Jerry Butler - Best of (18 tracks) +Album Reviews

JERRY BUTLER, ONE OF A FEW CAPTIVATING VOICES!

Scorpion@bellatlantic.net | Philadelphia PA, USA | 09/10/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Jerry butler is a man who has a soulful, melodic voice in a class all it's own that compliments the powerful messages in his songs. Those males with similar distinct voices are... Jackie Wilson, Ray Charles, Lou Rawls, Sam Cooke, Nat King Cole, Otis Redding, David Ruffin, The Spinners, The Four Tops, The Dells, Luther Vandross and of course Elvis Presley. These artist songs and voices are priceless, timeless assets, crossing all color lines. I should know! I grew-up during a time, in a town who gave the world composers like Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff. (The Sound Of Philadelphia - MFSB)"

The Iceman cometh (so, originality is WAY overrated)!

Eric V. Moye | New York, by way of Dallas | 12/12/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Jerry Butler was one of the smoothest, most soulful crooner to ever get onto vinyl. This compilation is the one place to find much of his best work, and is a great value.Henry Mancini said on the liner notes to another great J.B. album The Spice of Life (which for God knows why has not made it yet to to compact discs) that Jerry Butler recorded the very first version of "Moon River". Appropriately, it is included here. It also has a representative of Butler's early work as a member of the Impressions, with that doo-wop classic, "Your Precious Love"All of the hits from J.B.'s career are found on this one disc. "Make It Easy On Yourself", "He Will Break Your Heart", "Western Union Man", "Only the Strong Survive" and the great duet with Betty Everett, "Let It Be Me".J.B. is a classic old school crooner. His voice is miles deep and smooth as slightly oiled silk. This album is the place to find his best work."

Wonderful!

John K. Reed | 08/20/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This CD is a marvelous showcase for this extremely gifted performer. It is a collection you will listen to again and again. It spotlights the "Iceman's" early hits giving you rare gems with the Impressions as well as some of his later masters. Listen to one of the truly great yet under appreciated singers of our time."

Smooth as silk but some material is marginal

John K. Reed | Harrisburg, PA United States | 03/13/2001

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Being too young to know the complete library of Jerry Butler tunes I can only comment on what has been included on this disc. Suffice it to say that 90% of the tunes are outstanding but there are notable exceptions. That and only that is what brings the rating down to 4 stars.Jerry's performances are flawless. His voice is fluid, soulful, and evocative. But even Henry Aaron couldn't hit a home run every time he came to the plate. If a few of the cuts (primarily) at the end of this compilation had been left off I would have rated this as a five star disc. And I would invite more traditional music (non R&B) fans to take a listen. For the material within is appealing to both fans of soul and the more traditional.I find myself coming back to this collection very often and singing along with these reflective songs of simplicity, beauty and longing that seems to have only existed in my memory."

Probably the best single CD collection

Greg Brady | Capital City | 05/04/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Because Butler has changed labels several times over his 4 decade long career, it's pretty well impossible to get EVERYTHING on 1 disc due to licensing issues. This one does about as good a job as I've seen though:

All his most well-known crossover hits are here: "Moon River" (the definitive version of the tune...sorry Mr. Williams), "He Will Break Your Heart","Make it Easy on Yourself", his duet with Betty Everett for a great cover of the Everly Brothers "Let it Be Me", and soul classic "For Your Precious Love" (with the Impressions). Late 60s comeback pop hits "Hey, Western Union Man" and "Only the Strong Survive" are a bit murkier in many oldies fans memories, but they're nonetheless great songs that deserve to be remembered.

Outside of those, you get several tunes that did well on R&B charts if more unknown to pop fans: Top 10 hits "Find Another Girl","I'm a Telling You", and "Never Give You Up". The only omission from the 50s/60s era is top 10 hit "Are You Happy?" from 1967. (His latter-day 70s stuff isn't here either...probably because of licensing..but you can get that on the Millennium collection, ASIN B00004ZDVY)

Add to that the usual fantastic Rhino job of remastering and liner notes and you have as close to the definitive Jerry Butler single CD compilation as exists for the time being."

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