Joan Weber - Complete Recordings (15 tracks) +Album Reviews

The day we thought would never come

07/14/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"After Joan Weber shot to #1 with "Let Me Go, Lover," possibly the most-covered hit record of all time, there is no reason she could not have gone to a lasting hit-filled career. The followup, "It May Sound Silly," was terrific and the McGuire Sisters landed a hit with it. But the record slipped out with no promotion or attention. I've been told by disc jockeys who should know that the problem was Weber was pregnant at the time of "Let Me Go, Lover" and not in good condiition for touring or performing and that her marriage was going through difficulties. And that, for who knows what reasons, Mitch Miller was not ready to invest money and time in a career for her. The rest of her career at Columbia, which was a product of her intiial contract rather than any interest in giving her success, involved her recording some really low-quality songs and trying all sorts of singing styles.
There is no evidence of her ever getting any coaching for performing. She over-emotes, over-phrases and sings too close to the microphone and sobs to show emotion. All that easily could have been corrected.
There was one more great record, Ferlin Huskey's terrific song, "Gone," and it got radio play but again Columbia just neglected it until it died on the vine. Weber ended up a restaurant hostess and a tragic figure.
I've always thought it criminal that nearly 50 years after "Let Me Go, Lover" she never got an album, never got a C.D., as her work on Columbia is truly interesting and off-beat, for all the right and all the wrong , reasons. She certainly did not deserve the shabby treatment she got and certainly did not deserve musical oblivion. "Let Me Go, Lover," "Marionette" and "Gone" are reason enought to have this long, long overdue C.D."

Answers The Mystery

Listening In North St. Paul | Minnesota | 08/03/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This collection answers the question: why didn't Joan Weber have another chart record after the classic "Let Me Go Lover"? The next few records (all on this CD) are memorable - but definitely not commercial (even in 1955). Her last few singles are much improved, but the momentum was apparently gone. For any fan of 1950's female pop - this is really an interesting collection."

The Music Industry's Shame

K. W. Grossman | Illinois | 12/20/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Joan Weber was a viable and talented artist whose carear was thrown away by the music industry in favor of other artists that were already "on their way and proven" (The McGuire Sisters, Doris Day, Teresa Brewer. to name two). Some of these artists were rerecording Joan's efforts in the same time frame and, therefore, redirecting her impact. Much has been made of her being pregnant at the time, but this is not the real reason. Nor was her not being able to tour for several months the real reason. After all, she had a #1 hit after she had performed this hit live on TV ,Studio One, well into her pregnancy. The music industry practice was to pay their artists as little as possible and it had a strangle hold on everyone. They had their favorites and that was that. Mitch Miller, head of A&R at Columbia, did not want to invest further in her carear. Joan Weber was not the first carear Mr. Miller had ruined nor the last. He was without boundaries and did as he chose with his personal priorities tainting the choices. Perhaps she was too good and would have given Doris Day and other invested favorites a run for their money. Perhaps some of the good old boys crowd attitude was in play. Whatever, I am truly grateful to finally own the only non single release she ever had, released way beyond her death, by Collectables and Sony in 2004. It is efforts like this that is finally reviving "lost" talent. One wonders if she would have died in such sad circumstances had she been allowed to blossom. I cried for her when I read her biography."

She Deserved Better

K. W. Grossman | 08/07/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Joan Weber will forever be ensconced in that list dreaded by all Pop artists - the one with the heading "One-Hit Wonders." But it wasn't because she lacked talent. True, she was not in the same class as contemporaries like Jo Stafford, Rosemary Clooney, Georgia Gibbs, Doris Day, and Kay Starr - few were - but you will quickly determine, when listening to this long-lost library of some of her cuts, that she was certainly as good as Joni James, June Valli, Jaye P. Morgan, Teresa Brewer, and Betty Johnson. And that is high praise enough.

Born on December 12, 1935 in Paulsboro, New Jersey, she was just 18 when brought to the soon-to-be-famous Brill Building in NY City where she impressed producer and orchestra leader Charles Randolph Greane, husband of Betty Johnson. He, in turn, brought her to the attention of Mitch Miller, then A&R chief at Columbia Records who, in developing music for a CBS-TV Studio One production, had been playing around with a song first cut the year before by Georgie Shaw under the title Let Me Go, Devil.

After changing the lyrics and title to Let Me Go, Lover he had her record it with Jimmy Carroll and his orchestra in time for the November 15, 1954 show, and after it was featured no less than six times during the airing the demand went through the roof. With Marionette on the flipside, a Columbia single release shot to # 1 on the Billboard Pop Top 100 and stayed there for four weeks, spending 16 weeks in total on the charts well into 1955.

Within days of its release the other major labels were rushing out covers, led by Mercury's Patti Page [# 8], Teresa Brewer with The Lancers for Decca's Coral subsidiary [# 6], and RCA Victor's Sunny Gale [# 17]. Also for RCA Victor was Hank Snow's version which reached # 1 Country.

Such a debut is not always easy to follow, but it's doubtful anyone at Columbia expected complete oblivion for all subsequent releases. But that's exactly what they got as nothing she did thereafter could even crack the 100 mark. Which is certainly strange given her quality cover of the Ivory Joe Hunter-penned It May Sound Silly [a # 11 for The McGuire Sisters that year], and when comparing her efforts to some of the drek that DID manage to make it past the 100 slot throughout the rest of 1955.

Joan Weber passed away on May 13, 1981 at age 45. Collectables has come up with a nice package here covering one female pop artist from the mid-1950s who deserved a much better fate."

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