Most Helpful Customer Reviews
|
|
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Almost Complete, March 14, 2002
By A Customer
This stunning Texas preacher's daughter packs a rifle-shot tenor into her pint-sized frame. During her early years on the now-defunct MTM label, she insisted on snappy guitar, mandolin, and fiddle instrumentation and the result was an infectious mix of neo-rockabilly, Bakersfield shuffles, folk ballads, and bluegrass, set to traditional (and occasionally pop/rock) arrangements which garnered her an impressive, largely self-penned string of up-tempo hits. The best of that period is represented here, and it's hard to argue with the Grammy-nominated duet with Michael-Martin Murphy "Face In The Crowd," or her finest moment, the touching ballad "Daddy's Hands." There are some glaring omissions, however: two early MTM gems are missing (the rollicking "That's What Your Love Does to Me" and "My Anniversary of Being A Fool," but Dunn may have wanted to include only songs she had written or co-written on this collection.) Her self-penned, nostalgic 1990 ballad "No One Takes The Train" was included instead and released as a single to promote the CD, but even with her voice still on track, the stark, pop-flavored solo piano accompaniment and complete lack of traditional country instrumentation took early 1990 country fans and radio by surprise and the single summarily stalled on the country charts. Her first MTM CD, "Across the Rio Grande," remains her finest effort but is out of print.
|
|
|
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Holly has out "Dunn" herself!, June 30, 1999
By A Customer
I was looking for a song to use for the Father/Daughter dance at my wedding and came across Daddy's Hands. I bought the CD just for that song because it was so touching. What I found was that the entire CD is enjoyable. I am happy that I bought the whole thing!
|
|
|
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A brief but brilliant hit-making career, March 5, 2003
In the late eighties, Holly Dunn was highly successful on the American country charts despite being on a small independent label, MTM, which was established by actress Mary Tyler-Moore. Eventually MTM closed and Warners took over Holly's music. Some minor hits are missing but all the essential hits are here.
The set opens with Daddy's hands, the song for which Holly is perhaps best known, in which Holly praises her father while acknowledging that he could be hard when the occasion demanded it.
Maybe I mean yes was Holly's last big hit, but caused a lot of controversy. Holly asked for the single to be pulled and radio stations to stop playing it. It seems to have killed her career, which is a pity. Although she continued to record great music, the radio stations were no longer interested.
The other nine songs here are all wonderful examples of country music at its best. Most of the songs are upbeat in outlook, though there is the occasional tinge of sadness, as in Strangers again. Perhaps one day somebody will release a more generous compilation of 16 or 20 tracks, but until then, this CD provides an excellent sampling of Holly's music.
|
|
|
Most Recent Customer Reviews
|
by Holly Dunn 
