Brenda Lee - Amazing Brenda '2020

Tracks list

Tracklist
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01. All The Way
02. Always on my mind
03. AS USUAL
04. Break it to me gently
05. Cry
06. Emotions
07. Everybody Loves Somebody
08. Georgia on my mind
09. HURT
10. Im Sorry
11. If You Love Me
12. Let It Be Me
13. Pretend
14. The end of the world
15. You dont have to say you love
16. All alone am I
17. I Want To Be Wanted
18. Losing You
19. Only You
20. Will You Love Me Tomorrow


One of the biggest pop stars of the early 60s, Brenda Lee hasnt attracted as
much critical respect as she deserves. She is sometimes inaccurately
characterized as one of the few female teen idols. More crucially, the credit
for achieving success with pop-country crossovers usually goes to Patsy Cline,
although Lees efforts in this era were arguably of equal importance. While she
made few recordings of note after the mid-60s, the best of her first decade is
fine indeed, encompassing not just the pop ballads that were her biggest hits,
but straight country and some surprisingly fierce rockabilly.
Lee was a child prodigy, appearing on national television by the age of ten, and
making her first recordings for Decca the following year (1956). Her first few
Decca singles, in fact, make a pretty fair bid for the best preteen rock & roll
performances this side of Michael Jackson. BIGELOW 6-200, Dynamite, and Little
Jonah are all exceptionally powerful rockabilly performances, with robust vocals
and white-hot backing from the cream of Nashvilles session musicians (including
Owen Bradley, Grady Martin, Hank Garland, and Floyd Cramer). Lee would not have
her first big hits until 1960, when she tempered the rockabilly with teen idol
pop on Sweet Nothins, which went to the Top Five.
The comparison between Lee and Cline is to be expected, given that both singers
were produced by Owen Bradley in the early 60s. Naturally, many of the same
session musicians and backup vocalists were employed. Brenda, however, had a
bigger in with the pop audience, not just because she was still a teenager, but
because her material was more pop than Clines, and not as country. Between 1960
and 1962, she had a stunning series of huge hits: Im Sorry, I Want to Be Wanted,
Emotions, You Can Depend on Me, Dum Dum, Fool #1, Break It to Me Gently, and All
Alone Am I all made the Top Ten. Their crossover appeal is no mystery. While
these were ballads, they were delivered with enough lovesick yearning to appeal
to adolescents, and enough maturity for the adults. The first-class melodic
songwriting and professional orchestral production guaranteed that they would
not be ghettoized in the country market.
Lees last Top Ten pop hit was in 1963, with Losing You. While she still had hits
through the mid-60s, these became smaller and less frequent with the rise of the
British Invasion (although she remained very popular overseas). The best of her
later hits, Is It True?, was a surprisingly hard-rocking performance, recorded
in 1964 in London with Jimmy Page on guitar. 1966s Coming on Strong, however,
would prove to be her last Top 20 entry.
In the early 70s, Lee reunited with Owen Bradley and, like so many early white
rock & roll stars, returned to country music. For a time she was fairly
successful in this field, making the country Top Ten half-a-dozen times in
1973-1974. Although she remained active as a recording and touring artist, for
the last couple of decades shes been little more than a living legend, directing
her intermittent artistic efforts to the country audience. ~ Richie Unterberger

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