"Too Many Teardrops: The Complete Groove & RCA Recordings" by CHARLIE RICH (January 2018 Ace 2CD Retrospective - Duncan Cowell Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

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"...Loved Everybody But Me..."

The 'Big Boss Man' of 60's cool CHARLIE RICH has always floated my uh-huh boat and since Ace's first two-disc winner covering his 60ts output "It Ain't Gonna Be That Way: The Complete Smash Sessions" from April 2011 - I've been aching to get my grubby paws on some more.

Well it's only taken those equally dapper chappies over at London's Steele Road a piffling seven years to answer my silver fox musical needs. Volume 2 of their Charlie Rich exploration "Too Many Teardrops: The Complete Groove & RCA Recordings" isn’t all knicker-wetting genius for sure - RCA loading too many tunes with strings and girly backing vocals to a point where CR is drowned out in a sea of schlock. But his fabulous voice and songwriting talent still comes shining through so there’s still plenty to savour here - and all of it sounding sonically spiffo in glorious Stereo. There's a lot to sort out - so let's curl our lips and get to the misery and heartache...

UK released Friday, 26 January 2018 (February 2018 in the USA) - "Too Many Teardrops: The Complete Groove & RCA Recordings" by CHARLIE RICH on Ace Records CDTOP2 1509 (Barcode 029667084826) is a 2CD 40-Track retrospective covering recordings made from June 1963 to February 1965 and plays out as follows:

Disc 1 (48:59 minutes):

1. Big Boss Man

2. Are You Still My Baby

3. Turn Around And Face Me

4. Big Jack

5. If I Knew Then What I Know Now

6. River, Stay 'Way From My Door

7. She Loved Everybody But Me

8. Share Your Love With Me

9. Let Me Go My Merry Way

10. Like Someone In Love

11. Nice And Easy

12. Lady Love

13. The Ways Of A Woman In Love

14. Rosanna

15. I'm Right Behind You

16. Tomorrow Night

17. No Room To Dance

18. I've Got You Under My Skin

19. Ten Dollars And A Clean White Shirt

20. Tragedy

Disc 2 (48:37 minutes):

1. Too Many Teardrops

2. There Won't Be Anymore

3. One More Mountain (One More River) – PREVIOUSLY UNISSUED

4. It's All Over Now

5. The Grass Is Always Greener

6. Why, Oh Why

7. I Need A Thing Called Love

8. It Just Goes To Show (You Never Know About Love)

9. My Mountain Dew

10. I Don't See Me In Your Eyes Anymore

11. The Big Build Up

12. She Called Me Baby

13. I'm Gonna Sit Right Down And Write Myself A Letter

14. Now Everybody Knows

15. Ol' Man River

16. Twelfth Of Never

17. Gentleman Jim

18. Is Goodbye That Easy To Say

19. (My Friends Are Gonna Be) Strangers

20. Christmas Greetings

All tracks in STEREO except Track 20 on Disc 2 – a 10-second radio greeting in MONO – Track 3 on Disc 2 is PREVIOUSLY UNISSUED

LPs: The three principal albums from the 1964 to 1966 period covered by this 2CD retrospective are "Charlie Rich" on Groove (1964), "That's Rich" (1965) and "Big Boss Man!" (1966) on RCA Victor. All were released in both Mono and Stereo - the STEREO mixes ONLY are used here. In order to sequence those LPs - use the following track selections:

"Charlie Rich" US LP from February 1964 on Groove GS-1000 in Stereo

Side 1: Tracks 1, 6, 4 on Disc 1, Track 9 on Disc 2, Tracks 7 and 9 on Disc 1

Side 2: Tracks 15 and 5 on Disc 2, Track 13 on Disc 1, Track 6 on Disc 2, Tracks 14 and 2 on Disc 1

"That's Rich" US LP from March 1965 on RCA Victor LSP-3352 in Stereo

Side 1: Tracks 1, 10 and 14 on Disc 2, Tracks 16, 10 and 17 on Disc 1

Side 2: Track 3 on Disc 1, Tracks 11 and 18 on Disc 2, Track 5 on Disc 1, Tracks 4 and 8 on Disc 2

"Big Boss Man!" US LP from April 1966 on RCA Victor LSP-3537 in Stereo (compilation of singles and hits)

Side 1: Track 16 on Disc 2, Tracks 4, 7, 13, 2 and 9 on Disc 1

Side 2: Track 9 on Disc 2, Track 1 on Disc 1, Tracks 2, 6 and 5 on Disc 2 and Track 11 on Disc 1

Other LPs featured in this set are:

"She Loved Everybody But Me" UK LP from 1970 on RCA Camden CAS-2417

Track 18 on Disc 1 and Track 13 on Disc 2

"She Called Me Baby" UK LP from 1974 on RCA Victor APL 1-0686

Tracks 8, 15, 19 and 20 on Disc 1 and Tracks 7, 10 and 12 on Disc 2

"Now Everybody Knows" UK LP from 1976 on RCA Victor ANL 1-1251

Track 19 on Disc 2

SINGLES: This compilation will also allow the following singles to be sequenced 

                  [7/1] =Track 7 on Disc 1 - [5/2] = Track 5 on Disc 2 etc:

1. She Loved Everybody But Me [7/1] b/w The Grass Is Always Greener [5/2]

August 1963 US 7" single on Groove 58-0022

2. Big Boss Man [1/1] b/w Let Me Go My Merry Way [9/1]

October 1963 US 7" single on Groove 58-0025

3. Lady Love [12/1] b/w Why, Oh Why [6/2]

February 1964 USA 7" single on Groove 58-0032

4. My Mountain Dew [9/2] b/w The Ways Of A Woman in Love [13/1]

April 1964 USA 7" single on Groove 58-0035

5. Nice And Easy [11/1] b/w Turn Around And Face Me [3/1]

July 1964 USA 7" single on Groove 58-0041

6. Too Many Teardrops [1/2] b/w It's All Over Now [4/2]

October 1964 USA 7" single on RCA Victor 47-8468

7. There Won't Be Anymore [2/2] b/w Gentleman Jim [17/2]

March 1965 USA 7" single on RCA Victor 47-8536

The 20-page booklet features in-depth, fact-filled liner notes from admirer, musicologist, St. Etienne main man and all-round good guy BOB STANLEY as well as a Groove/RCA Victor Sessionography by TONY ROUNCE stretching from 24 June 1963 to 5 February 1965. There's the usual plethora of great US 7" single labels, rare picture sleeves, trade adverts, reviews and in-the-studio photos of Charlie doing his smooze-thing at the piano. There's even a snap of CR with his Producer, Mentor and pal CHET ATKINS. As we've come to expect from Ace - it's the business.

But the big deal here is 39-songs in STEREO (Track 40 is a throwaway 10-second radio slot where CR says Merry Christmas then buggers off for a beer and a cry) remastered by one of my fave Audio Engineers DUNCAN COWELL - a long-standing associate with Ace and many other reputable labels. Cowell also handled almost all of the fabulous 'Blue Horizon' CD reissues including Fleetwood Mac. The Audio here is gorgeous - the tunes may not always match it for sure - but this is RCA recorded material (Hawkins Street and 17th Avenue South Studios in Nashville) and the equipment, engineers and musicians are quality all the way. Let's get to the music...

Most of these sessions were Produced by CHET ATKINS and arranged by ANITA KERR and when RCA wasn't trying to make Charlie Rich sound like Elvis' older brother singing Bossa Nova when Elvis sang Bossa Nova (and so on) - he gets to veer away from Cole Porter and Sinatra hits and let rip on some very cool R&B covers and a lot of his own original material. Disc 1 opens on a stone-cold winner - his cover of Jimmy Reed's Bluesy "Big Boss Man" - quite possibly one of my fave mid-60ts tracks and from a distance - impossible now to think that it only achieved a chart placing of No. 107. But along with his debut 45 for Groove "She Loved Everybody But Me" (an obvious soundalike to the better "Lonely Weekends") - they both sold enough to get him his first Long Player for Groove - "Charlie Rich" in February 1964. Amidst its 12-tracks sat goodies like the Mort Dixon shuffler "River, Stay 'Way From My Home" and the done-with-my-baby drama of "Let Me Go My Merry Way". The oh yeah curly-lipped swagger of "Big Jack" with its harmonica fills and cool Saturday Night gonna fight Big Jack for my gal vibe would have made a cracking 45. The very Elvis-sounding "The Ways Of A Woman In Love" and "Rosanna" were co-written with Bill Justis and Harold Bowen and while "Ten Dollars And A Clean White Shirt" and "Tragedy" are good - you can unfortunately hear why these overly sappy outtakes stayed in the can until 1974. His own "Lady Love" feels like a Girl Group melodrama with the ladies giving it some serious b-vox ache - while his "I'm Right Behind You" is virtually indistinguishable to Presley in full-on 60ts lovelorn mode.

Disc 2 opens with the country shuffle of "Too Many Teardrops" - a schmaltzy tune that has great production values but is overdone by strings and backing singers. His own compositions "There Won't Be Anymore" and "It's All Over Now" tell equally heartbroken tales of relationship woe – while the pining "The Grass Is Always Greener" is a co-write with his wife Margaret Ann. But better is his "Why, Oh Why" - a lovely piano-roller beautifully arranged for piano and strings. The new song is a Previously Unissued cover of Eddie Snyder and Paul Vance's "One More Mountain (One More River)" - beautifully recorded but a tad syrupy. Better is his take on Stan Kessler's "The Big Build Up" and "I'm Gonna Sit Right Down And Write Myself A Letter" - an outtake that eventually showed on a budget LP in 1970. His command of a wistful ballad gets full rein in "Is Goodbye That Easy To Say" and "(My Friends Are Gonna Be) Strangers"- both nods toward the Silver Fox years to come and eventual chart success.

For sure you hope that there's more of "Big Boss Man" and those looking for such R&B pleasure will be sorely disappointed (this compilation is more schmooze than booze). But if you're interested in more CR - Ace's "It Ain't Gonna Be That Way: The Complete Smash Sessions" from 2011 and Bear Family's 2009 CD compilation "Charlie Rocks" offer a lot also (see reviews for both). In the meantime - "Too Many Teardrops..." is a cool sounding place to start giving this superb singer and stylist his due...