Search - Gene Pitney :: Story (W/Cdrom)

Deduct 1 star for missing hits and 1 star for silly packagin

Paul Tognetti | Cranston, RI USA | 11/14/2004

(3 out of 5 stars)

""Gene Pitney: The Story" had been on my wish list for a good many months. I was interested in this anthology only because it was just about the only collection I could find that contained a tune that was very high on my "want" list. "Billy, You're My Friend" stumbled onto the charts in the fall of 1968. It was one of Gene Pitney's final hits in the U.S. and it only managed to climb to only #92 on the Billboard "Top Pop Singles" chart. It is perhaps my very favorite song from the man who gave us such pop classics as "Town Without Pity", "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance" and "It Hurts To Be In Love". And as it happens this collection also contained three other Pitney hits that I did not own including "Yesterday's Hero", "She Let's Her Hair Down (Early In the Morning)" and the wonderful "Princess In Rags". What I did not realize when I finally got around to actually ordering this disc was what was not included.

Calling this particular collection "The Story" is really quite misleading. There are at least a half dozen of Gene Pitney's major U.S. hits missing. No Gene Pitney collection could possibly be considered complete with tunes like "Only Love Can Break A Heart", "I'm Gonna Be Strong", "Mecca" and of course the driving 1968 hit "She's A Heartbreaker". Yet all of these are nowhere to be found on this disc. I was also disappointed to see that one of my all time favorite Pitney tunes "Last Chance To Turn Around" was also missing as well the haunting "Something's Gotten Hold Of My Heart". That tune, which was not a hit nationally, was in fact a big hit in my hometown. Adding to my disappointment was the total lack of liner notes. However, you may have noticed that this product contains a bonus CD-ROM. EMI released this collection in Holland back in 2000 and touted the fact that the CD-ROM contained a biography a photo gallery and a discography. What a joke! Pop this disc into your PC and what you get is maybe a couple of hundred words about the artist and a total of 5 pretty bland photos. What a waste of time and technology!

In trying to present a balanced view of this CD I will tell you that the remastering job is really sensational. It is such a shame because EMI really had a chance to do something special with this project and just blew it. For most fans and collectors, I would probably recommend to you "25 All-Time Greatest Hits". That collection contains just about everything that you would probably want."