Search - David Frizzell :: Very Best of David Frizzell

ORIGINAL RECORDINGS!

Ken Johnson | USA | 10/14/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Varese Vintage follows up their excellent duet compilation "The Very Best Of David Frizzell & Shelly West" (Varese Sarabande 302 066 970 2) with a collection of David's solo hits. Up until now fans have been disappointed with albums issued by other labels that featured re-recordings rather than the original versions of David's hits. Well folks, this CD is indeed the REAL DEAL! Here are fifteen ORIGINAL RECORDINGS that David made for the Viva/Warner Brothers label from 1981-1985.



The set begins with David's blockbuster number one hit "I'm Gonna Hire A Wino To Decorate Our Home" and contains the top ten hits "Lost My Baby Blues" and "Where Are You Spending Your Nights These Days." A solo greatest hits album was never issued by Viva/Warner Brothers back in the day so this collection is the first to assemble ALL of David's singles for that label. The lost 1984 non-LP single "No Way Jose" makes its debut here.



David pays tribute to his legendary older brother on three tracks. "Lefty" partners him with his brother's most fervent disciple, Merle Haggard. A duet with brother Allen on "We Won't Be Hearing Always Late Anymore" incorporates Lefty's voice, allowing the Frizzell brothers to reunite once again. David's excellent version of Lefty's 1952 hit "Forever And Always" is also featured.



Selected tracks from David's LP's are spotlighted including his version of a song that later became a hit for T. Graham Brown, "I Wish That I Could Hurt That Way Again." The urban-cowboy flavored "Lone Star Lonesome" and "She Wanted Me" round out the collection.



Audio quality is nothing less than superb. Once again Steve Massie does a masterful job of bringing the original 1980's studio tapes into the digital age. Resisting the temptation to over-process the audio, Massie allows us to hear the music as it was originally intended. The only way that these songs might sound better is if you were in the studio alongside David during the sessions.



Varese put as much effort into the packaging as they did the audio. Handsome photos of David from that era are included along with an original 1982 record industry trade magazine ad for the "Wino" single. Record collectors like me will get a kick out of the original VIVA record label that is embossed onto the CD. Author Lawrence Zwisohn's informative liner notes trace David's career as a roadie and opening act for Lefty to his emergence as a country star in his own right.



The next chapter of the David Frizzell/Shelly West saga is still to come. Varese Vintage will soon release a collection of Shelly's original Viva/Warner solo recordings."

Frizzell's original hit recordings from the early `80s

hyperbolium | Earth, USA | 10/28/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"As the baby brother of honky-tonk legend Lefty Frizzell, the thirteen-year-younger David Frizzell found his stardom in a very different era of country music. Lefty broke in as a child performer in the `40s and became a country star as a hardcore honky-tonker in the 1950s. He continued to have hits through the `60s and early `70s, but passed away at the age of 47 in 1975. His brother David also began performing as a child, accompanying Lefty on the road in the 1950s and `60s, and signing his first record deal in 1970. But even with a few minor hits, major commercial success was still a decade and a couple of label changes away. In 1981 he topped the charts with "You're the Reason God Made Oklahoma," a duet with Shelley West recorded for Capitol. Frizzell and West would have several more hits together, as anthologized on the companion disc, The Very Best of David Frizzell & Shelly West.



David Frizzell's solo success came the next year with "I'm Gonna Hire a Wino to Decorate Our Home." His voice retained a bit of his older brother's husk, but in his early forties, he was more of a pop balladeer than the rootsy country artist his brother had been. More importantly, Nashville in the early-80s was still mired in the crossover production gloss of the late-70s, and Frizzell's records were no exception. There are a few honky-tonk piano riffs, some steel, twangy guitar and banjo, but there are also soft strings, smooth backing vocals and warm balladry. Frizzell summoned moments of his brothers earthiness, and on hits like "I'm Gonna Hire a Wino to Decorate Our Home" and the tribute "Lefty" (the latter a duet with Merle Haggard) he quickly transcended Nashville's by-the-books studio production.



Frizzell's fans will be thrilled that Varese's finally dug up the original hit recordings from the Warner/Viva label for CD release. Up to now you had to either hunt down original vinyl or make do with re-recordings. This fifteen track set collects all ten of Frizzell's hits from 1981 ("Lefty") through 1985 ("Country Music Love Affair"), and adds five additional period tracks: "Lone Star Lonesome," "I Wish I Could Hurt That Way Again," "She Wanted Me," "We Won't Be Hearing `Always Late' Anymore," and "Forever and Always." The set comes with a four-panel insert that includes new liner notes by Lawrence Zwisohn, and features crisply remastered sound by Steve Massie. This is a long overdue collection for Frizzell's many fans and a welcome period piece for those who enjoy Nashville's soft sounds of the early-80s. [©2009 hyperbolium dot com]"