Search - Timi Yuro :: Amazing Timi Yuro: The Mercury Years

Truely Amazing!!!

David Byers | Ontario,CANADA | 08/15/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Yes, finally Timi's "amazing" Mercury LP has been remastered onto CD. For years my only connection to it was a cassette tape of vinyl and hope that someone, somewhere would have the insight to locate the master tapes (if they even existed...) and do Timi Yuro justice. I listen to this release with some sadness however, knowing that it never happened in this remarkable lady's lifetime.I got into Timi from a mid 70's bargain bin find and although have and still listen to all kinds of off-beat music, Timi Yuro was really something special. Maybe she was born 30 years too soon and for the time (in the early 60s), her somewhat ethnic stage name and lusty soulfulness was lost on white-bread America. Intially she was swept up in the teen idol singer craze that dominated youth music and so then essentially shut out of the adult album buying market. Oh well... The original LP benefited from inventive arrangements, and overall great song selection and recording.You never hear a singer soar with such intuitive nuance and soul (and without the fake histronics...)as you will on " The Amazing Timi Yuro". I think it's her finest work and you can tell she loved making it.I do think, "Johnny",one of Bobby Scott's beautiful originals, could allude to Johnny Burnette who was a Liberty label mate of Timi's and at least a casual friend.He died in a boating accident not long before this LP was put together.I get this feeling anyway...The singles included while often border on greatness definitely lack a direction. But I've always loved,"Get Out Of My Life" and its flip and wonder if Timi and the late great Teddy Randazzo could have continued a collaboration what beautiful fruits might have been harvested. Randazzo, although sadly underated,was, as a songwriter/arranger up there with Burt Bach. et al. He went on to give the world, "The Elegent Sound Of The Royalettes", an LP beauty in the "mature" girl group vein (among his other great pop/soul confections). Worth seeking out.If only Timi had gotten to " Goin' Out Of My Head" first..."The Amazing Timi Yuro- The Mercury Years" is a must listen, an overlooked treasure, by one of the greatest singers you'll ever hear and yes, a desert island pick for sure!!! Thankyou Timi, and too, all those involved in this long awaited re-issue."

WHY ARE SOME TRACKS NOT INCLUDED

M. J. Rossiter | UK | 10/05/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Timi only recorded one album with Mercury, which is here and also includes most of the Mercury singles. Unfortunately there are some tracks not included, and I don't understand why.

This album is the most "adult" set of recordings she ever made, and they will never date. Her voice is sheer perfection, and Tim wrings every ounce of emotion she has on each one. My own personal favourite is "All I Need Is You", but they are all gems.

She was a terrific singer, and to me outshone Striesand and Franklin and all the other female singers. I think she suffered from very bad promotion and management, as she should have been a huge star.

I have every record she made, some are signed by her, which I treasure. I also now have almost everything she did on cd, which saves me from playing my treasured vinyl which I will never part with.

I also have fan club material which I have kept from the sixties, plus a couple of letters she wrote to me. The last one was very sad, as she was telling me that she had just recorded what she called "the last thing I can ever offer to you", which was her superb album with Willie Nelson. She knew she would never record again due to her wicked cancer, which eventually took her from us. She is so very sadly missed, not only as a lovely little lady, but also as possibly one of the greatest white soul singers who ever lived.

Why she never reached the top I just don't know as she certainly deserved to be there.... Mike Rossiter"

At Last Timi's mercury Recordings On CD!!!!!

Mike Newmyer | Ohio | 07/04/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Finally Universal music got it together to release this body of work by the Great Timi Yuro!!



This CD chronicles Timi's years on Mercury Records 1964-1967. The 24 track CD starts out with Timi's only LP she released on Mercury Records in 1964 titled: The Amazing Timi Yuro. The 12 tracks on this album were lush arrangements of old standards and a few new tunes. The album was produced by the legendary Quincy Jones and features Timi's powerful voice on standards such as: I Got It Bad (And That Ain't Good), My Foolish Heart, I can Dream Can't I etc. It also features new songs written for this Album such as: All I Need Is You, Johnny etc. Timi's vocals are astonishing and more powerful than ever. Timi proved she could handle these sophisticated arrangements without her vocals being lost behind the huge orchestra. This was the classiest album Timi ever recorded and always considered it her favorite and best album she ever did right up until her untimely death.



The last 12 tracks on this compilation include most of the singles Timi released on Mercury between 1965 and 1967. Timi went back to tackeling the R&B and Northern Soul songs which became her trademark, as well as a few country oriented tunes. In my opinion the stand out tracks on the latter part of this CD are: Teardrops Till Dawn, Cuttin In and You Can Have Him. Can't Stop Running Away and Get Out Of My Life, Timi's 1965 single that is very collectible today are also included. The last two tracks on this CD features two Italian songs Timi recorded in 1965 for her performance at the San Remo Song Festival in Italy that same year. E Poi Verra L' Autunno and Ti Credo are two beautiful Italian songs that Timi belted out in pur Italian. Her throaty vocals come across very powerful in both songs with the stand out track being Ti Credo. Her italian was good and she handled these two numbers very well.



My only gripe with this compilation is that it left off one single completely and also two other flip-sides. Don't Leave Me Lonely Too Long a country weeper and You Took My Happy Away (written by Timi's longtime friend Willie Nelson) were totally left off this collection as well as the flip-side to Pretend: Once A Day (another country song made famous by Connie Smith in 1964) as well as the flip-side of Teardrops Till Dawn: Big Mistake was also cut out of this CD. Now come on guys, this CD was only 24 tracks, it could have easily been 28 with the last four songs included, so all released material during these years could have made it to CD for the first time. Even though I find that dissapointing, I enjoyed hearing these songs very much on CD for the first time. They have all been re-mastered and sound great. The Marginal CD: The Ultimate Collection featured a few of Timi's Mercury songs, but they were taken from vinyl and remastered and do not sound nearly as good as this release. Fans are now lucky enough to own a legitimate CD release of these great songs Timi did during this half of her career. I am lucky enough to own mint copies of all the 45's issued and had them transferred to CD, but the sound quality on here sounds much better.



Timi returned to Liberty Records in 1968 and cut her last album for several years the fan favorite of many: Something Bad On My Mind. Timi then retired from the business appearing ocasionaly thru the 70's and recorded only a couple times during this period. Throat cancer palgued her in the early 80's and went into remission so Timi was able to record three albums in the 80's the last being an album of all Willie Nelson tunes where the famous country singer lent Timi his band to record the project.



Sadly Timi Yuro passed away in March of 2004 from cancer at the young age of 63. She left behind a legacy of music no other singer will ever be able to live up to. At last die hard fans like me are finally able to see most of Timi's recordings on CD. I suggest all of us die hard fans contact Bear Family Records in Germany (look for their web site online) and suggest they put together a box set of Timi's complete recordings. Until then, I hope you all enjoy this great CD by one of the greatest and most under-rated female singers of all time: Miss Timi Yuro.



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