Search - Dolly Parton :: Covered By Dolly

Great Balls of Fire, This is Terrific!

"Tee" | LA | 11/01/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Congrats to this company for being more creative in releasing a budget Dolly Parton release!! There are dozens - probably a countless number - of smaller CD labels that have licensed Dolly Parton cuts for releases but they usually stick to yet another package of her original greatest hits. This company has gone into Dolly's RCA albums and pulled her cover versions of twelve songs made famous by other artists (including two that actually were hits for Dolly in her covers, 1983's SAVE THE LAST DANCE FOR ME and 1981's HOUSE OF THE RISING SUN in addition to 1969's IN THE GHETTO which a modest chart success for her in the country field as Elvis Presley's version was topping the pop chart.) These recordings span from 1968 to 1983, the earliest being her cover of Jeannie C. Riley's HARPER VALLEY PTA. Her version of Joe South's GAMES PEOPLE PLAY appeared on a 1969 album but after that Dolly recorded almost exclusively original songs until targeting the "pop" audience in the late 1970's. Thus the gap jumps to 1977 for HIGHER AND HIGHER and 1979 for her vaguely discoish take on Jerry Lee Lewis' GREAT BALLS OF FIRE and her delightful bluegrass version of the Beatles' HELP!, in my opinion one of the very few successful attempts at reworking a Beatles song into something different. The country standard RELEASE ME (a hit several times, for Ray Price, Kitty Wells, etc.) is from her 1982 album, not her vintage early 1960's recording from her teen years that shows up constantly on cheapie CDs. Several of the songs on this collection are from her 1983 album "The Great Pretender", her first full album of covers, SAVE THE LAST DANCE FOR ME, I CAN'T HELP MYSELF, I WALK THE LINE, and the sensational TURN! TURN! TURN!, rockin' with a gospel fervor into one of Dolly's very best performances. This is a terrific set of Dolly tracks, giving her own unique readings on a dozen famous pop/country songs - let's hope this company releases a volume two!!"