Search - Dolly Parton :: Letter to Heaven: Songs of Faith & Inspiration

A Dolly Gem!!!

Gordon L. Weiss | Fleetwood Pa. | 05/10/2010

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I just got My copy of "Letter To Heaven" This has to be a classic by far. tracks were recorded in the early to mid 1970's and can still hold up to sound like they were just recorded. I thank the RCA/Sony Legacy Label for this package, and hope they keep coming!!! The Track on this Cd that was never before released "Would you Know Him" and the bonus tracks make this package a must have!!!"

Parton's 1971 album of faith and praise + 7 bonuses

hyperbolium | Earth, USA | 05/05/2010

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Letter to Heaven returns to print 1971's Golden Streets of Glory, Dolly Parton's first full album of inspirational song. The seventeen tracks of this 45-minute collection include the album's original ten and six bonuses cherry-picked from Parton's albums and singles of the 1970s. As a treat for collectors, the original album session track "Would You Know Him (If You Saw Him) is released here for the first time. The latter is among Parton's most compelling vocals in the set, and a real mystery as to how it was left off the original release. Parton wrote or co-wrote ten of the seventeen titles and puts her vocal stamp on standards ("I Believe"), country ("Wings of a Dove"), gospel ("How Great Thou Art") and classic spirituals ("Swing Low Sweet Chariot," here reworked as "Comin' For to Carry Me Home"). The album's originals are surprisingly generic songs of faith and praise, unsatisfying in comparison to the following year's brilliant "Coat of Many Colors."



The bonus tracks fare much better. Parton's tribute to her grandfather, "Daddy Was an Old Time Preacher Man" is joined by memories of childhood church-going in "Sacred Memories." Her appreciation of creation's majesty, "God's Coloring Book" is personal and intimate, and "Letter to Heaven" retains its power to evoke a lump in your throat forty years after it was recorded. Producer Bob Ferguson dials back his Nashville Sound to light arrangements of country, soul and gospel; the twang is still minimized, but neither the strings nor backing choruses overwhelm. RCA Legacy's single-CD reissue includes recording details and liner note by Deborah Evans Price. Fans will be glad to have this back in print, but those new to the Parton catalog might check out other key album reissues first, such as Coat of Many Colors, Jolene, or My Tennessee Mountain Home. [©2010 hyperbolium dot com]"

"A Beautiful CD"

Terry Richard | Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada | 05/04/2010

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Dolly Parton is known for recording many kinds of music; country, rock, bluegrass, and disco are just a few types that's she recorded in her remarkable career. In this new collection, called "Letter To Heaven", Dolly performs spiritual numbers, tracks that were recorded in the early seventies when she was with RCA Records.

The bulk of the CD's songs are from her first gospel album called "The Golden Streets of Glory", released in 1971. All songs from that collection are found here including her self-penned "The Master's Hand" and the title track, two songs that are standouts. Other greats are her renditions of "I Believe", "Wings of a Dove", and "How Great Thou Art". Also included are tracks from different RCA albums including "Sacred Memories" from "Love Is Like A Butterfly" (1974); "Letter To Heaven" pulled from "Joshua" (1971); "Daddy Was An Old-Time Preacher Man, released as a duet with Porter Wagoner from 1970's "Once More"; "The Seeker" from "Dolly" (1975); "Comin' For To Carry Me Home", released as a single, but never put on any Dolly album in 1971; and the original recording of "God's Coloring Book" that was dropped from the "Coat of Many Colors" (1971) album but released with the "Dolly" boxset in 2009. The crowning jewel here, however, is the lost recording of "Would You Know HIm?", a track recorded during "The Golden Streets of Glory" sessions, but remained unreleased until now.

The cover picture of this album is taken from the same photo shoot that photographer Les Leveret did for "The Golden Streets of Glory", so its nice to see a different shot made for this release.

Simply a standout collection, Dolly's voice sounds impeccable, strong, and full of faith. Gone are the big drums and steel guitars that she was known for when she released her pop material. RCA wisely made these recordings with very little intrumentation as possible and allowed Dolly's voice to own the songs."