Search - Gene Pitney, Melba Montgomery :: Being Together/The Country Side of Gene Pitney

Unsuccessful but brilliant country albums

Peter Durward Harris | Leicester England | 04/12/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Following the success of his two albums of duets with George Jones, Gene teamed up with Melba Montgomery to record an album. Melba had also recorded duets with George - they did three albums together and had several country hits. The combination of Gene and Melba was not as successful as either of them had been when paired with George. They sound great together and the album yielded a top 20 country hit with Baby ain't that fine. The album features two solo tracks by George (If I were, June is as cold as December) and two Melba solos (Don't put an end to me, I'm looking for the man). For those of you unfamiliar with Melba, she has a thick Alabama accent and is as country as they come. I love Melba's voice, but if you don't like twangy country, stay away from this. Melba's brother wrote all except four of the songs here, which were usually co-written with Melba. Dallas Frazier wrote three of the others.After the album with Melba, Gene finally recorded a solo country album. Melba, her brother and Dallas Frazier also contributed songs to this album, but Gene also acknowledged George by recording two of his songs, Life to go and She thinks I still care. This album didn't even yield a hit single, although one was released - I'm gonna listen to me. Thus ended Gene's four-album career in country music.This twofer is hardly essential, but it is interesting and enjoyable."