Search - Kay Starr :: Essential Rca Singles Collection

A nice surprise

05/13/1999

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I always felt Kay Starr's tenure at RCA was a misstep. They never knew quite what to do with her and when it came to albums were all thumbs (no imagination about conceptions, orchestrations, cover art) and the minute she went back to Capitol she began having hits again (beginning with the splendid album "Movin'"). So this collection of RCA singles with her two genuine hits there, her most curious record ("Jamie Boy") and a lot of very odd things indeed is a surprise pleasure. Beautifully remastered, programmed and presented, it's a valuable look at an era of pop music gone by which still offers a lot of appeal today. Most of all, Kay Starr's ability to invest almost any song with heart and emotion is evident, along with her great and distinctive voice and stylings which reveal her most of all as a jazz singer (when she returned to Capitol she in fact did an album titled "Jazz Singer"). One of the nicest, most real people in show business and still goin' great guns, Kay Starr IS a star!"

Good

04/09/1999

(3 out of 5 stars)

"A fairly good overview of Kay Starr's RCA singles circa 1955-1959. Hits and misses intermingle with unreleased cuts to produce an interesting, though un-even collection that demonstrates how a truly great jazz singer contended with the more commercial sounds of the mid-50's. Contains the original hit version of "Rock And Roll Waltz", and a previously unreleased "Boulevard Of Broken Dreams". This disc will be great for a fan, but better choices can be found for a first-time listener."

The Perfect Companion To The Capitol "Collectors Series" Vol

08/23/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"After a decade with Capitol Records, where she chalked up one hit single after another between 1948 and 1954 [28 in all], and also sold LPs and EPs in the millions with the advent of those concepts, Kay moved to RCA Victor. There, in a brief three-year period, she added 10 more hit singles, four of them double-sided hits.



Her stint with RCA began with Good And Lonesome, a modest # 17 hit in the fall of 1955 b/w Where, What Or When (not included here), but later that year she came up with one of the seminal hits of the early R&R era, Rock And Roll Waltz, which soared to the number one spot early in 1956 where it remained for six solid weeks, spending 25 weeks on the charts in total. Even the flipside charted, with I've Changed My Mind A Thousand Times going to # 73.



Later that summer she was back with another double-sided hit, Second Fiddle reaching # 40 and the B-side, Love Ain't Right, topping out at # 89. Two more # 89s followed late that summer with The Good Book and The Things I Never Had each making it to that position.



In the spring of 1957 Jamie Boy peaked at # 54 while the B-side, A Little Loneliness, settled in at # 73. That was followed by her second-best hit with RCA, My Heart Reminds Me, which went all the way to # 9 that October b/w Flim Flam Floo (not included).



After having proved she could handle quasi-R&R, as well as the pop fluff that began to permeate the airwaves in a desperate attempt by the industry to stem the R&R tide, and when nothing else delivered to her at RCA worked, she went back to Capitol and added several more hit singles and several quality LPs before calling it a day.



Much of this is covered in the two pages of liner notes by Colin Escott, including the story about the change of her name from Katheryn Starks to Kay Starr. Highly recommended for all fans of this marvelous voice, along with the Capitol Collectors Series CD."