Customer Reviews

The Very Best of Shelly West

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Prime Cuts: If I Could Sing Something In Spanish, Now There's You, Another Motel Memory

Shelly West is a victim of caricature. In terms of pedigree, Shelly West has often been overshadowed by her larger than life mother, the late Dottie West. In terms of her career, she has often been known as the other half of David Frizzell when the pair soared to the heights of the charts with hits such as "You're the Reason God Made Oklahoma," "A Texas State of Mind" and "Husbands and Wives." However, the spotlight has never been shed upon West's own solo career. Such atrocity is most evidenced by the fact that none of her three solo albums are now in print. In fact the only products that are shelved these days are her duet compilations with Frizzell. Thus, this highly anticipated newly remastered "The Very Best of Shelly West" is reason for rejoicing. After all this time, it's refreshing to have West on disc for the first time. Culling 6 tracks from West's most successful solo debut "West by West," this is chronologically followed by 4 tracks each from her subsequent two albums "Red Hot" and "Don't Make Me Wait on the Moon." However, most disappointing is that there are no newly recorded songs, unreleased demos, or her singles (such as "What Would You Do" and "Love Don't Come Better than This") that were not canonized into any of her albums.

Despite these songs being a couple of decades old, they sound like they were recorded yesterday. West's begrimed and yet spry alto still sound so fresh and engaging. Thematically, these tracks cover the surfeit of issues of wine, cheating and heartbreak--topics so prevalent during the post urban cowboy days of the early 80s where Barbara Mandrell, Dolly Parton and Tammy Wynette were reigning on the charts. "Jose Cuervo," West's most successful hit, follows in the footsteps of the avalanche of drinking songs of the 80s such as "You Must Not Be Drinkin' Enough" (Earl Thomas Conley), "Hey Bartender" (Johnny Lee) and "Drinkin' and Dreamin'" (Waylon Jennings). What sets West's number one hit apart is that turns the gender tables around by telling the story of woman who had too much fun drinking over an infectious pop country melody. Following in her peer Barbara Mandrell's footsteps, West indulges in a few cheating numbers, most outstanding is her sad midtempo "Another Motel Memory," the power ballad "Now I Lay Me Down to Cheat" and the sleazy "Sweet Sixteen." Interesting how illicit motel affairs seems to be the setting of many of these cheating numbers.

Heartbreak has also been perennial topic: most affecting is the sensuous "Sexy Song" -a haunting song about a desperate woman trying to win back her husband's affection. Listen especially to how West nuances the shades of loneliness in this song--it is just so heart breaking. "Flight 309 to Tennessee" has all the earmarks of the Urban cowboy era--an over produced pop-country ditty that has all the cheesy 80S synth riffs. Nevertheless, it's an enjoyable ball of fun that will get one humming in a few listens. Yet West has not been completely sold out to the pop-country fold, purists will find much joy with the delightful fiddle-led "I'll Take the Two Step." And the helpless romantic will simply adore the cross cultural romance of "If I Could Sing Something in Spanish" and the never dying love tribute of "Now There's You."

Sadly, Shelly West disappeared from the music scene sometime in the later part of the 80s. This is such a tragic loss to country music. If given the chance, she could have made it as big as Barbara Mandrell or even Tammy Wynette. West has such a sonic presence that she has the ability to break and mend hearts with her emotive delivery. Furthermore, she is adventurous enough to tackle the whole gamut of country music from two steps to pop-country to big power ballads. After such a long time of shortage of any music from West, this collection is such a welcoming delight!

Shelly West had a spurt of popularity in the eighties and the best of her career is showcased here. No Shelly West collection would be complete without her signature "Jose Cuervo" and my personal favorite "Flight 309 To Tennessee". This is a great addition to any CD collection.

For many years, the only music of Shelly's on CD aside from the occasional track on multi-artist country compilations was the ten-track compilation Alone & Together featuring Shelly's solo music, David Frizzell's solo music and some of their duets together. That budget compilation, long since out of print, included the most important tracks and was most welcome at the time, but I always hoped that more of David and Shelly`s music would be released someday. Varese Sarabande have excelled themselves by releasing three compilations, one being dedicated to their duets, while they each feature on one solo compilation.

Shelly may not have inherited her mother's brown eyes, but her husky vocal styling owes much to Dottie West, although they are sufficiently different that you can tell them apart without too much difficulty. Shelly had ten solo hits on the country charts, of which the first eight are featured here.. Among them, the most important is Jose Cuervo, a bouncy up-tempo fun song that gave Shelly a number one country hit and his since been covered by Kimber Clayton and Lindy Gravelle. The follow-up was a sad ballad, Flight 309 to Tennessee, that gave Shelly a top five country hit. Shelly's third solo single, Another motel memory, just made the country top ten but those all-important (for chart purposes) American country radio stations seemed to lose interest in Shelly's music thereafter. The most successful of Shelly's subsequent singles, Now there's you, stalled just outside the top twenty.

The last two singles not featured here (What would you do, Love don't get any better than this) were only minor hits, but it is a pity that they were omitted. The six non-hits featured include Sexy song (the B-side of Flight 309 to Tennessee), I'll still be loving you (the B-side of Now there's you) and the superb If I could sing something in Spanish, which was released as an A-side but failed to chart. Obviously those radio stations were less impressed with this song than I am.

All tracks were originally released on vinyl albums, five of them being from West By West, with four each from Red Hot and Don't make me wait on the moon. The remaining track, Dark side of the moon, was included as a solo track on the duet album The David Frizzell & Shelly West Album. That track is actually the oldest recording here, but being the second track here, it spoils the otherwise perfect chronological order. I agree with that, because it would be inconceivable to make it the lead track ahead of Jose Cuervo.

In this collection, Shelly demonstrates her ability to sing both up-tempo songs and ballads, mostly recorded in a style typical of early eighties country music. Among those who are fussy about what kind of country music they listen to, Shelly's music is more likely to appeal to fans of Barbara Mandrell than to fans of Dottie West. However, as somebody who is a huge fan of both of those singers, I'm very happy that this music is once again available on CD.

This is truely the best of Shelly West, it's a shame that we have to import the music just because the artist is not headline anymore

Shelly West, the daughter of country legend Dottie West, had a run of hits from the early to mid-80s, most notably in duet with David Frizzell, but also as a solo act. Her pairings with Frizzell are anthologized on the separate collection The Very Best of David Frizzell & Shelly West, leaving this set to present her solo sides. Included are nine singles running from 1983's "Jose Cuervo" through 1985's "Now There's You." Also included is the B-side "Sexy Side" and four album tracks; missing are her last two singles from 1986, "What Would You Do" and "Love Don't Come Any Better Than This." These are all original recordings from the Warner/Viva label, just as listeners will remember have heard them on radio in the 1980s.

West's voice is powerful, but producer Snuff Garrett (who'd made his name with pop acts like Gary Lewis, Bobby Vee and Cher) vacillated between styled arrangements of steel guitar, fiddle and bent-note piano, and pop productions filled with studio-tuned drums and crystalline guitars. These sounds fit easily into early `80s country radio playlists that featured Barbara Mandrell, Ronnie Milsap, Anne Murray and others, but in retrospect they sound overly processed and polished. West bowed out of the music industry in 1986 just as the neo-traditionalists were stripping away much of Nashville's crossover gloss, so we'll never really know how her huskily powerful voice would have sounded without the studio-contrived production.

There are twangy tunes in "Jose Cuervo," "Somebody Buy This Cowgirl a Beer," "I'll Dance the Two Step" and "Now There's You," but many of the collection's country lyrics are undermined by heavy-handed crossover arrangements whose country instrumentation is little more than ornamentation. "Flight 309 to Tennessee" is marred by flecks of power guitar chords, tuned drums and by-the-numbers strings. West is more of a crooner than a roots singer, and combined with Garrett's production, these singles are often more adult contemporary than country. Taken on the premise that these records didn't intend to draw heavily on country music's roots, fans of early `80s country will be happy to have these original sides available on CD. 3-1/2 stars, if allowed fractional ratings. [©2009 hyperbolium dot com]

The only song on this album that I had ever heard before was Jose Cuervo. I wish I had just bought the song and saved the rest of my money.