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Ask most people of a certain age about JIM REEVES and they'll likely say "Oh, the Country & Western singer." Jim indeed did start his career as a C&W singer, in the mould of HANK WILLIAMS and JIMMIE RODGERS, singing - as a tenor - for the FABOR and ABBOTT record labels. After STEVE SHORES (who also signed ELVIS) had snapped up Jim for RCA VICTOR, Jim started pitching his voice as a baritone and, with the help of CHET ATKINS, the "Nashville Sound" was born.
Back around 1980 or so (16 years after his untimely death in an aeroplane accident), he was placed as one of the top 10 best-selling artists of all time. I'm unsure as to his exact status these days, but only a few years ago, in 2009, his SONY-released The VERY BEST Of JIM REEVES CD reached number 7 in the U.K. album charts. Simply put, Jim is arguably the best balladeer of the 20th century, with (according to PAT TWITTY) "...a voice which possesses the gentleness of one who might walk through snow and leave no footprint."
Here, then, is a gallery of various covers from Jim's albums for RCA, both while he was alive and after he'd passed. For those who prefer singers with a good, clean, masculine voice (unless they're women, obviously), this is the man for you. And with Christmas not that far away, it might be a good idea to start searching on eBay for the last album in the line. Quite simply, it's the best Yuletide album ever produced. Well, what are you waiting for? Good hunting!
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Update: Jim Reeves Gold, a 3 CD compilation released in 2020, reached number 5 in Sainsbury's best-selling albums when it first went on sale. While reflecting what was popular only in Sainsbury's, it's still not bad for a singer who'd been dead for 56 years at the time.
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Okay, now I'm starting to worry about you...
ReplyDeleteBetcha you're a 'closet' fan, B.
ReplyDeleteIf anyone gives you gip over your choice of listening material you should tell them to listen to his rendering of The Streets of Loredo. Which I still occasional break into an imitation of when I'm in the mood.
ReplyDeleteHe at died at the controls of a Beechcraft Debonair Bonanza. Those aircraft took quite a toll on the Music world with the infamous V-tail configuration. The Sperry attitude Gyro being implicated in the accident that Killed Buddy Holly.
I knew you were a fan of "Gentleman Jim" from a previous post. The first song I remember was I Love You Because and, as a kid, I just couldn't understand how he could be in the charts when my Mother told me he had died a few years ago. Anyway, nice gallery & I love the Xmas crooners, so I will try & find that album. JP's mobile
ReplyDeleteDon't worry, DSE, B's only kidding. (Well, half-kidding.) According to accounts at the time, it was Jim's fault that the plane crashed. Apparently, he ignored advice from the control tower to fly in one direction and instead flew in another - right into the face of a rainstorm.
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JP, the 12 Christmas songs are also available on a CD called The Jim Reeves Christmas Songbook, which mixes some of his Gospel tracks in with them. It's not an entirely satisfactory mix (different sound), but can be overcome by programming your player to play only the Christmas tracks. The original album is available on CD through eBay 'though.
Being the youngest son, I didn't have much say about the music that was played in our house back then, and it was only years later that I realised how lucky I had been to be exposed to such a wide variety of singers and styles while listening to the records of my parents and older brothers. If there wasn't anything good on the telly - and there frequently wasn't - the lp's and singles would come out and the radiogram would go on and I'd get to hear artists like Frank Sinatra, Sammi Davis Jnr, Doris Day, Ella and Louis, Alma Cogan, The Beatles and The Stones, Pink Floyd, Neil Young, David Bowie, Buddy Holly, Patsy Cline, Andy Williams, and on and on including Jim Reeves - the list was endless.
ReplyDeleteNow, of course, with the parents long gone and the family scattered to all corners of the globe, I realise just how good (and fleeting) those evenings were. And how educational, as well: I can hear a song now that I haven't heard in 40 years and be able to sing along with it, whether it's a B-side by The Marmalade, an album track by Ol' Blue Eyes, or a Christmas hymn by Jim Reeves. It might seem uncool nowadays to appreciate some of those artists, but the fact is that they all had great voices and, if they were lucky, they got to sing some great songs.
I tend to think of Jim Reeves and Patsy Cline as being male and female equivalents of each other, with their smooth, rich voices and easy styles. And, of course, the plane crashes. Strangely enough I tend to be reminded of days spent at the Barras in Glasgow when I hear the two of them, as the stalls that sold second-hand records would often play their stuff over the speakers.
You're in fine form tonight, GB (I should say this morning), with such a poignant comment. Nowadays, the gap between the generations is wider because families no longer sit in the one room together, watching the same programmes or listening to the same records. All the kids are in their own rooms with their own TVs, laptops, CD players, etc. That's why modern kids don't have a clue who some of the Hollywood greats and singing superstars of yesteryear are.
ReplyDeleteDid you know that Andy Williams was Jim Reeves' favourite male vocalist?
I went for the Xmas songbook with 10 more tracks for only 50p more. Looking on Amazon there are about 100 more albums (at least!) you could get! Enjoy!
ReplyDeleteI think I've got just about everything he recorded, JP. I've got the Christmas Songbook as well as 12 Songs of Christmas - I prefer to listen to the Christmas songs by themselves, as not all of the 10 Gospel songs suit the mix, being recorded at a different time to the Christmas ones.
ReplyDeleteAnother reason why a family might gather together in the same room back then, Kid: we only had central heating in one room in the house - the living room - so if you didn't want to freeze (in winter, of course) being in the same room made sense.
ReplyDeleteI didn't know that about Andy Williams. House Of Bamboo, one of his B-sides, was one of the first records that they would play that I latched onto growing up. They had that record longer than they had me, a sobering thought.
Indeed, GB. In fact, that was the main reason why they were in the same room, whether they were watching the telly or not. But when they were, they all watched the same programme.
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