Search - Patsy Cline :: Essential Patsy Cline

Some good songs but definitely not ALL the "essentials"

Greg Brady | Capital City | 07/21/2005

(2 out of 5 stars)

"Anything that bills itself as "essential" should surely include Patsy's best country chart singles but this misses the mark by quite a bit. M.I.A. are "I Fall to Pieces" (#1 country,#12 pop, one of Patsy's most well-known numbers!),"Crazy"(#2 country,#9 pop,Patsy's SIGNATURE song), "She's Got You" (#1 country,#14 pop),"When I Get Through with You"(#10 country,#53 pop),"Leavin' on your Mind" (#8 country,#83 pop chart),"Sweet Dreams" (#5 country,#44 pop), and "Faded Love" (#7 country,#96 pop).



That's 7 solid country chart hits that aren't here! Even if you argue that a singer's "best" material isn't necessarily the hits, it's hard to say that their hits are NEVER their best stuff...which seems to be the case this CD would like to make.



BOTTOM LINE:

If you don't have "Crazy" and "I Fall to Pieces", you're missing out on 2 of her MOST essential cuts. You might be able to argue for or against the other selections but those 2 are huge commercial AND artistic successes. They simply can't be excluded.



Get the remastered "DEFINITIVE PATSY CLINE (ASIN B0002B163W) instead. It has all her country hits except "Yes I Understand" and "Anytime" (two of her lower charters) and 1981 studio duet "Have you Ever Been Lonely?" with Jim Reeves (hit #5 country). You also get two songs that charted pop but not country in "Strange" and "Heartaches"."