Search - Connie Smith :: Born to Sing

Connie Smith's voice is beautiful, but that is not all.

hms54 | Oakland, CA | 12/06/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Connie Smith has a beautiful voice, but there is much more which makes her voice the best female voice ever recorded, such as a wider vocal range and greater richness than any other female singer, not to mention her own individual sound and super intensity. However, what makes her voice really stand out is that she has a wide range of vocalizations. That makes her voice THRILLING! One never knows what she will sound like when she sings. In at least one song in this collection she sounds extremely like Patsy Cline, and in another one can hear Connie Francis inside her voice. The other CD of Smith's recordings called "Connie Smith & Miss Smith Goes to Nashville" are of her first and third albums, not first and second. This four CD set has the first few years of Smith's album recordings, but not nearly all of her RCA recordings. It consists of about a dozen of her first albums, a little less than one third of all her recordings. It is a shame country music radio is now owned by giant corporations who will only air recordings by young singers. Connie Smith if aired would show up today's singers as rank amateurs. After listening to this collection one can only scream for MORE! PLEASE TURN ALL HER RECORDS INTO CD'S AS SOON AS POSSIBLE!"

Connie's first nine albums, plus extra tracks

Peter Durward Harris | Leicester England | 01/28/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This boxed set contains everything Connie recorded from 1964 to 1967. Bear Family sets sometimes include lots of alternate takes, these are limited in this box to two alternative versions of I'll come running and one alternate version of Burning a hole in my mind, although it does include four French language tracks, which are versions of her American country hits. Because this set stops at 1967 and there is no certainty of a sequel, it does not replace your hits collection, although this was Connie's most successful period so a lot of her own hits are here, including Once a day, Ain't had no lovin' and Cincinnati Ohio.Of the nine albums whose tracks are included here, the first and third are available separately as a twofer. That twofer was released only a few months before this box. I've already reviewed that, and as I explained, those are Connie's two best albums from this period - but the others are also of a very high standard, but they contain plenty of covers. I enjoy listening to covers but not everybody gets the same pleasure as I do.There are some gospel songs, including Wings of a dove, Farther along and When God dips his love in my heart. There are pop songs, including Downtown (Petula), Born a woman (Sandy Posey), The night has a thousand eyes (Bobby Vee) and It's now or never (Elvis). But mostly, there are country songs, many written by Bill Anderson and Dallas Frazier. Among the many country covers here are You ain't woman enough (Loretta Lynn), Ride ride ride (Lynn Anderson) and There goes my everything (Jack Greene, Engelbert Humperdinck and Elvis). Connie also covered Po' folks and I love you drops, both hits for Bill Anderson. Although Bill wrote songs that he allowed others to have hits with, he kept some for himself. Connie loved them so much that she recorded them anyway.This is a well-presented set, as anybody familiar with Bear Family would expect. If you are already familiar with Connie's music, you will know what to expect. If not, I recommend that you start with The Essential, which I've also reviewed."

It's about time!

C. A. Merrill | Oak Park, CA United States | 03/15/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is a long overdue boxed set on the fine work of Connie Smith. It is a complete catalog of her first 3 years with RCA. I beleive it contains material that has not been previously released. This is definately Connie at her finest. The sound is excellent, and the enclosed booklet has a detailed history of Connies career during this time frame as well as a gold mine of photos. If you are already singing Connies praises, you will treasure this goldmine of music. The clarity of Connies voice, the great songs and music will truly provide lasting enjoyment. If you weren't previously a fan of Connies, you will be after hearing this set. A five star rating is not enough, I give it a 10!"