Search - David Frizzell, Shelly West :: Very Best of David Frizzell & Shelly West

Any which way they can

Peter Durward Harris | Leicester England | 03/31/2010

(5 out of 5 stars)

"A younger brother of one country music legend (Lefty Frizzell) and the daughter of another (Dottie West), who was herself married for a while to Lefty's other brother, had great country pedigrees, but while this created opportunities for David and Shelly, it also had its disadvantages. Whatever they did, separately or together, inevitably invited comparisons with their illustrious relatives, especially as their voices had some similarities with their respective relatives' voices. Nevertheless, David and Shelley acquitted themselves and won some prestigious country duo of the year awards in the process. This compilation contains the best of their music as a duo, together with one of Shelly's solo tracks, though it might have made more sense to include that in the companion compilation of Shelly's solo material.



As a duo, they made their breakthrough with their number one country hit, You're the reason God made Oklahoma. It may have owed its success to its inclusion in the move of Any which way you can. I rarely bother with movies, but I watched that one on TV and as I remember, part of this song was heard played in the background at one point and wasn't part of the story. Still, it was there and so it appeared in the soundtrack, giving it much-needed exposure. That song inevitably leads off this compilation. Nothing else they did as a duo matched the success of that song, but they had ten more country hits as a duo and they are all featured here. Their solo careers also each began with a number one hit, followed by some good-sized hits before the radio stations lost interest. Those solo careers are the subject of separate compilations.



Following their big debut hit, David and Shelly had three further country top ten hits as a duo, these being A Texas state of mind, Another honky-tonk night on Broadway and I just came here to dance. They also had country top twenty hits with Husbands and wives (a cover of the old Roger Miller song), , Silent partners and It's a be together night. The other five hits were only minor hits, but are well worth a listen. They include Please surrender (from another Clint Eastwood movie, Honky tonk man) and Pleasure island, which is one of my favorites among their duets despite being the least successful A-side. Personally, I think the overall quality of their duet albums improved with each release, even as public interest diminished.



Of the five non-hits, David co-wrote Carrying on the family names, which was the title track to their debut album but was not itself released as a single. The others are covers, perhaps the most famous song being Our day will come, originally a hit for Ruby and the Romantics. The Shelly solo track, I just fall in love again, was a huge success for Anne Murray but her version was itself a cover of a song first recorded by the Carpenters. There's also a medley of Wild side of life / It wasn't God who made honky tonk angels, with David doing the first half and Shelly doing the second half. They may have been inspired by Waylon Jennings and Jessi Colter, who recorded the same medley a few years earlier. The other cover was written and first recorded by Merle Haggard at a time when he was infatuated with Dolly Parton, so the song may well have been about her originally. Dolly also recorded her own version of the song.



With this release and the two accompanying solo compilations, this is probably as much as we are ever likely to get on CD by this talented but under-rated duo. If you enjoy eighties country music, buy them while you have the chance.

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