Skimpy, many songs improved over Greatest Hits CD & 5 more
Bradley Olson | Bemidji, MN United States | 12/21/2001
(5 out of 5 stars)
"This CD of 12 of Burl's biggest hits is very skimpy (as with all of these US domestic Millennium Collections have in common) but it has a few tracks with improved sound over the 1996 Greatest Hits CD plus does have 5 songs that aren't on the 1996 Greatest Hits CD and they are "Mary Ann Regrets," "The Same Old Hurt," "Foggy, Foggy Dew," "Goober Peas," and "Wild Side of Life," and all songs come from clean masters. Some of the tracks that have noticeably improved sound over the 1996 Greatest Hits CD include "Lavender Blue," "Blue Tail Fly," "Big Rock Candy Mountain" but fans should still keep their 1996 CD anyway for many more classics in fact only 7 of these 12 songs are on the 1996 CD anyway. This disc is highly recommended for several of the tracks in improved sound over the 1996 CD entitled "Greatest Hits" and for the 5 songs not on that CD."
I love Burl Ives, but...
Candace Scott | Lake Arrowhead, CA, USA | 02/29/2004
(3 out of 5 stars)
"This is simply not a good selection of Ives' songs. Several of the versions are grossly inferior earlier cuts with poor sound quality. I refer particularly to the incomparably lovely "Lavender Blue" and "Goober Peas." The versions included here were recorded in the late 1940's and later versions by Burl are infinitely superior. The only stellar cuts are "A Little Bitty Tear" and "Maryann Regrets." The rest of the songs were not big hits and are poor filler material.Burl Ives was an American treasure and his best work has aged well and is still wonderful music. However, you won't find it on this weak compilation."
The Essence Of Burl Ives
I. C. Leggott | 10/15/2008
(5 out of 5 stars)
"This brought back memories from my childhood.
The quality of the recording was superb"
This Could Have Been So Much Better
I. C. Leggott | 06/18/2008
(3 out of 5 stars)
"I have to agree with those other reviewers who point to the obvious shortcomings of this release in the vast 20th Century Masters Series. I mean, if you are going to honour a legend like Burl Ives in a 12-track release, a man who had some 19 hit singles from 1948 to 1968, wouldn't it be prudent to put in 12 of those hits?
The last three here, while perhaps familiar to his many fans, cannot be considered among his "best" - not if you concede that "best" means those songs of his that made national charts. The remaining nine are bona fide hit singles, some among them indeed his very best, such as A Little Bitty Tear (# 1 Adult Contemporary [AC]/# 2 Country/# 9 Billboard Pop Hot 100 in late 1961/early 1962), Funny Way Of Laughing (# 3 AC/# 9 Country/# 10 Hot 100 in May 1962), Call Me Mr. In-Between (# 3 Country/# 6 AC/# 19 Hot 100 in August 1962), and Mary Ann Regrets (# 12 Country/# 13 AC/# 39 Hot 100 in December 1962). Not many artists were able to score such big hits on all three of those charts.
Before that, way back in th 1940s, he teamed up with The Andrews Sisters on Blue Tail Fly (# 24 Pop in summer 1948), and in February 1949 got together with Captain Stubby & The Buccaneers to take Lavender Blue (Dilly Dilly) to # 13 C&W and # 16 Pop. From the early 1950s period come The Wild Side Of Life which, with Grady Martin & His Slew Foot Five, made it to # 6 C&W and # 30 Pop in the summer of 1952.
Lesser hits represented here include The Same Old Hurt (# 91 Hot 100 in February 1963) and Pearly Shells (Popo O Ewa), which finished at # 60 Hot 100 in late summer 1964.
All of the foregoing hits were on the Decca (MCA) label, which probably accounts for the absence of these Columbia hits: Riders In The Sky (Cowboy Legend), which was a # 8 C&W/# 21 Pop hit in June 1949; On Top Of Old Smoky, a # 10 Pop in June 1951 with Percy Faith's orchestra, and his last hit from 1968, the Dylan-penned I'll Be Your Baby Tonight, which peaked at # 35 AC and # 133 Hot 100 "Bubble Under" in July.
But that still leaves these overlooked Decca hits, any three of which would have been better choices than the last three tracks: This Is All I Ask (# 67 Hot 100 in August 1963); True Loves Goes On And On (# 66 Hot 100 in late 1963/early 1964); Evil On My Mind (# 47 Country in September 1966); and Lonesome 7-7203 (# 72 Country in February 1967). Then, of course, there's also A Holly Jolly Christmas from the animated TV show in 1964, Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer, which made it to # 13 on the Billboard Christmas charts that year, and charted again in 1997 at # 30 AC.
Not a very thorough job by compilers Joseph F. Laredo (who also wrote the two pages of liner notes) and Andy McKale.