Very Best of [Original recording remastered]

Sue Thompson | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 12, 2003)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Original recording remastered
• Label: Varese Sarabande
• ASIN: B0000ALFXK
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #75,334 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Norman

2. My Hero

3. Sad Movies (Make Me Cry)

4. Angel, Angel

5. If the Boy Only Knew

6. James (Hold the Ladder Steady)

7. Have a Good Time

8. Two of a Kind

9. Bad Boy

10. Paper Tiger

11. Language of Love

12. The Two of Us Together

13. I Think They Call It Love

14. Big Mable Murphy

15. Good Old Fashioned Country Love

16. Oh How Love Changes

Editorial Reviews

16 track collection features all of her biggest pop & country chart hits, including her duets with Don Gibson. All of the tracks have been digitally remastered. Varese Sarabande. 2003.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A message from the compilation producer, September 16, 2003

By 

Cary E. Mansfield (Studio City, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Very Best of (Audio CD)

Sue Thompson sounded like a perky teenager on her string of 1960s smashes for Nashville-based Hickory Records. Utilizing Nashville's top session pickers, Sue scored big in 1961 with "Sad Movies (Always Make Me Cry)" and the lighthearted "Norman," came back the next year with the novelty rocker "James (Hold The Ladder Steady)," and got downright sassy in '65 with "Paper Tiger." All four of them were penned by prolific Nashville songwriter John D. Loudermilk, and they're featured in this comprehensive overview of Sue Thompson's Hickory catalog, along with her 1975 country hit "Big Mable Murphy" and four duets she made with the legendary Don Gibson that climbed the Country charts during the early '70s. The only hits collection to feature all of her biggest Pop and Country chart hits, including her duets with Don Gibson. All of the tracks have been digitally remastered from newly found sources, making this the best sounding Sue Thompson CD available.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Best Sue Thompson collection so far..., March 12, 2004

By 

Zub "Zubenelgenubi" (Forks Twp., PA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Very Best of (Audio CD)

Listening to her recordings now or when they first became top-10 charting singles, the audience may think of her as a cutesy, bubbly teenage girl, a sort of Brenda Lee without the grit. This may contribute to why her music had been somewhat sidestepped in the CD reissue market. Ms. Thompson was, in fact, a married woman with a decade of performing and recording behind her before she finally hit the pop charts big time after pairing up with songwriter John D. Loudermilk. Thompson went on to see seven of her tunes make the top-100, the four most successful being written by Loudermilk. Her last pop charting entry was the infectious, quirky, stomping "Paper Tiger", a tune that surprisingly only reached into the top 25. After several years off the charts, Thompson re-emerged and made some noise on the country music charts solo and with duets with Don Gibson during the early and mid-70's.

This collection of her pop and country hits gathers up most of her charted singles and is vastly superior to most of the existing domestic Sue Thompson collections. If fault is to be found here, it is the somewhat surprising omission of one of her pop hits in favor of a b-side. Otherwise, this is an excellent compilation boasting superior sound quality (all tracks in stereo) and an informative liner notes booklet with photos and illustrations. A welcome addition to the reissue marketplace.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars +3/4 -- Thorough collection of 60s/70 Nashville songbird, October 13, 2003

By 

hyperbolium (Earth, USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Very Best of (Audio CD)

Varese's latest treasure hunt from Nashville's Hickory Records catalog spotlights a vocalist who found chart success in the early '60s with sweet, Brenda Lee styled pop, and again in the '70s, with light country fare that paired her with the legendary Don Gibson. Perhaps the most surprising aspect of her hits are the heavyweight songwriters who supplied the songs: John D. Loudermilk, Felice & Boudleaux Bryant, Roy Orbison and Dallas Frazier.

All sixteen of these sides were produced by Hickory head-honcho, Wesley Rose, using Nashville studio pickers and orchestration to create a poppier version of the Nashville Sound. Thompson's vocals were surprising youthful, given her mid-30s age in the early '60s, not to mention the decade of experience that preceded her tenure at Hickory. In addition to live work in talent shows, and on radio and television, Thompson recorded a number of country and western swing tunes as part of Dude Martin's entourage in the '50s.

Her earlier work at Mercury (not anthologized here) found her moving in a pop direction, with several sides backed by the label's house orchestra, under the direction of David Carroll. It was a direction that would pay dividends, especially when matched up with the teen-oriented material of John D. Loudermilk. Thompson's first hit, "Sad Movies (Make Me Cry)," is a keenly produced story of teenage infidelity, with a twangy bass played against swirling strings and a '50s-styled saxophone. She followed up with the cute, march-tempo, "Norman," featuring an insidious title hook and a pep-band horn arrangement. Her 1962 hit, "James (Hold the Ladder)," has a similar, showtune-styled step to it.

Ballads, such as "Two of a Kind," lean back to the country side of the Nashville Sound, with Floyd Cramer's laconic slip-key piano and the Anita Kerr singers setting the mood. Thompson also sang torch tunes, like the Bryants' "Have a Good Time," though they don't match her young-sounding voice as well as the more treacly teenage material. Similarly, "Bad Boy" sounds more like an Elvis movie tossoff than a song from the pen of Roy Orbison. Thompson closed out her pop-hit career in 1965 with Loudermilk's "Paper Tiger," combining a bluesy harmonica with a vocal that sounds like Haley Mills channeling Ann-Margret.

The early '70s found Thompson's commercial fortunes revived via a series of duets with Don Gibson. Gibson's own "The Two of Us Together" kicked off a short string of successes, setting his relaxed vocal against Thompson's still young sounding voice. Though there are pop touches (the electric sitar of "I Think They Call it Love"), these are more decidedly country productions than Thompson's earlier work on the label. Her solo single, "Big Mable Murphy," mixing Roaring 20s jazz with Dixieland-styled horns, rang up #50 on the country chart.

This is a nicely balanced collection of Thompson's Hickory years, pulling together her earlier pop singles with her later country successes. Now all we need is for someone to put together a collection of her pre-Hickory work!