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stoutfellowAlbum Title: The Definitive Collection. (This is the first of three albums I have with the same title, distinguishable by the artist involved. It must have been a series or something.)
Why I Bought It: Because... well, because Patsy Cline. (Seriously, I'd heard so much about her without ever having actually heard her, that I jumped at the chance.)
What I Like (Rich and Poor): "A Poor Man's Roses". Yeah, it's an old-fashioned story, but she sings it well. And yet the hand that brings the rose tonight / Is the hand I will hold / For the rose of love means more to me / More than any rich man's gold. (You know, there are a lot of these songs from the male perspective - "Down in the Boondocks", "Poor Side of Town", more distantly Gene Pitney's "Follow the Sun" - but offhand I can't recall another from the female POV.)
What I Like (The Original): "Always". This, along with "Crazy", is probably among her most-covered songs, but the clarity of Cline's voice makes the original stand out from the crowd.
What I Like (Determined): "When I Get Thru With You". The singer maps out a campaign, and poor Suzy's gonna cry.... This is the flip side of "She's Got You", which is also on this album, and also pretty good.
What I Don't Like (Fish and Bicycles): "When You Need A Laugh". Absolutely pathetic. Even Lesley Gore at her most helpless wouldn't stoop to this.
Overall: Patsy Cline ranks very high on the "purity of tone" scale, and I would love her for that alone. The themes of her songs are mostly well-worn and sometimes mockable (xkcd ran a cartoon on the inanity of "Walkin' After Midnight" in the cell-phone era), but newness isn't everything; the specific context may be obsolete, but the situation is still a familiar one. "I Fall to Pieces", "San Antonio Rose", "Why Can't He Be You" - they're almost all good. (I could do without the pseudo-yodeling in "Lovesick Blues", but that's an exception.) If only she had lived longer....
Why I Bought It: Because... well, because Patsy Cline. (Seriously, I'd heard so much about her without ever having actually heard her, that I jumped at the chance.)
What I Like (Rich and Poor): "A Poor Man's Roses". Yeah, it's an old-fashioned story, but she sings it well. And yet the hand that brings the rose tonight / Is the hand I will hold / For the rose of love means more to me / More than any rich man's gold. (You know, there are a lot of these songs from the male perspective - "Down in the Boondocks", "Poor Side of Town", more distantly Gene Pitney's "Follow the Sun" - but offhand I can't recall another from the female POV.)
What I Like (The Original): "Always". This, along with "Crazy", is probably among her most-covered songs, but the clarity of Cline's voice makes the original stand out from the crowd.
What I Like (Determined): "When I Get Thru With You". The singer maps out a campaign, and poor Suzy's gonna cry.... This is the flip side of "She's Got You", which is also on this album, and also pretty good.
What I Don't Like (Fish and Bicycles): "When You Need A Laugh". Absolutely pathetic. Even Lesley Gore at her most helpless wouldn't stoop to this.
Overall: Patsy Cline ranks very high on the "purity of tone" scale, and I would love her for that alone. The themes of her songs are mostly well-worn and sometimes mockable (xkcd ran a cartoon on the inanity of "Walkin' After Midnight" in the cell-phone era), but newness isn't everything; the specific context may be obsolete, but the situation is still a familiar one. "I Fall to Pieces", "San Antonio Rose", "Why Can't He Be You" - they're almost all good. (I could do without the pseudo-yodeling in "Lovesick Blues", but that's an exception.) If only she had lived longer....
