelve and Twenty / Fools Hall of Fame / (Welcome) New Lovers / Walking the Floor Over You / Moody River / Big Cold Wind / Johnny Will / I'll See You In My Dreams / Quando, Quando, Quando (Tell Me When) / Speedy Gonzales / The Main Attraction / Beach Girl / Little Honda / As Tears Go By

This may be more Pat Boone than the average fan will want or need, but it's the most comprehensive one available of his original Dot recordings and the price is very reasonable. RECOMMENDED

This 2CD set is a great cross section of his prolific
recording output. All the songs in this set should
satisfy the majority of Pat's fans. Only one complaint
about this set. 3 songs that should be on here or on
his greatest hits CD are missing and don't apprear on any
other CD, except his 50's Box Set. They are "Anastasia",
I'm Waiting Just for You and I'm in Love With You. Considering
a few songs that are in this set it is a gross error in
judgement on the person picking the various songs.

Great compilation !!!
Most important fact : these are the ORIGINAL MONO RECORDINGS
of most of Pat's great hits ( with the exception of April Love,
in stereo on the CD, but exactly the same version as on the original 45 PM in mono. This means that the song was recorded in stereo but originally released in mono, but was not re-recorded in 1959 ! )
Today most of Pat's big hits are released in the re-recorded stereo-versions of 1959. Only the German " Big Bear Family " company issued a boxed set " The Fifties Complete " containing also all the original mono and stereo-re-recordings of 15 songs.
This double CD " Pat's 40 Big Ones " was probably issued with the permission of Big Bear Family Records.
A REAL MUST for all Pat Boone fans who want the original recordings in true mono !!

That's one example of how recording artists, and many of them, used the early Elvis style; Pat Boone did. And he even used the unusual style of country singer/songwriter Floyd Tillman when he did Tillman's "I Almost Lost My Mind" (Ivory Joe Hunter had the definitive version). And elitist or not, it has not been a mystery that record producers took recordings by black artists into their own studios to try to duplicate the sound (never worked) but the white versions got the airplay. (I could cite 20 examples here). It's hard not to like Pat Boone and he had some good stuff that belonged to him, "With the Wind and the Rain in Your Hair", "Moody River" and "Love Letters in the Sand", but Mr. Nice Guy's renditions of the earthy "Tutti Fruitti" and "Long Tall Sally"....come on now. Loved "Speedy Gonzalez" (you never see him in old cartoons anymore, politically incorrect). You really don't hear Pat Boone on the oldies stations either, not even the stations covering the late 50s, early 60s. He was just too clean, too uncool, but he had a successful career and not just in music. So don't cry for Pat. Ooga mooga.

People remember Pat for his love songs and the novelty up-tempo Speedy Gonzalez. But rock'n'roll - surely not?

Actually, Pat's earliest hits were covers of songs by Little Richard and Fats Domino. In those days, people tended to buy records according to race, so it was common practice for singers to cover songs first recorded by somebody of a different race. So it was that Pat achieved major American hits with his versions of Ain't that a shame (Fats Domino), I'll be home (The Flamingos), Tutti Frutti, Long tall Sally (both Little Richard) and I almost lost my mind (Ivory Joe Hunter). Of course, Pat's versions lacked the rawness and energy of the originals, but they established him as a major pop singer in the fifties. They are certainly worth hearing and all of them are included here.

After all those covers of R+B songs, he switched his attention to the ballads he is now remembered for. Love letters in the sand, Remember you're mine, April love, A wonderful time up there, Sugar moon, If dreams come true and I'll remember tonight were all huge American hits. Later hits were smaller, but they are also included in this set. In 1961, Pat's career took off again with Moody river, but there was to be only one more major hit - Speedy Gonazles.

Apart from all the hits, there are a few interesting non-hits, like Little Honda. Pat recorded this when he discovered that the Beach boys were not going to release their original as a single, but was foiled when somebody else had the same idea and they had the hit instead.

So, this is an interesting compilation that includes all the obvious hits, most of the minor hits and a few interesting non-hits. You can get all the obvious stuff on a single CD, but it is interesting to explore further than that. As such, this set, which includes comprehensive liner notes, is ideal.

Pat Boone was constantly landing singles on the chart from the mid 50's to mid 60's.
Here are many of his best hits, some have become all time classics.

This compilation contains 37 hits,
plus "Little Honda" which is the b-sides of "Beach girl" in 1964.
And 2 songs that didn't chart, those are "Main attraction" and "As tears go by".

From 1955 to 1969 Boone had 60 songs chart,
with 37 here that means 23 are missing.
Of the 23 not here only 5 charted in the top 40,
ranging from #21 to #39, and the other 18 didn't chart well at all.

This 2 disc set is a great collection.
All original recordings, with excelent sound.

Pat Boone was the second most important singer of the Rock & Roll Era
after Elvis Presley. Besides, he was the chosen one by the general public
since he was the true American, a clean cut, well dressed religious youngster.
While Elvis was banned on radio and TV, Pat covered black R&B and had hit after
hit and many #1's something that Fats and Little Richard never succeeded in.
I always wanted a greatest record compilation by Pat cause his many ballads
were wonderful with that beautiful baritone voice. On three occasions I
purchased a "greatest hits" CD but I was always fooled. All three were re-
recordings something that really makes me mad. This time, however, the dubble
CD is an absolute beauty not only because they are all originals but also because
of its quality recordings. Someone mentioned all songs but one are in mono but
that'a not so! Three songs on CD 1 are in stereo and the complete CD 2 is in
full stereo. Another incredible fact and unknown to me until today is that
Pat's last charted records back in 1964 were complete Beach Boys style songs!
He had a long string of charted hits between '55-'62 and still today he is
considered the 12th biggest singing artist in history according to Billboard!
If you're a 50's and early 60's collector this CD can't be missed.

I hope this will be more objective than most reviews, because while I have no special interest in Pat Boone, I've never been in full agreement with the rock-critic types who only grudgingly give a nod towards pure pop music and pop vocalists.

I'm not thrilled that Boone and fellow Dot artists the Fontane Sisters, among others, essentially stole the glory from hard-working black acts also trying to get hit records and make a little money. In fairness, however, the real opportunist was Dot founder Randy Wood, who had better ability to get his records played and distributed than the smaller labels for which such acts as the Charms, El Dorados, and others toiled. I think it's unfair to expect a young artist, in the excitement of being handed a potential hit song to sing, to sit and ponder who out there might be upset at their record's potential success.

However, not even the rock "cognoscenti" (love that word) deny that Boone and the more-respected Ricky Nelson helped rock 'n' roll get past the overreaction of ultraconservative politicians and other oddballs convinced (or pretending) that this stuff was actually "devil's music."

Musically, the first few remakes here rock more authentically than those cognoscenti led me to expect. I wish the liner notes identified the sax player and drummer who help propel "Two Hearts, Two Kisses". If you can separate "Ain't That a Shame", "Tutti Frutti", and "Good Golly Miss Molly" from the legendary Fats Domino and Little Richard originals, you'll find some genuine excitement in these versions and that Boone has an actual feel for this music. He is also the only act to get Roy Brown's "Good Rockin' Tonight" (a #1 R&B hit for Wynonnie Harris in 1948) on the Hot 100 during the rock era.

Unfortunately, as these two discs go on, Pat and the backing musicians tone it down, even on the "fast" ones (check "Why Baby Why"), putting Pat squarely (pun not intended but not regretted) in teen-idol territory with Frankie Avalon and Fabian. The gooey romantic ballads that come to predominate ("Love Letters In the Sand", "April Love",) are well-made Adult Contemporary before there was such a thing as Adult Contemporary. Critics REALLY hate "Speedy Gonzales," Pat's last Top Ten. Decide for yourself if the song is really racist or if he (and Mel Blanc as the title character) are merely describing one person who happens to be of Mexican descent.

There are also a couple of surprises toward the end of Disc Two: "Beach Girl" (#72, 1964) and "Little Honda" are not-bad takes on the surf movement of the time, with participation from surfmusicmeisters Terry Melcher and (future actual Beach Boy) Bruce Johnston. But then there's the last track, a version of "As Tears Go By" that anticipates the 1997 "In a Metal Mood" CD by 33 years and ends this collection with an unfortunate thud.

An earlier review compared Boone to Bobby Vinton, Barry Manilow, and Air Supply. Actually, Pat Boone appears to be more in line with Perry Como and Andy Williams, technically-gifted crooners with slight nods towards rock. While it's true Manilow initially won fame for a bunch of romantic hits, lumping him in here seems as severe an overgeneralization as that which the otherwise-fine review sought to avoid on Boone's behalf. Manilow writes, produces, and arranges much of his own material, and has demonstrated a much broader range than what appears here. And in no way has he had the generically handsome, all-American image of Pat Boone. Pop lovers unite: don't let the rock snobs divide and conquer by tricking you into blurring the distinctions between our pop heroes.

As it seems that U.S. discs exclude the Little Richard remakes as well as the Johnston-Melcher songs, this looks like the best Pat Boone set available. Also, the booklet has very good liner notes (with the exception noted above) and plenty of pictures that will please Boone fans.

Purchased this album more than a month ago and have still not received it. Therefore, it sounds terrible. Kinda like the sound of silence.

Ordered a CD and it was delivered within 10 days from England, which was within the timeline that I expected. The CD is excellent quality and a good value.