Customer Reviews

Sweet Sixteen

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

 

 

This CD is by far not the worst Reba has ever done. Take almost any one of her 90s projects and that will be the case. This one is uneven containing some traditional country and some of the pop filler she's been recording for years now. Cathy's Clown is excellent for her. "Til Love Comes Again" is a traditional tune with steel and fiddles but she's done better. "It Always Rains on Saturday" is merely o.k. "Walk On" is outstanding. I love that. "Little Girl" is lacklaster. The rest...I won't comment on because I'm not impressed by Reba at Sixteen.

The saxophone on most of these songs ruins what could have been great country songs if they had been produced in the traditional vein. I especially like the last cut "A New Love" and wish it had been released as a single. This is strange because I don't usually like Reba's fast songs but there was something really neat and catchy about this one. "Walk On" is good too except for that Saxophone!!!

This one is merely o.k. Nothing spectacular. THe ballads are sort of dull and boring (Little Girl) and (It Always Rains on Saturday). I love Reba's take on Cathy's Clown....except for the ending. Better production would have helped this. And I love "Til Love Comes Again" and "Walk On". Its a good album that could have been better with more songs like those I mentioned. It did not bowl me over by any means.

Reba's traditional country phase of the mid-eighties ended with this album, which signalled the start of a move to the pop-country sounds that brought Reba greater success in the nineties. Nevertheless, the production remains simple here so all but the most die-hard traditionalists can enjoy this.

This album opens with Reba's brilliant cover of Cathy's clown, the Everly Brothers classic, with the lyrics adjusted to present Cathy's perspective, giving it a slightly more upbeat feel. Not many people know this, but Reba actually recorded this after hearing an unreleased Dolly Parton recording. It seems that Dolly changed the lyrics but elected not to make her version available to the public. Dolly's version remains unreleased to this day.

You can hear an optimistic view of a sad situation in Till love comes again. A slightly sad song is It always rains on Saturday. Am I the only one who cares, Somebody up there likes me, You must really love me, Say the word, Little girl, Walk on and New love are all upbeat in mood although they vary in tempo.

This album, with so many upbeat songs and with even the sad songs not being especially sad, may lack the gravitas that a real tearjerker would give this album, but Reba has recorded plenty of those elsewhere. This is a good-time album with which to forget about all life's problems. As such, it is among my favorite Reba albums.

Apparently this album charted highly about 10 years ago, and it is reasonably easy to see why. The early tracks are very much country and western in the Tammy "Whinette" style but the later ones are in a more contemporary style, all bound together by Reba's powerful delivery and those stretched vowel sounds. In the sleeve Reba describes this as a coming of age CD and it does contain a mix of styles in terms of tracks. Worth buying at a reduced price just for the very cleverly adapted and performed "Cathy's Clown" track.

This one has some good stuff on it but not enough for me to give it more than 2 stars. "Cathy's Clown" is a good cover, something Reba usually don't do well. I also like "A New Love", "Walk On", and "It Always Rains on Saturday". The standout is "Till Love Comes Again".

Reba vascillates a lot with this one. If she is analagous to a sixteen year old with this effort then she hit the nail on the head because most sixteen year olds I know are very wishy-washy in all aspects of their lives. This CD is representative of that. We start off strong, then things quickly take a turn for the worse. I don't know from one minute to the next when I will be able to disembark from the merry-go-round of mixed up material here. I hear a saxophone sometimes, a steel guitar sometimes, a fiddle another time. SOme of it is good. Most of it is not!! I've heard better from McEntire!!!!

I Like This CD. The Songs Are Great On Here. She Did A Remake Of The 1960's Everly Brothers Hit "Cathy's Clown". I Like The Lyrics On That Song. Other Hits Included On Here Are: "Til Love Comes Again", "Little Girl" And "Walk On". Reba Fans, You Must Buy This CD Today.

This in my opinion is one of Reba's best CD's.
Not one bad thing about it

Reba has this stunning vocalization that should have been greatly appreciated. Most of the other recording artists are simply inexperienced and often mediocre when it comes to not fully expressing passion and emotion during the recording. The song, Cathy's Clown is pure in sensation and is better arranged than other recordings done by other artists. Reba made it more endearing while other songs were expressive and colorful with different instrumental arrangement. Walk On, was another uplifting sensation, while others were quite enticing and in good spirits with the time. A lot of other songs could be included with this package though I can quite manage to get more in tune with Reba's thrilling and impressive vocal endurance.