Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
They're All Fine When Sung By Patsy Cline, June 30, 2000
The most haunting and lovely voice ever to come out of country music belonged to Patsy Cline, whose life was cut tragically short in 1963 by a plane crash. This collection captures Cline's spirit and breath-takingly beautiful voice. It does not, however, cover the span of her career--those early honky-tonk/rockabilly records that she made for labels like FourStar. These songs come from the sessions produced by Owen Bradley in the early 60s. One of Cline's biggest hits (both country and pop) from 1957 was a very haunting and twangy rendition of "Walkin' After Midnight." A different version of that song is on this collection--a brighter, more up-tempo version of a very lonely and very "country" song--seek out the original. Two of the most succulent ballads, country or otherwise, ever recorded--Willie Nelson's "Crazy," and "I Fall to Pieces"--are also included on this collection. Next time you're in a bar, play "Crazy," and see what it does to the place; that's the magic of Patsy Cline. There are also some other pop standards here which Cline treats rather well: Gogi Grant's "The Wayward Wind" is sung in a slow and deliberate fashion. "You Belong to Me" is also mellow, and backed, I believe, by the Jordanaires. And there's a very lovely version of "South of the Border," a tale, like many of the songs Cline sings, of unrequited love. "Sweet Dreams" is a haunting and, in some ways, disturbing melody, as we know that it was one of the songs included in the last sessions Cline ever recorded, weeks, I believe, before her untimely death. If you're new to Patsy Cline's voice, this is the collection for you to begin with. You won't regret it. It will provide you with listening pleasure forever.
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Setting the standard for those that followed, October 16, 2003
Patsy set the standard for female country singers, with many of those that followed trying (or so it seemed) to be the next Patsy Cline - even today, forty years after her death in a plane crash. All but one of Patsy's classic songs can be found on this collection. Crazy was a top ten pop hit in America and (in 1990) a top twenty hit in Britain. Heartaches was Patsy's first American top forty pop hit. Don Gibson wrote Sweet dreams and had a big country hit with it, but once Patsy recorded it, it became much more popular and will be forever thought of as a Patsy Cline song. She's got you was an American top twenty pop hit and was also Patsy's first British hit, albeit only a minor one I fall to pieces was yet another top twenty pop hit in America. Walking after midnight is the song that began it all for Patsy in the fifties. Poor man's roses, Back in baby's arms and Leaving on your mind are other Patsy classics included here. The only serious omission is Faded love, a cover of a Bob Wills song that, like Sweet dreams, is regarded as a Patsy Cline classic despite being a cover.
Adequate compensation for the omission of Faded love is provided via Patsy's fine interpretations of Your cheating heart (Hank Williams), I love you so much it hurts (Eddy Arnold), Wayward wind (Gogi Grant), South of the border (Gene Autry), True Love (Bing Crosby), San Antonio rose (Bob Wills), You belong to me (Jo Stafford) and many other fine songs.
Prior to 2004, this compilation was arguably the strongest single CD of Patsy's music available despite the omission of Faded love. With the release of Definitive collection in 2004, I now recommend that collection instead. It only contains 22 tracks instead of the 25 here but there are no serious omissions and everything there has been digitally re-mastered.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
What more can you say about the best singer that ever lived, November 18, 1999
By A Customer
I really enjoyed this because all the recordings were originial- no redubbings. This music could be played next to modern pop hits, and not be challenged or "dated" in any fashion.
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by Patsy Cline 
