[.ca] The Best of Crystal Gayle

Very disappointing collection from Rhino:
Im surprised Rhino would put out anything but a complete collection spanning all of her labels......country stars are notorious for jumping from one label to another, which makes it hard to get all the hits in one place. This CD covers her later, WB years, with "Dont It Make My Brown Eyes Blue" thrown in for gravy. Nothing from her Columbia years, or her first big hits from United Artists. The majors labels could make a collection this bad, so why should Rhino sully their sterling reputation for quality with this garbage? I dont know, but I hope it isn't a sign of things to come......

The essential Crystal collection:
The sister of the Coal Miner's Daughter quickly established her dominance in the country and pop fields from the mid-70's to mid-80's and, in so doing, Crystal Gayle never had the shadow of her country icon sister, Loretta Lynn, hovering over her. With sheer talent and a soothing but powerful emotional delivery eclipsed only perhaps by the immortal Patsy Cline, the Coal Miner's Other Daughter rifled off one chart-busting hit after the other, her signature song, of course, being the Grammy-winning "Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue?" This exquisite collection, however, treats us to most all those other superlative swooners, from the early to later days of Ms. Gayle's celebrated career. Included among her early chart-toppers are the Emmy Lou Harris-penned "'Til I Gain Control Again" and "If You Ever Change Your Mind," the best-selling duet "You and I" with the late Eddie Rabbit, and all those later smashes, each a soulful blast from the past like the Grammy-nominated "Baby, What About You," the upbeat but doomed love of "Sound of Goodbye," the rocking "Our Love Is on the Faulline" and the mesmerizing Crystal-identified "I Don't Wanna Lose Your Love" and "Nobody Wants to Be Alone," and a powerful version of the country classic "Cry." The only noticeable exclusion in this 19-track CD is Crystal's first recorded semi-hit "(I've Cried) The Blue Right Out of My Eyes." Nonetheless, this is a truly "best of" by anyone's standard, and no Crystal collection is full without it. What a way to spend a couple of hours!

Songs you can't get on other Crystal CDs:
The first Album I ever bought was "True Love" back in the early 80's. I have been in love with Crystal's voice ever since she released the song "Baby What About You." This is a song few people know about and it is hard to find. This CD has most of the "True Love" songs. Every song is awesome. It shows the incredible range this lady posseses. I love all Country, but especially the folks that have a rock edge to them (for, example, my current fave is Hal Ketchum). If you like that type of artist you have to love these Crystal gems like "Our Love Is On the Faultline" and "Baby What About You." Crystal could sing the phone book though and I would love it. If you are a Crystal fan and have not heard this song, getting this CD is worth the Price just for "Baby What About You."

Misrepresented CLASSIC CRYSTAL:
While many of the songs on this obviously redundant compilation were hits for CRYSTAL GAYLE, too many of her most classic MEGA-hit singles have been omitted here! RHINO did a very good job on the CARLY SIMON Anthology type compilation, so WHY(?) misrepresent one of America's most popular song stylists on Cd reissues with a mostly "filler" type hits Cd with way too many "covers"? CRYSTAL GAYLE recorded and put too many MEMORABLE hit songs on the map and charts, not to mention instilling them in music lovers' and the public's minds forever, to be so dishonored on Cd as she has been here. Let's be REALISTIC: Rhino has a knack for obtaining "masters" for REISSUES evrytime, but, this time, they have totally dropped the ball on CRYSTAL GAYLE! Where are the FUNDAMENTAL HITS such as: I'LL GET OVER YOU/ SOMEBODY LOVES YOU/I WANNA COME BACK TO YOU/ HELLO, I LOVE YOU/ TALKING IN YOUR SLEEP/ HALF THE WAY/ IF YOU EVER CHANGE YOUR MIND/ YOU NEVER GAVE UP ON ME/ IT'S LIKE WE NEVER SAID GOODBYE/ WRONG ROAD AGAIN/ WHEN I DREAM/ I'LL DO IT ALL OVER AGAIN/ WHY HAVE YOU LEFT THE ONE YOU LEFT ME FOR?/ YOU NEVER MISS A REAL GOOD THING/ READY FOR THE TIMES TO GET BETTER, as well as many other huge hits that made this woman a household name for two decades? CRYSTAL GAYLE ran neck to neck with RONSTADT & STREISAND in the hit singles category throughout the second half of the 70's and all through the 80's...honestly, CRYSTAL's singles were more consistent on the radio playlists and singles charts. Like the other two divas, she had a very distinct sound of her own and a long string of hits as well as gold/platinum singles & albums. CRYSTAL GAYLE successfully crossed the boundaries between Pop-Country-Jazz to be so generically compiled. A BOX SET is long over due!

Crystal Gayle's Greatest Hits again, but better than most:
The CD's available for Crystal Gayle seem to be a case study in how many ways you can put together an artist's "greatest hits". I'm giving this latest attempt from Rhino four stars because it includes some of the really good songs from her "True Love" and "Cage the Songbird" albums, both of which should be available in their entirety but are not. Crystal Gayle is a good candidate for an "anthology" or "boxed set" that covers her whole career and it's hard to understand why that has not been done yet for an artist of her stature.

• Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue
• If You Ever Change Your Mind
• You and I - Crystal Gayle, , Eddie Rabbitt
• 'Til I Gain Control Again
• Our Love Is on the Fault Line
• Deeper in the Fire
• Baby, What About You
• Everything I Own
• Sound of Goodbye
• I Don't Wanna Lose Your Love
• Turning Away
• Me Against the Night
• Nobody Wants to Be Alone
• Long and Lasting Love
• Makin' up for Lost Time - Crystal Gayle, Gary Morris
• Cry
• Straight to the Heart
• Another World - Crystal Gayle,
• Where Dear Friends Never Part