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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...
