Search - Dolly Parton :: Porter & Dolly

Classic Porter and Dolly!

Terry Richard | Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada | 12/27/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

""Porter and Dolly" marks the very first CD release of an original album by Porter Wagoner and Dolly Parton in North America. Their very first LP "Just Between You and Me" was released in 1995 in Europe on CD and there have been various compilation CD's distributed, but RCA Records has been extremely slow in releasing any of the duos famous albums. Minnie Pearl once called Porter and Dolly the greatest man/woman singing team in the history of country music. This CD shows why!

"Porter and Dolly" has quite a history as an LP. It was the last album the duo ever released in 1980 long after their partnership was over. It was originally to have been put out in 1976, but Dolly's new management team headed by Sandy Gallin convinced RCA to shelve the duet album, citing that its release would hamper the growth of Dolly's new solo career. This didn't sit too well with Porter who would go on to lose royalties as a singer, songwriter, and producer of the album. In 1979 Porter sued Dolly for 3 million dollars citing breach of contract and of blocking the release of this very album. After settling out of court for 1 million dollars, in which Dolly nearly ended up broke, the "Porter and Dolly" album was released. The album shot all the way to number 9 and had 2 singles released; "Making Plans" hit number 2 and "If You Go I'll Follow You" went to number 12, indicating the fans still loved their Porter and Dolly. The album is quite good. Featuring 10 tracks the standout is the second single. Dolly's girlish voice blends perfectly with Porter's manly vocals and the song should have gone higher on the charts. All the songs were recorded prior to 1976 and the only song released before 1980 was "If You Say I Can", released as the B-Side to "Is Forever Longer Than Always" another top 10 single not included on the album release.

The album cover also features both Porter and Dolly photographed by 2 different photographers and their images were spliced together, since at that time the two were not talking. Happily they would rekindle their friendship in 1988. In my opinion all their albums were excellent and this ranks as one of their finest, and the fact that it finally has a home on CD makes me long to see more old Porter and Dolly LP's re-released on CD. On a final note the duos 1969 LP "Always, Always" and 1971's "Two of a Kind" will be released in February 2008 together on 1 CD. Look for that."

A forgotten classic

Allen Chapman | STAFFORD SPRINGS, CT USA | 02/19/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The history of this album has been told many times before, it was blocked, it was shelved, when it was finally released in 1980 it stood out as somewhat of an oddity among Dolly's other albums at the time. She had just released a string of pop crossover albums and "Porter & Dolly" recalled her sound that she had left behind five years previously. The album isn't bad at all, but at the time of it's release it had a dated sound just because Dolly had changed her overall sound so much. Listening to the album again 29 years later, it holds up well and fits in nicely with the other Porter and Dolly albums.

My only complaint about this album is the inclusion of the Johnny Russell song, "Making Plans" which has always sounded weird as a duet. In the song both parties are saying how they can't believe the other is leaving and how hard it will be go on without each other. Well, if you both feel this way, why are you "making plans to leave"??? Great song, just doesn't work as a duet. Johnny Russell's original recording is a much better version.

Very slowly Dolly's back catalog is getting released on CD, something that is long overdue, as is a comprehensive boxed set covering her RCA years.

"

Great Piece of History

Tom | 01/13/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"It was a welcome surprise to find this album from 1980 being released on CD. When you look at the catelog of Porter & Dolly material this is probably not the best album to represent the duo. It is significant as this was to be the last album to be release by this amazing duo. Although this is not the strongest of the duo's material it is still very good and does make you want to hear the albums that came before. Dolly's voice is in excellent shape hear but Porter seems to be struggling to keep up with her as it seems he tried to produce this album to keep up with the times. He just seems to be out of place on many of the songs. He does sound good on both "Making Plans" and "Singing on the Mountain". The rest of the material sounds as though he is playing second fiddle to Dolly. Dolly wrote the majority of songs on this CD and as always her songs are very well written, although clearly her best written songs during this time were saved for her solo projects and this album does suffer a bit from not having the best material possible. All in all I would still recommend this CD. Event though it is not as great as some of their older material it is still very good, and is a good display of country harmony."