Customer Reviews

Very Best of David Frizzell & Shelly West

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For David Frizzell & Shelly West fans that have been patiently waiting for a comprehensive collection of their duets - THIS IS IT! Varese Vintage has released 16 tracks taken from the original Viva/Warner Brothers master tapes. All 11 of their original duet singles are included plus 5 LP cuts to add a little extra flavor.

The audio quality on this collection is STELLAR! Steve Massie did his usual superb job remastering the original studio tapes. These recordings have never sounded this good and most are making their CD debut here.

Packaging is AAA+. The beautiful cover and tray photos show David & Shelly at the zenith of their success during the Urban Cowboy era. The original VIVA label reproduction on the CD is absolutely killer and reminds me of their original 45's. LOVE that touch. Lawrence Zwisohn's liner notes provide accurate and concise info about the duo and their producer Snuff Garrett.

1980's country music with 21st century audio technology & packaging. Just couldn't be better. As a country music fan & collector this is EXACTLY the kind of CD that I hope to find for a favorite artist. Snuff & David & Shelly must be very proud of the splendid treatment given to their classic recordings.

The only previous Frizzell & West CD collection was a sparse 10 track set from K-Tel released over 15 years ago that is now out of print and way overpriced by used CD dealers. This new, reasonably priced, comprehensive set is sure to be welcomed by their fans.

Stay tuned Frizzell & West fans. CD's spotlighting David & Shelly's SOLO hits are already in the works at Varese Vintage and are expected to be released soon.

With the June 2009 release of "The Very Best of David Frizzell & Shelly West", the music of this award-winning duo is finally available once again at a reasonable price point. Previous compilations, now out-of-print, have been selling on the internet at the time of this review for between $50 and $100. A big thank you to Varese Sarabande for this new, affordable CD!

"The Very Best" contains 15 of Frizzell & West's most popular hits, which were originally released between 1981 and 1984, plus one curious additional track, West's solo version of "I Just Fall in Love Again" (which had previously been recorded by The Carpenters and Anne Murray, among others). The Number #1 hit that put Frizzell & West on the map as a duo, "You're the Reason God Made Oklahoma" is here, as are the pair's other two Top 10 singles, "I Just Came Here to Dance" and "Another Honky-Tonk Night on Broadway." Like all the other tracks on this disc, they sound magnificent. The CD insert makes no mention of the recordings having been remastered; judging from the quality of the transfers, they must not have needed any restoration.

Both David Frizzell and Shelly West (who were at one time brother- and sister-in-law) had successful solo careers and scored Number 1 hits on their own, but their work together is perhaps their most enduring musical legacy as performers. This CD is most highly recommended as a fitting tribute to their creative collaborations.

I remember falling in love with Frizzell and West's music in the early 1980's, and I am so happy to have found this CD after all of these years. The music on this CD is nothing less than magical. The lyrics will touch your heart, and the instrumentation will touch your soul. The blending of a traditional country music band and steel guitar with an orchestral background is beautiful in a way that you will not soon forget. Combine that with the heavenly voices of David and Shelly and the soulful pleading of the harmonica, and you have a CD that the angels themselves listen to when they get off work.

If you've never heard Frizzell and West before, don't let the country music tag scare you away. This is very different from country music as it is shot out of the cookie cutter today, or even yesterday. This is music for lovers in love. It just so happens to have been made be two very talented country music singers. This CD brings tears to my eyes almost every time that I listen to it. I can't recommend a CD much higher than this one. This is music that you will want to share with your friends and family. Buy a few extra copies!

A younger brother of one country music legend (Lefty Frizzell) and the daughter of another (Dottie West), who was herself married for a while to Lefty's other brother, had great country pedigrees, but while this created opportunities for David and Shelly, it also had its disadvantages. Whatever they did, separately or together, inevitably invited comparisons with their illustrious relatives, especially as their voices had some similarities with their respective relatives' voices. Nevertheless, David and Shelley acquitted themselves and won some prestigious country duo of the year awards in the process. This compilation contains the best of their music as a duo, together with one of Shelly's solo tracks, though it might have made more sense to include that in the companion compilation of Shelly's solo material.

As a duo, they made their breakthrough with their number one country hit, You're the reason God made Oklahoma. It may have owed its success to its inclusion in the move of Any which way you can. I rarely bother with movies, but I watched that one on TV and as I remember, part of this song was heard played in the background at one point and wasn't part of the story. Still, it was there and so it appeared in the soundtrack, giving it much-needed exposure. That song inevitably leads off this compilation. Nothing else they did as a duo matched the success of that song, but they had ten more country hits as a duo and they are all featured here. Their solo careers also each began with a number one hit, followed by some good-sized hits before the radio stations lost interest. Those solo careers are the subject of separate compilations.

Following their big debut hit, David and Shelly had three further country top ten hits as a duo, these being A Texas state of mind, Another honky-tonk night on Broadway and I just came here to dance. They also had country top twenty hits with Husbands and wives (a cover of the old Roger Miller song), , Silent partners and It's a be together night. The other five hits were only minor hits, but are well worth a listen. They include Please surrender (from another Clint Eastwood movie, Honky tonk man) and Pleasure island, which is one of my favorites among their duets despite being the least successful A-side. Personally, I think the overall quality of their duet albums improved with each release, even as public interest diminished.

Of the five non-hits, David co-wrote Carrying on the family names, which was the title track to their debut album but was not itself released as a single. The others are covers, perhaps the most famous song being Our day will come, originally a hit for Ruby and the Romantics. The Shelly solo track, I just fall in love again, was a huge success for Anne Murray but her version was itself a cover of a song first recorded by the Carpenters. There's also a medley of Wild side of life / It wasn't God who made honky tonk angels, with David doing the first half and Shelly doing the second half. They may have been inspired by Waylon Jennings and Jessi Colter, who recorded the same medley a few years earlier. The other cover, You'll always be special to me, was written and first recorded by Merle Haggard at a time when he was infatuated with Dolly Parton, so the song may well have been about her originally. Dolly also recorded her own version of the song.

With this release and the two accompanying solo compilations, this is probably as much as we are ever likely to get on CD by this talented but under-rated duo. If you enjoy eighties country music, buy them while you have the chance.

Recorded the fabulous Your The Reason God Made Oklahoma on Reel to Reel tape sometime in 1981,transferred it to MiniDisc 8 years ago.Got a laptop 18 months ago and one of the first tracks i downloaded from iTunes was this....however,it was an inferior re-record,so when this was offered,i swooped immediately! Although i only got this CD for the title track i'm pleased that every other track on this superb compilation is a jewel!Backings are excellent...not overproduced like a lot of current Country! Shelly has a very distinctive voice,as good as her mum's! David's is....a Frizell...as good as Lefty? (Alan is still my favourite,and i'm still waiting for his "Lunchtime Lovers."

I had this tape many years ago and just couldn't get it out of my head. To get this now on a CD is heaven. I don't care for country music much but his album will change anyones mind. I am only sorry they didnt make any other duet albums.

One of the best historical songs, Your The Reason God Made Oklahoma" is the big hit on this album. I could not find the orignial on iTunes or other sites - other version of the song with Frizzel and some other female - and of course the chain stores don't stock their shevles this deep. And without Shelly singing with Frizzel, the song is just not the same. It looses the texture that made it such a great song.
While I bought the Album to get YTRGM0, the rest of the album has other songs from this classic duo. The voices of Frizzel and West are timeless - the quality of the album is great for the average music fan.
If you have been looking for YTRGMO, look no futher - this is the album to get.