Customer Reviews

Remembering Patsy Cline

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(15)

 

 

I admit I am not up-to-date about what artist is signed with what label, so I must assume that all of the artists included on this CD are MCA artists appointed to make the project more cost-efficient; that would be the only acceptable excuse for this collection. Where are the women who can really do a good Patsy Cline cover? Dolly Parton...Loretta Lynn...Emmylou Harris...Juice Newton...Rosanne Cash...Lucinda Williams? Nowhere to be seen. Bad call, MCA Records.

Natalie Cole delivers an unforgivably bad version of "I Fall To Pieces," and Norah Jones (who I usually enjoy) performs a flat, emotionless reading of "Why Can't He Be You." And luminary k.d. lang (once purported to be the "new Patsy Cline") is D.O.A. with her hapless rendition of "Leavin' On Your Mind."

On the converse, Amy Grant, Terri Clark and Michelle Branch defy the odds and deliver the three best recordings. These three artists bring aspects to the songs that the other artists ignore completely: personality, a sense of humor, and emotional attachment to the song.

Overall, this is a fair collection at best. Take the money you might have spent on this CD and pick up the newly remastered "Patsy Cline's Greatest Hits" CD. It's worth its weight in gold.

I think this cd is getting a bad rap because people may be expecting imitations of Patsy Cline and not other interpretations of the songs she made famous. I love Patsy, but I think this cd has some wonderful artist's doing some wonderful covers. Each musician/singer brings a different perspective to each song. Natalie Cole, Diana Krall, kd Lang, and Norah Jones bring a jazz feel to the songs they sing and couldn't be done better. Michele Branch and Terri Clark give great performances that sound similar to Patsy's versions, but different enough to know that you aren't listening to Patsy herself. Amy Grant's version of Back in Baby's Arms is cute and fun. Patty Griffin and Jessie Alexander have the same sense of feeling the song as they sing it that Patsy did, even to the end of Faded Love and the gasp of breath that each include. Rebecca Lynn Howard and Lee Ann Womack sing beautifully. Martina McBride is also a beautiful singer, and this song is the only song on the whole cd that is...well interesting to say the least. The Take 6 background gives the song a DooWop feel and I'm not sure that I really like that kind of interpretation, but it is well worth listening to. All in all, I love the cd and after I hear it, I have to play the Patsy Cline version because the songs remind me how great she was as a singer/storyteller.

This is a travisty and a poor way to pay tribute to the worlds greatest female country singer. The artist presenting are good in their own genre but are severely embarrasing themselves in attempting to reproduce that which Patsy made infamous in her own right. I will definatley not recommend that anyone purchase this album.

Any devoted Patsy Cline fan I'm sure would feel the same.

All others, stick to the Original. No offense to Patsy, but many people have room for other, different tastes in music. This album is for them. I mean, there's so much high-level talent around that it's foolish to think nobody else is worth a listen.

This isn't just a "tribute" album and these gals aren't Patsy clones. They are 12 credentialed (and apparently fearless) women from the provinces of Pop, covering some of the best-written, most listenable tunes in all the history of Country. A good contrast to today's "Hot New Country," which can only be described as goofy and production-driven. So you couldn't go wrong with such good writing, right? At first I wasn't so sure: Natalie Cole went pretty far from what you might expect and Martina McBride's collaboration with Take 6 was a little mystifying. The outcome at first resembles a parody of the original. Now, though, after several weeks, I'm starting to get into both of these arrangements. (I find that actually listening to a song all the way through a few times, with an open heart, is a good way to tell if you really like it or you don't.)

Norah is nice but my impression is that a few more pieces could have been added to the band to balance the drum out. Amy Grant, with a voice like a warm honeysuckle breeze and backed by pedal steel, piano and sweet fiddles, captures the classic Country sound of the 50's and 60's. It's a standout on the album. And young Michelle Branch --what's she trying to do --defy labeling? Good for her. She's gone Country here and sounds like a natural.

Only room to mention a couple others:

Patty Griffin could make angels cry with her gentle and plaintive rendition of the classic Wills tune. k.d. lang strays way off from the original PC version but the song works for me. It's intimate and the most jazz flavored of all, changing a crying-in-your-beer-tune to a crying-in-your-Scotch tune.

Though I've loved Patsy's signature, "Crazy" since I heard it -what, 40+ years ago? --the song never stuck in my head the way it has since Diana Krall crooned it with its author, Willie Nelson, on his 70th birthday bash on the USA network last spring. Jazz pianist-vocalist Krall is (as usual) perfectly arranged and understated: she doesn't yodel, sob or caterwaul, has no discernible affectations and no back-up singers. That may turn off fans trained to expect and tolerate only that kind of stuff but for me, it's all in the character of her voice. With her smart, jazz piano, fronting a small orchestra-type ensemble, the song is reborn.

Although the artist's performances are "okay", there doesn't seem to be a real flow to this CD. Natalie Cole is dissappointing, especially as the first track on this CD, as well as Martina McBride as the final. The addition of Take 6 on Martina's cut "takes away" from what could have been a decent cut. The best performances come from Diana Krall and kd lang, which is not surprising at all. All in all, it's an average CD, one that I probably would not zealously recommend.

I love Patsy Cline's music as much as I love her voice. She was an artist who took a song and made it her own. I never thought I could appreciate a Cline song by another artist, that is until now. From Natalie Cole's interpretation of "I Fall To Pieces," Norah Jones' gorgeous vocals on "Why Can't He Be You," to Diana Krall's brilliant take on "Crazy" and the finale of all finales, an acapella rendition of "Sweet Dreams (Of You)" recorded impeccably by Martina McBride with Take 6. This CD has something for every Cline fan and anyone a fan of beautiful songs that are brilliantly recorded and arranged. Other artists include, Michelle Branch, Amy Grant, Lee Ann Womack, and the incomparable k.d. lang singing her idols praises on "Leavin' On Your Mind." If you're in the mood for love, or memories of love, this one's for you. What a remarkable tribute to a remarkable artist. Sweet Dreams indeed!

Patsy Cline's a hard act to follow, that's for sure. But I don't doubt for a second that every singer on here felt they owed her a debt as a pioneering foremother of popular song. Mixing real rural roots with an explosively bluesy delivery and sweet, swank sophistication, Cline helped revolutionize not only Country, but Pop music as a whole... In the R&B world, her closest match was probably Dinah Washington, who also combined heartfelt emotion with glorious technical precision, and moved from a rough and wild style into a torch singing, orchestral smoothness. Okay, so fast forward to forty-plus years after Patsy's untimely demise, and we have two (or three) generations worth of show biz gals coming in her wake, approaching the same big production values, but with a much narrower artistic vision. Scanning the list of artists -- Natalie Cole, Diana Krall, Martina McBride, et al -- I expected sheer disaster. I was surprised, though, to find how restrained the singing was in general -- no crazed modern soul vocalese, no endless parade of "money notes," little in the way of swooping, lavish production. But also little to get stirred up about either. Norah Jones delivers another fine country-cover one off (check her previous duets with Willie Nelson... I hope she does a full country album soon...) Michelle Branch belts out a surprisingly lively, yet restrained version of "Strange"; Patty Griffin does alright on "Faded Love..." Perhaps the biggest surprise comes from vanilla gospel icon Amy Grant, who delivers an understated, effective rendition of "Back In Baby's Arms..." certainly the highlight of this album. On the whole, this album falls flat, but it doesn't completely fall apart, and there are some nice tunes. Ya can't beat Patsy, though... why even try?

When I heard about the Tribute to Patsy Cline album coming out I was thrilled! I rushed out to buy it and came right home to listen to it. Unfortunately, I had no idea it would be absolutely horrible! The versions of these great classics that these young "talented" woman are singing are horrendous. I think Ms Cline would be rolling over in her grave to hear the rubbish that has become of her songs. A note to the music industry.... Leave the original hits alone!!!!!!

Some of the best female singers in the biz - from Natalie Cole to Norah Jones -pay homage to "the great one." Wonderful remakes by Diana Krall ("Crazy), Patty Griffin ("Faded Love") and, especially Michelle Branch ("Strange"). Surprisingly, k.d. lang turns her back on her country roots entirely, recreating "Leavin' On Your Mind" as a haunting torch song complete with jazz trio. But it is Martina McBride who wins the prize for originality, enlisting gospel greats Take 6 for a rousing a capella rendition of Sweet Dreams (Of You).

On paper, having top notch female vocalists of today (and some simply popular and not-so-top-notch vocalists) bring some Patsy Cline hits up to date is a fun idea. In practice, this is a wildly uneven effort. Some of the arrangements are so bad that they are comical (I won't point out any names to protect the sincere, but guilty) and many of the vocal performances are surprisingly lackluster even from those with usually fabulous voices. This CD just doesn't work.

There's another CD out there that tries to do the same with Dolly Parton hits, Just Because I'm a Woman, and that one is very successful. What's the difference? I think it's partly that the artists on that CD are better interpreters of other people's hit songs. On this CD, however, most of the interpretations lack sparkle and energy.