Customer Reviews

Ultimate Collection

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Charlie Rich is a renegade of the 1950s southern roots rock tradition that produced Elvis, Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison, Waylon Jennings and Jerry Lee Lewis, all of whom (except Elvis) had to balance themselves commercially between the markets of rock and country. Charlie, although equal in talent to any of them had more trouble finding his commercial niche, and so is less well known, but in a way that makes him more interesting today.

Charlie Rich was an already prematurely silver-haired country crooner in the early 70s when he finally scored big with "Behind Closed Doors" and "The Most Beautiful Girl", the latter of which topped both the country and pop charts in 1973. Well, he didn't start out that way. On the back cover you see him as he was in his Sun Studio days, Elvis-handsome but much more rugged-looking, and he sounds it too. The collection follows his career from 1959 to his 1970s heyday, and a powerful, moving and (one senses) personal 1991 swan song "Feel Like Going Home", but it is the 1959-1965 material that is the goldmine here.

Charlie sings (like Elvis, but stronger), writes (sometimes) and plays piano, and the tracks are organized chronologically. There are no weak tracks, but these are the ones I like best, and I have indicated how they show off his boundary-busting diversity. #1 "Lonely Weekend" (rock 'n roll), #6 "There's Another Place I Can't Go" (country/R&B), #7 "Big Boss Man" (blues/rock 'n roll - and funny as heck, you'll want to play this one over and over), #10 "She Called Me Baby" (country ballad), #11 Fast-talking, slow walking, good looking "Mohair Sam" (R&B), #16 "Behind Closed Doors" (country), #17 "The Most Beautiful Girl" (country-pop and still sounds great), and #18 "Feel Like Going Home" (gospel). For those of you who may have grown up in the New York area in the 60s, you'll recognize Charlie's version of "Big Boss Man" as the theme song of WMCA's Dandy Dan Daniels. But I never knew it was Charlie Rich until now, and I'll bet you didn't either - what a find!

Hip-O Records present one of the best "Ultimate Collections" to date. What can one say about Charlie Rich - "The Silver Fox", who mastered virtually every style and vernacular of American music from rock'n'roll to classic pop, from country to blues, from supper club jazz to soul.

A few stand outs - "LONELY WEEKENDS" (1959) clearly his first classic - "WHO WILL THE NEXT FOOL BE?" (1961) high octane on rhythm & blues, with perfect lyrics and arrangements - "RIVER STAY AWAY FROM MY DOOR" (1963) this rendition has to be one of the best ever, Rich completely throws himself into the mood and the rest is "perfection" - "A FIELD OF YELLOW DAISIES (1965) in top form, and working on all cylinders for this ballad - "YOU CAN HAVE HER" (1965) no other artist can top this performance, as Charlie's talent comes shining through - "BEHIND CLOSE DOORS" (1972) and "THE MOST BEAUTIFUL GIRL" (1973) both charted number one on the Country Charts.

Charlie Rich was one of the most talented artist ever to record, his voice and piano complemented each other. Rich painted his thoughts and feelings through music, as you will hear and see through the - "Ultimate Collection of Charlie Rich"!

Total Time: 48:54 on 18 Tracks/ Hip-O Records - 012 157 597 2 (2000)

CHARLIE RICH-ULTIMATE COLLECTION: Best remembered for his early twang-rocker LONELY WEEKENDS, the swaggering RNB of MOHAIR SAM, and 70s countrypolitan smashes BEHIND CLOSED DOORS and THE MOST BEAUTIFUL GIRL, there was seeemingly no musical style that blue eyed soul belter/piano man CHARLIE RICH was afraid to tackle head on. An elegant cross between his SUN RECORDS stablemates The King and The Killer, his career also spanned jazz, pop, and smokin' honky tonk, as he turned in covers of the gospel-heavy I WASHED MY HANDS IN MUDDY WATER and JIMMY REED's blues gem BIG BOSS MAN. He also managed to pen a few classics of his own, from the barn-burner BREAK UP to the breathtaking ballad WHO WILL THE NEXT FOOL BE. ULTIMATE COLLECTION is perhaps the finest anthology of the dozens available, chronologically skimming the cream from a multi-decade career...18 tracks of the towering, testifying talent that was THE SILVER FOX.

RATING: FIVE IVORIES

While I did not purchase my CD of Ultimate Collection from Amazon, I did have some cocnerns over the sound of it and the photo on the back, so I turned to Amazon for some information on it which I mentioned in my comment to the first review which told me it really was Charile Rich's photo on the back and not Elvis Presley's. It had been so long since I heard Charle Rich singing two of his hits -- Behind Closed Doors and The Most Beautiful Girl -- I had forgotten what he sounded like. I had expected the first track and the rest to have the singing style I thought was his, a long, slow, romantic delivery of what could be viewed as caberet-type songs. The first track, Lonely Weekends, sounded as though it was sung by Elvis himself, not Rich. I was relieved to find out he merely sounded like Elvis, and certainly not the sort of music I thought Rich performend. This singer is a lot more versatile and rockin' than I thought he was. It made me understand the end to the liner notes about him that ended with a description of him in his obituary as a "country balladeer," and the end line "They didn't get it." Well, this CD allowed me to "get it," loud and clear.

Charlie Rich was a triple star in Country Music - Piano, Composing and singing. Anyone who likes classic country needs his CDs. The Ultimate Collection is unbeatable for listening, sing along or play along.

Lots of good stuff from Charlie Rich here slanted to his earlier years, but lacking a lot of big charting hits including several number ones. ("Very Special Love Song","Rollin With the Flow","On My Knees"...many others) From Hip-O this is a little dissapointing seeing as how they are usually so comprehensive. Still a great listen at any rate.

I had forgotten how good Charlie Rich's music was and how rich a heritage he left behind for the future for country music.

This is a really great collection from a company that seems to have a track record of paying attention to the details. Judging from the dates on each of these charting hits, the folks over at Hip-O Records have taken great care to present a chronological picture of Charlie Rich's career. On top of that, and unlike some past "greatest hits" releases, there's NO filler! Charlie has always been considered a Country artist, and that's fair, since the familiar Country themes of heartbreak, hardship and hard living are ever present in his lyrics. However, many of these songs have a much broader appeal. Even if you don't usually pick up Country CDs, you might want to click on one or two of the Real Audio samples. You won't be sorry.

Charlie Rich was a regional favorite both before and after "Lonely Weekends" sparked a minor dance craze at the University of Tennessee ("the U T"). As he bounced from one record company to another, he rerecorded his non-hit records until, well, they were hits (to varying degrees). "On My Knees" and "Midnite Blues" (not included on this album) were two; there was more than one effort with "Sittin' and Thinkin'" and alternate takes of "Big Boss Man". There is a slow, growly blues version of "There Won't Be Anymore". This album is a fair representation of Charlie's best. For those of us who grew up in the listening area of Memphis radio, when Charlie hit it big in 1973 with "Behind Closed Doors", we thought it was high time that he got the recognition he deserved. His "countrypolitan" sound lasted for several years. I would recommend this album to everybody.

I did receive the CD quickly but it was defective, playing a couple bars of each song and immediately skipping to the next. This happened with the first 4 songs or so and I stopped checking, returned the CD. It was confirmed received beginning of month and it's now the end of the month and still no refund. I have e mailed the company twice and finally received a response saying when they received it and processed it I would get my refund. They received it over 3 weeks ago! I won't be purchasing from ImportCD again.