Gisele MacKenzie's career flourished during the time when
pop music was making the transition toward
rock & roll and
teen pop, which is reflected in several of her recordings. Her biggest hit, "Hard to Get," is purely a
traditional pop song, but "Pepper Hot Baby" is a
pop/rock hybrid -- it packs a mild rock rhythm with its big-band arrangement.
MacKenzie covered
the Charms'
r&b hit "Two Hearts" (as did
Frank Sinatra in 1955) and
Pee Wee King's
country hit "Slow Poke," but these recordings are outliers in a set of music dominated by classic
pop. Hard to Get compiles
MacKenzie's X and Vik recordings, which means that the title track is the only Top 40 hit in view ("Pepper Hot Baby" and "The Star You Wished Upon Last Night" were minor chart items). Oddities include French-language versions of "Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White" and "Tell Me That You Love Me." In the early '50s,
MacKenzie waxed several substantial hits for Capitol that are not included, so the anthology seems to be aimed at those who enjoyed the Top Five hit "Hard to Get" enough to invest in an entire disc of unknown recordings. Luckily, the strong performances and variety of material make for an engaging listening experience, but Hard to Get tells only half of the
Gisele MacKenzie story. ~ Greg Adams, All Music Guide
