Ultimate Collection [Original recording remastered]

Dobie Gray | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (April 3, 2001)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Original recording remastered
• Label: Hip-O Records
• ASIN: B00005B1AY
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #41,939 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars if you like "drift away", November 28, 2001

By 

Gregory Mobley (West Newton, Massachusetts) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Ultimate Collection (Audio CD)

This cd is uneven and, to that extent, representative of the performer's career. HOWEVER: it hardly represents the performer's talent. dobie gray is one of the greats; he is a charlie rich, waiting for his billy sherrill. he had one--mentor williams--in the early 70's and made two of the finest albums of the era, "drift away" and "loving arms," which have one masterpiece after another in that kind of muscle shoals-memphis-nashville, with-a-touch-of-austin groove that peter guralnick writes books about. FIND THESE ALBUMS AND YOU WILL HAVE THE PEARL OF GREAT PRICE.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "enjoyed prolonged success in country, pop and soul", April 3, 2001

By 

J. Lovins "Mr. Jim" (Missouri-USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Ultimate Collection (Audio CD)

Dobie Gray has enjoyed prolonged success in all three fields ~ country, pop and soul ~ and that's hardly an everyday occurrence. He's as difficult to classify as anyone this side of Delbert McClinton, having made a mid career leap from soul to country without missing a beat.

The empowering anthem "THE 'IN' CROWD" established Dobie as a pop and R&B star in 1965 ~ and his timeless masterpiece "DRIFT AWAY" obliterated idomatic boundaries as it went gold in 1973.

Dobie spends much of his time writing ~ he still regularly tours South Africa and Holland ~ this recent release "Ultimate Collection" brings to mind...all the talent this one individual has in his little finger.

Want to thank ~ Mike Ragogna (compilation producer) ~ Pat Lawrence (executive producer) ~ Erick Labson (masters) and Hip-O Records (Universal Music Enterprises)...for this one-of-a-kind collection from the mega-performer/songwriter...DOBIE GRAY!

Total Time: 63:06 on 20 Tracks...Hip-O Records 314 541 490 2...(2001)

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Mysterious Mr. Gray, August 9, 2007

By 

AvidOldiesCollector (Ottawa, Ontario, Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ultimate Collection (Audio CD)

If ever the adjective "enigmatic" applied to a singer that has to be Dobie Gray. Even details of his birth are murky, born on July 26 in either 1940 or 1942 as either Lawrence Darrow Brown or Leonard Victor Ainsworth in either Simonton or Brookshire, Texas. Take your pick.

One thing is clear, however, and that is that he grew up on gospel and country music and recorded country, soul, R&B, and pop with equal aplomb and varying degrees of success under several stage names. These included Leonard Victor Ainsworth, Larry Curtis, and Larry Dennis, before settling on Dobie Gray while with the small Cordak label in 1963. There he cut the bouncy R&B tune Look At Me which reached # 91 Billboard Pop Hot 100 that January [track 3] b/w Walkin' And Whistlin' [not included], but made no impression at all on the R&B charts, a result, no doubt, of Cordak's lack of promotional capability.

Two full years and a change of labels [the marginally larger Charger] later he struck gold when The "In" Crowd [track 1] surged to # 11 R&B/# 13 Hot 100 in February 1965 b/w Be A Man [omitted here]. However, the follow-up See You At The "Go-Go" [track 2] struggled to a # 69 Hot 100 in May 1965 b/w Walk With Love [not here], and again missed the R&B charts. All three of his hits to this point had been produced by Fred Darian, whose main claim to fame [other than two minor hits of his own in 1961] had been as co-writer of the Larry Verne 1960 novelty hit, Mr. Custer.

Following a long 8-year absence from the charts, during which time he recorded albums for the Prophecy label as part of the group Pollution, and also appeared in the L.A. production of Hair, Dobie returned with a bang in early 1973 with a major label. Drift Away - one of the best rock ballads ever and produced by Paul Williams' brother Mentor - made it to # 5 Hot 100/# 12 Adult Contemporary [AC] but which, for some reason, again failed to click with the R&B audience, reaching only a lowly # 42 on the Decca label (which certainly had promotional capabilities). The flip was City Stars which is yet another left out of this compilation.

Again, however, the follow-up and Country-tinged Loving Arms [also produced by Mentor Williams] did not do well, at least not on the Hot 100 [# 61] and R&B [# 81] charts, although it did reach a quite respectable # 7 AC in September 1973 for the new MCA title of Decca [it's flipside, Now That I'm Without You, is also missing here]. Loving Arms did, however, go on to be a much-covered item with hit versions by the pairing of Kris Kristofferson and Rita Coolidge [1974], Milli Jackson [1975], Sammi Smith [1977], and Elvis Presley [1981 posthumous Contry hit], among others.

Meanwhile, by 1976, Gray's affiliation with a major company had ended and he next turned up at Capricorn Records where If Love Must Go was his first hit, albeit a minor one, reaching just # 22 AC/# 78 Hot 100 in April b/w Lover's Sweat. Later that year Find 'Em, Fool 'Em And Forget 'Em topped out at # 71 R&B/# 94 Hot 100 b/w Mellow Man. In early 1979, now with Infinity, he had somewhat better success with the prophetic You Can Do It which reached # 32 R&B/# 37 Hot 100/# 44 AC b/w Sharing The Night Together. None of his other Capricorn or Infinity cuts are included here.

That was his last appearance on those three charts, but in 1986 he resurfaced yet again with Capitol, only this time as a Country artist. He never had huge success there, but of the four hits he did have, That's One To Grow On made it to a respectable # 35 in May, followed by a # 42 with The Dark Side Of Town in August. The others were From Where I Stand [# 67 in December] and Take It Real Easy [# 82 a year later].

In 1997 Dobie released the compilation Diamond Cuts which contains a mixture of new material and some of his old hits re-recorded. This, however, gives you the best collection [so far] of his original hits from the 1960s/1970s.